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Trust without knowledge? UK intelligence agencies and the public trust conundrum

Hiscoke, Ged; Ward, Stephen; Lomas, Daniel

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Authors

Ged Hiscoke

Daniel Lomas



Abstract

Intelligence agencies operating in modern-day liberal democracies are dependent on the public for support. In recent years, the UK’s intelligence and security agencies have adopted a public facing role aiming to build ‘trust’ and developing wider public ‘knowledge’. Using a specially commissioned YouGov survey, we offer the first detailed analysis of public trust and knowledge of the UK’s agencies, finding that, whilst trust in the agencies is relatively high, levels of trust changes depending on age and political partisanship. Whilst wider public engagement is necessary and should continue, we find that high levels of trust are based on low knowledge of the agencies.

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Apr 2, 2025
Online Publication Date May 2, 2025
Deposit Date Jun 18, 2025
Publicly Available Date Jun 18, 2025
Journal Intelligence and National Security
Print ISSN 0268-4527
Electronic ISSN 1743-9019
Publisher Routledge
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Pages 1-28
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/02684527.2025.2491239
Additional Information Peer Review Statement: The publishing and review policy for this title is described in its Aims & Scope.; Aim & Scope: http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=aimsScope&journalCode=fint20; Received: 2024-10-28; Accepted: 2025-04-02; Published: 2025-05-02

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