Abstract:
Intelligence politicization is one of the most commonly found friction in the
discourse of intelligence-policymakers relation. Its occurrence is usually bound to
many factors, ones of which are organizational arrangement and type of government.
However, what rose as a question is the fact that even within the same state and
similar circumstances, the degree of politicization between two cases often can differ
greatly. Intelligence politicization was constantly occurring in George W. Bush
administration, while it was almost non-existent in Barack H. Obama administration.
This thesis thus seeks to answer how the degree of intelligence politicization can
differ from one administration to another. For Bush administration, the author will
analyse intelligence politicization in the policy-making process of Operation Iraqi
Freedom (OIF) in 2003 and for Obama administration, the author will analyse the
case of drone strikes in Pakistan conducted in 2009. There are two variables that are
going to be underlying the analysis of this thesis: intelligence- policymakers relation
as based on Sherman Kent’s traditionalist approach and policy oversell as based on
Joshua Rovner’s model. The author will comparatively analyse how the two variables
performed in each of the cases and how it eventually caused intelligence
politicization.
