Measuring Trust in Intelligence Services: A Conceptual Framework and Exploratory Study

Abstract

In democratic societies, trust in public institutions, including intelligence services, is crucial. A framework is presented in this paper to examine trust in Spain’s intelligence agency, based on a survey of 2,888 Spanish university students. Six dimensions were found to influence trust. High trust was associated with the perceived effectiveness of the agency at addressing threats against the state and adherence to legal standards. Additionally, trust was linked to the perception that the intelligence services were aware of those threats and could effectively counter them. The study contributes to the line of research on citizens’ trust in intelligence services.