The Haitian Military Intelligence System

Abstract

The study of civil-military relations must be carried out not only at the macro-sociological level, where the army and civil society are seen as two distinguishable entities, but also at the micro-sociological level, that is, where the interactions and relations of specific units of the army with segments of civil society are examined.¹ The focus here on the intelligence component of the army — as it has evolved from the withdrawal of the US occupation forces in 1934 to the election of a civilian, Father Jean Bertrand Aristide, as president in 1990 — allows us to study the interaction at various levels between that unit and the non-military intelligence sector of the Haitian government and the civilian government at large.