2024-25 Research Project

Intelligence Infrastructure in International Politics 

This book will introduce the concept of "intelligence infrastructure" to refer to the physical sites and installations which are required to operate nearly all modern surveillance systems. Intelligence infrastructure includes listening posts for intercepting communications, airfields used for drone surveillance flights, space control systems to operate spy satellites, and radar networks for detecting missile attacks. Geography matters for intelligence infrastructure; many of these sites must be constructed on foreign territory to be effective. Using a qualitative-historical approach drawing on declassified archival material, the book will argue that the "built environment" of U.S. foreign intelligence collection -- global in scope since World War II -- has deeply influenced American foreign relations and policy. The empirical heart of the book will be a historical narrative of American Cold War-era intelligence infrastructure located in overseas territory. This narrative will highlight some recurrent themes, such as the importance of legacy colonial territory, the strategic value of unique geographic locations that are often overlooked in our field (i.e. islands and other remote spaces), the use of lucrative quid pro quos, and the backlash and adaptations such infrastructure elicited. More broadly, this project will theorize the material-logistical mechanics of surveillance and its relevance to power, geography, and threat. The book will contextualize the U.S experience with chapters on British infrastructure for global surveillance in the 19th century and China’s nascent overseas intelligence infrastructure today. 

Biography:

Austin Carson is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago. He is the author of Secret Wars: Covert Conflict in International Politics (Princeton University Press, 2018) and Secrets in Global Governance: Disclosure Dilemmas and the Challenge of International Cooperation (Cambridge University Press, 2020, coauthored with Allison Carnegie). His articles have been published in International Organization, American Journal of Political Science, International Studies Quarterly, Journal of Politics, Security Studies, and other venues. He is also co-editor of Cornell University Press’s Studies in Security Affairs Series. He received his Ph.D. from Ohio State University.