In our highly technological world, achieving national security entails much more than military protection against territorial aggression. It entails the deployment of a broad swath of digital mechanisms, including artificial intelligence, to combat cyber-attacks that degrade public safety, political order, economic enterprise and finance.
Accountability principles are required to safeguard fundamental human rights, such as the right to privacy and data protection, against the extensive powers available to intelligence and secret services. National and international courts, the Vienna Commission 2007, the forthcoming Convention 108+, and other initiatives propose different accountability principles to counterbalance the powers available to intelligence and security practitioners. Such accountability principles are crucial because they can prevent abuse of power and enable public trust in the work of intelligence and secret services, particularly when deploying technological tools in society. The effort to balance national security with citizens’ rights is fraught with challenges.
This Research Topic provides an open space to explore the socio-legal and socio-technical challenges associated with protecting fundamental rights while allowing efficacy and agility in intelligence and security operations. We welcome proposals addressing accountability and intelligence oversight in the context of personal data, surveillance deployment, and the use of AI, among other arenas. We invite national, regional, and international studies and encourage multi-disciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches that include but are not limited to political science, sociology, criminology, computer science, and legal studies. Our goal is to open a space for a vibrant collection of diverse disciplinary and geographic perspectives, rethinking national security and accountability in the context of powerful and quickly changing digital ecosystems.
Keywords:
national security, surveillance deployment, privacy and data protection, cyber-security, AI
Important Note:
All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
In our highly technological world, achieving national security entails much more than military protection against territorial aggression. It entails the deployment of a broad swath of digital mechanisms, including artificial intelligence, to combat cyber-attacks that degrade public safety, political order, economic enterprise and finance.
Accountability principles are required to safeguard fundamental human rights, such as the right to privacy and data protection, against the extensive powers available to intelligence and secret services. National and international courts, the Vienna Commission 2007, the forthcoming Convention 108+, and other initiatives propose different accountability principles to counterbalance the powers available to intelligence and security practitioners. Such accountability principles are crucial because they can prevent abuse of power and enable public trust in the work of intelligence and secret services, particularly when deploying technological tools in society. The effort to balance national security with citizens’ rights is fraught with challenges.
This Research Topic provides an open space to explore the socio-legal and socio-technical challenges associated with protecting fundamental rights while allowing efficacy and agility in intelligence and security operations. We welcome proposals addressing accountability and intelligence oversight in the context of personal data, surveillance deployment, and the use of AI, among other arenas. We invite national, regional, and international studies and encourage multi-disciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches that include but are not limited to political science, sociology, criminology, computer science, and legal studies. Our goal is to open a space for a vibrant collection of diverse disciplinary and geographic perspectives, rethinking national security and accountability in the context of powerful and quickly changing digital ecosystems.
Keywords:
national security, surveillance deployment, privacy and data protection, cyber-security, AI
Important Note:
All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.