Relationship with the Armed Forces

IRIS is not a military organisation, nor a branch of any armed forces, although some its officers do have combat training and experience. IRIS sometimes works with the army, navy or air force of some of its member states in carrying out military operations. IRIS standard training uses many of the lessons learned from intelligence agencies and covert operations by special forces.

Relationship with Interpol

IRIS works closely with law enforcement agencies but is not an international police force. Some of its members are former police officers and some, such as IRIS's Deputy Director for Operations Wendell Krennick, have worked for organisations such as Interpol. However, unlike Interpol, which does not conduct inquiries and investigations in its 186 member countries, IRIS can and does participate in law enforcement operations, usually with the cooperation of local police forces. IRIS has close ties with Interpol and has access to Interpol's I-24/7 information network and database system.

Relationship with the CIA

Current IRIS director, Abraham Hassall, describes IRIS as having a structure "somewhat similar" to the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Historically, this was because the CIA and the USA with their huge financial resources were instrumental in setting up IRIS and provided much of the funding and expertise necessary to build and install the IRIS facilities and systems in different cities around the world. The International Intelligence Community decided to adopt structures and systems that were proven. The CIA's structure had been tested over time and more importantly its reach was global. IRIS therefore took what was useful out of the CIA's structure, rather than re-inventing the wheel. IRIS has since outgrown the limitations and shortcomings of the CIA structure and has developed its own unique system and approach.

Relationship with the UN

IRIS was set up with the objective of achieving Article 1 of the United Nations Charter more effectively.

Article 1 of the Charter states that: "The Purposes of the United Nations are:

1. To maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace;.
2. To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace; .
3. To achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion; and
4. To be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of these common ends." (Article 1, www.un.org)

IRIS is mandated by the International Intelligence Community to achieve this objective largely by a 'behind-the-scenes' strategy in world affairs. IRIS deliberately keeps a very low profile, in part to avoid any allegations that its involvement is in breach of the first article of its own constitution, which states that IRIS must "maintain political neutrality as far as reasonably possible".

The International Intelligence Community

The International Intelligence Community is a collaborative federation of the hundreds of separate government agencies and organisations comprising the 192 Member States that work together to conduct intelligence activities necessary to promote and enforce international peace and security. The International Intelligence Community is led by the Director of International Intelligence, Director D'Aulnoy.

Among the various duties, the members of the Community collect and produce international and domestic intelligence, and contribute to military planning and operations.

Each member state makes a contribution towards the IRIS budget. IRIS was set up to facilitate interagency cooperation, which it achieves in part by its procedural and cultural structure, but also by its technological systems, in particular the use of ASAP.

Find out more about IRIS by reading the book here.