State actors are increasingly using criminal intermediaries to conduct hybrid operations across Europe. Although serious and organised crime is formally included in UK intelligence prioritisation mechanisms, Cathy Haenlein and Matt Ince argue that it has been underweighted as a strategic intelligence priority even as it has become central to this hostile state operating model. The article examines past and present treatment of the issue, how this sits within an evolving threat landscape, and the implications for positioning serious and organised crime as a strategic intelligence concern moving forward.
Haenlein et al. (Tue,) studied this question.