The Superiority of Information and the Power of the Nation State

Access to valuable information has been, is and will continue to be the focus of all the nation states. The benefits of access to information cannot be questioned, but the volatile nature of this Power Information has shown over time that a state's inability to keep its secrets leads to the loss of this power. The present paper captures historical milestones of information gathering activity that have greatly changed the balance of power between the state actors involved