The Culture of Intelligence from Historical Research Perspective

For the past few years the highest authorities of the CNI (Centro Nacional de Inteligencia) have been encouraging the creation & dissemination of what has been called the "culture of intelligence." As a member of a research group on international relations & espionage, the author of this article aims to highlight the difficulties involved in the promotion of this culture from a historical research perspective, as well as promote a debate useful to unblock its progress. The article comprises two parts. The first one offers a critical historiographic review of the studies on intelligence services in Spain. The second part discusses the problems that researchers typically find when approaching this field, namely difficulties in accessing the documentation &, more generally, the "culture of oblivion" that characterizes the Spanish society. References. Adapted from the source document.