1st Edition

Health Security Intelligence Managing Emerging Threats and Risks in a Post-Covid World

Edited By Patrick F. Walsh Copyright 2025
    204 Pages 3 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    The book takes a multi-disciplinary approach to explore the role national security intelligence agencies played in supporting national governments’ response to COVID-19.

    Spanning the ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence countries (UK, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand), this book offers the first cross-comparative analysis of what intelligence agencies need to focus on in responding more effectively to future emerging health and biological security threats risks and hazards post-COVID-19. The volume addresses three principal issues. First, it investigates what roles the Five Eyes intelligence communities played (along with other key stakeholders, such as public health agencies) in managing the COVID-19 pandemic.  Second, it assesses the challenges of and lessons learnt from these intelligence communities’ engagement in managing aspects of the pandemic. Third, it explores how the Five Eyes might play more effective roles in managing future health security threats and risks, whether those are intentional (bioterrorism and bio crimes), accidental (laboratory releases) or unintentional (pandemics) in origin.  Overall, this book offers a coherent and holistic research agenda that seeks to improve understanding about the role of national security intelligence in managing health security threats and risks post-Covid.

    This book will be of much interest to students of intelligence studies, health security, public health and International Relations.

    The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

    List of Figures

    List of Contributors

    Acknowledgements

     

    Part I: Health Security Intelligence and COVID-19

    Chapter 1 Introduction Patrick F Walsh

    Chapter 2 Framing National Security and Health Security Intelligence Erik Dahl

     

    Part II: Challenges in Managing Health Security Threats, Risks and Hazards

    Chapter 3 Political Engagement Patrick F Walsh and Ausma Bernot

    Chapter 4 Disinformation: The COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond Jennifer Hunt

     

    Part III: Improving Health Security Threat and Risk Mitigation

    Chapter 5 Building Better Health Security Intelligence Strategies Post-COVID-19 Gemma Bowsher

    Chapter 6  Improving Health Security Intelligence Warning Systems David Skillicorn

    Chapter 7 Biosecurity, National Security Intelligence and Ethics Seumas Miller

    Chapter 8 Improving the Health Security Intelligence Workforce and Research Agenda Kathleen M. Vogel

    Chapter 9  Managing Health Security Threats at the Multilateral Level: The Challenge of Investigating Ambiguous Outbreaks Filippa Lentzos

    Chapter 10 Conclusion Patrick F. Walsh

     

    Index

    Biography

    Patrick F. Walsh is a Professor of Intelligence and Security Studies at Charles Sturt University, Australia. He is a former intelligence analyst who has worked in Australian national security and law enforcement agencies. He has written multiple books and research articles on intelligence capability issues, including related to health and biological security.