TRUST AS A REQUIREMENT FOR SECURITY MANAGEMENT IN STRATEGIC INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES

Abstract

The levels of trust within organizations are widely associated with employee engagement, their willingness to observe rules, as well as the internalization of secure behaviors. This study analyzes how trust and distrust may impact security management in Strategic Intelligence Agencies (SIAs), specialized public organizations that operate in secrecy and are constrained by this requirement. In the absence of other known studies in this field, we have chosen to analyze the interactions between studies on trust and distrust, on security and information security management, and on Strategic Intelligence. We then identified and described how the characteristics common to SIAs tend to simultaneously favor and hamper measures designed to build and preserve trust, as well as those aimed at mitigating distrust. Lastly, we propose that fostering trust and reducing distrust would be beneficial to SIAs, and derive from the literature alternatives potentially beneficial to security management based on the promotion of trust.