Journal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism

The Battlefield Comes Home: Military technologies and the transformation of policing, intelligence and counter terrorism

Technologies developed for the battlefield, such as drones, artificial intelligence, biometric surveillance, communications interception and predictive analytics, are increasingly migrating into domestic policing, intelligence and counterterrorism practice. Yet technologies do not arrive alone: they may bring with them assumptions about threats, decision-making, risk and operational practice developed in military environments. Their adoption by civilian security institutions therefore raises important questions about how technologies are adapted, governed and used outside the contexts for which they were originally developed.

This special issue of the Journal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism invites articles examining this migration: its drivers, its operational consequences, and the legal, ethical and political questions it raises. The journal has a particular focus on practitioner expertise and bringing it into conversation with academic researchers. We therefore welcome practitioner-led contributions and collaborations between practitioners and researchers.

Contributions may examine specific technologies but need not focus solely on technological systems. We also welcome work examining the institutional, doctrinal and governance consequences of the growing convergence between military and domestic security practice, including decision-making, securitisation, oversight and accountability, and the broader legal and political frameworks in which these technologies are deployed.

Topics of interest include:

• The transfer of military-grade surveillance, drone and AI technologies into policing and domestic intelligence
• Legal and regulatory frameworks governing dual-use and militarised technology in a civilian context
• Ethical implications of battlefield-derived tools in law enforcement
• Securitisation processes and the blurring of military and policing mandates
• Decision-making, oversight and accountability structures for militarised policing technology
• Comparative and historical perspectives on the militarisation of domestic security
• Case studies of specific technologies (e.g. drones, facial recognition, predictive policing algorithms) in policing or counterterrorism use

We welcome both research papers and discussion articles.