Interplay between RI foreign policy and intelligence

Interplay between RI foreign policy and intelligence

Bantarto Bandoro, Editor, "The Indonesian Quarterly",
Centre For Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Jakarta

bandoro@csis.or.id

We can make assessments. We can also make probability
judgments on what will happen. But there will always be
surprises, no matter how carefully we try to engineer our future.
A surprise-free future is something that we all try to achieve.

But the reality reflects the fact that even the most
sophisticated intelligence networking and architecture has failed
to prevent future shocks caused by acts of terror. Intelligence
is often called a thankless profession because it garners
attention only through its failures.

In the months that followed the attacks on the World Trade
Center, and the Marriott hotel and Bali in particular, extensive
debate took place here over the role intelligence should play in
preventing acts of terror. The public would agree that our
greatest intelligence failures in recent times were the Bali and
Marriott bombings, not to mention other undetected, small-scale
acts of terror.

Since then, our policymakers seem to have been preoccupied
mostly by the need to craft out a strategy for combating
terrorism that relies on effective intelligence architecture.

In her recent address to the Bali conference on
counterterrorism, President Megawati spoke out for more extensive
intelligence cooperation between countries in the Asia-Pacific
region. It is not only that. Our foreign policy communities have
also expressed concern at the impact of terrorism on our
international position and image.

It is thus understandable that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
has, since the Bali bombings, been in the forefront in diplomacy
and organizing a series of international meetings on terrorism.
The objective is to demonstrate our resoluteness in eradicating
terrorism.

We cannot fight terrorism simply through the unilateral action
of individual agencies. Internally, we should not allow ourselves
to get bogged down by the issue of which agency is most
appropriate to counter terrorism. Terrorism is an evil to be
extinguished and must therefore be tackled collaboratively. The
intelligence function certainly has a role in it, but terrorism
also has some relevance to our foreign policy because of
international terrorist links.

The function of institutionalized intelligence is to
centralize, process and disseminate information useful to the
formation and implementation of our foreign policy. But what
kinds of information are useful will be subject to debate and
change. What is clear is that foreign policy constitutes a
government's attempt to advance its interests internationally.

So, when we carry out our international diplomacy,
particularly when the world is united against terrorism, we
should inevitably look to the information that is best suited to
improving our foreign policy implementation.

To achieve foreign policy goals, as stated by the
Constitution, that are designed on the basis of our changed
strategic environment, we need to have leverage through
leadership, either political or economic, which must be applied
internationally through foreign policy.

Here is where intelligence fits in. Part of the supply of this
needed information comes from intelligence. Intelligence support
for the conduct and formulation of our foreign policy is not only
desirable but also necessary, particularly at a time when we are
attempting to convince our neighbors of our "no-compromise" stand
on terrorism.

With regard to terrorism, it is important that our
counterterrorism policy and strategy be made part of our broader
effort to maintain national security; it should therefore be
integrated into all foreign policy decision making.

After the Marriott hotel and Bali bombings, there appeared to
be an impetus for consensus regarding ways we should develop to
combat terrorism and how our international diplomacy should be
geared to indicate our consistency in the fight against
terrorism. It is, after all, a cross-border issue that must be
combated jointly, where possible, through diplomatic channels. It
is imperative for us, therefore, that we expand our cooperation
with foreign intelligence services, to the extent that it is
aimed at developing counterterrorism measures, in which process
the foreign ministry can be instrumental.

When the issue of terrorism and foreign policy is discussed
thoroughly, one cannot ignore the role of intelligence. Unlike
the foreign policy of the U.S., in which counterterrorism is one
of its main foreign policy objectives, our foreign policy should
not in any way be dictated or dominated by the issue of
terrorism.

This, however, is not to ignore the fact that our foreign
policy needs to be continually supported by information from the
intelligence services, if only to make sure that our foreign
ministry send out the right messages, particularly when it has to
counter criticism from overseas that the country is a safe haven
for terrorist activities.

This is where we see the interplay between foreign policy and
intelligence -- one that manifests the important role
intelligence plays in the country's foreign relations.

As we are still trying to escape the economic crisis, economic
intelligence could be very instrumental if we are to find out
more about external resources that might be useful to our
development.

Our foreign policy could be geared in such direction if
policymakers decided to compete later on with any growing
regional economic power. Political intelligence is also important
to our foreign policymakers, particularly when they are tasked to
defend, in the international forum, the country's policy on
territorial integration.

Recent years have seen the reality that our leaders have
recognized fundamental changes in our immediate and strategic
environment. We can use intelligence, among other things, as a
means to gather information on sources that might help us
understand better domestic and international changes.

The reforms that we have initiated so far have been to
recognize changes around us and what those changes mean for the
kinds of information our foreign policymakers need to make good
decisions. A substantial amount of intelligence is required if
our foreign policy is to achieve a surprise-free future.