How Perceptions of Raw Data Collection Affect Intelligence Accountability: The Danish intelligence field

Melanie Sofia Hartvigsen^*

• Center for War Studies, Faculty of Business and Social Sciences, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark

Collection of raw data has become a central aspect of intelligence accountability. This study investigates the relationship between perceptions of raw data collection and intelligence accountability virtues within a coherent framework to gain a more comprehensive understanding of how intelligence accountability systems are prioritised and justified. The research combines discussions on the ethics of bulk collection of raw data and civil rights with the literature on intelligence accountability, applying this to the Danish case within an organisational fields framework. The study demonstrates that actors within the Danish intelligence field adopt divergent positions on the collection of raw data, and that these positions shape their understandings of intelligence accountability and how they priorities intelligence accountability systems. Furthermore, it is revealed how support from political decisionmakers for certain actors is decisive in determining the distribution of power among actors in the intelligence field. Finally, the study calls for further exploration of the political beliefs that shape accountability systems, the perceptions of raw data collection, and the societal implications of bulk collection of raw data.