How populist leaders dismantle intelligence agencies from within: New study reveals the 'intelligence cyclone'

A new joint study from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem reveals how populist leaderships systematically undermine, discredit and ultimately capture intelligence agencies, transforming vital national security bodies into political echo chambers. The research, published in Contemporary Security Policy, warns that when populist politicians treat secret services as "deep state" adversaries, they disrupt objective threat analysis and leave democracies blind to catastrophic surprise attacks.