Western Intelligence is Now Causing More Harm than Good: An Intelligence Squared Debate

Western Intelligence is Now Causing More Harm than Good
Tom Bower, a distinguished investigative historian, and an award-winning television producer and journalist; Andrew Gilligan, a journalist known for his report on the British Government's dossier on Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq; and Anthony Glees, Director of European Studies at Brunel University, spoke for the motion.

Sir Lawrence Freedman, Professor of War Studies at King's College, London, and official historian of the Falklands Campaign; Oleg Gordievsky, one of the highest-ranking KGB officers ever to work for Britain; and Sir Malcolm Rifkind, QC Member of the British Government (1979-1997), spoke against the motion.

Intelligence Squared is London's leading forum for live debate, holding regular debates on the crucial issues of the day and inviting the leading intellectual and political lights on the given subject to participate in them. The format of the debates is modelled on the one employed at the Oxford and Cambridge university Unions: a challenging, sharply defined motion; a team of speakers to propose the motion and a like number to oppose it; and a moderator to keep the speakers and the audience in order and force everyone to stick to the issues. After the main speeches and before summation, contributions are asked from the floor: audience participation is a key feature of the occasion, providing a rare opportunity for the public to voice their opinions and to challenge those of the speakers. A vote is taken before the debate begins and then again at the end so as to give a measure, often a very dramatic one, of the extent to which the audience has been swayed by the oratory and arguments of the speakers in the course of the evening.