Ragusa Intelligence & Security (RIS) - A Model for the 21st Century!?

Ragusa (Dubrovnik), a city-state on the eastern Adriatic coast has organized one of the first intelligence organizations in history. Having no army Ragusa\u27s indipendence depended heavily on accurate and timely intelligence gathered by its merchant, diplomats and scientists. Througout its history as a indipendent city-state (from 14th to 19th century) Ragusa maintained its neutral position and ballanced between Austria, Venice, Otoman Empire and other European powers having good diplomatic and trade relations with all of them. The author\u27s own research of the Dubrovnik\u27s archive show that good intelligence was critical for such a policy enabling Ragusa\u27s diplomats quick adapting to the new situations and helping them "guessing right", and that is exactly what intelligence is