Private Sector Intelligence: On the Long Path of Professionalization

The field of private sector intelligence can often be misinterpreted on the surface level as espionage, guards and gates. Its road to professionalization has been a long one and is still evolving, but thanks to Dr. Maria Robson Morrow’s research we’re able to understand its role in security risk mitigation and how it helps facilitate business decision-making. In this episode Fred discusses Robson Morrow’s latest research in this space, as well as pathways to entry, the impact of cooperation, and camaraderie in mitigating security risks. The author also shares what surprised her most in her research and what she plans on digging into next. Dr. Maria Robson Morrow is the Intelligence Project Program Coordinator at the Harvard Belfer Center. She spent four years as a global security intelligence analyst at Nexen Energy in Canada and worked as an independent security intelligence consultant before returning to academia to study public-private intelligence cooperation. She earned a PhD in Political Science in 2021 from Northeastern University and holds a Master’s in Military and Strategic Studies from the University of Calgary and a BA in International Relations, Economics, and History from the University of Toronto. Maria's research has been published in Intelligence and National Security, Harvard Business Review, and the Journal of Intelligence History. She teaches a Research Seminar in the Intelligence Analysis graduate program at Johns Hopkins University.