15 May 2008 11:30 a.m. - Colorado Springs, CO - The AFIO Rocky Mountain Chapter meeting features Elba Seilhan, an Intelligence Analyst who has served tours in Iraq, the Horn of Africa

Speaker Seilhan was on then MG Petreaus's G2 staff when he was CG of the 101st. The meeting will be held at the Air Force Academy Officer's Club, Falcon Room. RSVP to Tom Van Wormer at 719-570-8505 or robsmom@divide.net. The buffet fee is only $10.00.

Further info or to register...

17 May 2008 - Kennebunkport, ME - The Maine Chapter hosts Deborah Russell just back from Iraq assignment.

The chapter will meet at the Kennebunk Free Library in Kennebunk at 2:00 p.m. Our speaker will be Deborah Russell who recently returned from Kuwait where she served as a law enforcement officer. For further information or to register contact David Austin at lcda@midmaine.com

Further info or to register....

Sunday, 18 May 2008, various times - Washington, DC - KidSpy® Festival -Tradecraft Try-Its at the International Spy Museum.

Does your child have what it takes to be a spy? Now's the chance to find out and provide a fascinating session at the Spy Museum! Here's the brief on their upcoming Sunday event:
Ever tried to beat a lie-detector, break a top secret coded message, write in invisible ink or practice the ancient martial art of Ninjitsu? You can try all this and more at the Museum's first ever Spy Fest. Mini-missions, trade-craft demonstrations and trade-craft try-its will allow KidSpy agents and their "handlers" to get an insider's perspective into the shadow world of spying. Join John Sullivan, a polygraph examiner with the CIA for 31 years, as he demonstrates how to conduct a polygraph exam. Forensic scientists from the FBI will be on hand as well to present workshops on handwriting and fingerprint analysis while an expert demonstrates the techniques of Ninjitsu.
Ages: 7+ with an adult. KidSpy workshops are specifically designed for the age range listed. If a child is not age appropriate, The International Spy Museum will be unable to accommodate them.
TIMES: Three Sessions! 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM or 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM or 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Where: International Spy Museum, 800 F St NW, Washington, DC, Gallery Place/Chinatown Metrorail Station
Tickets: $12; Advance Registration required.
Tickets are non-refundable and do not include admission to the International Spy Museum. To register, call Ticketmaster at 202.397.SEAT, 800.551.SEAT or the Museum at 202.393.7798; order online at ticketmaster; or purchase tickets in person at the International Spy Museum.

Further info or to register....

Wednesday, 21 May 2008 - Tampa, FL - The AFIO Suncoast Chapter hears from Blackwater Founder/CEO Erik D. Prince.

The Chapter is hosting an ad hoc joint meeting with Armed Forces Communications & Electronics Association (AFCEA). Erik D. Prince, Founder and CEO of Blackwater, will be our guest speaker, with particularly interesting topics, so mark your calendars now. The meeting will be at the MacDill AFB Surf’s Edge Club in Tampa, Fl. For further information email garyg@suncoastafio.org.

Wednesday, 21 May 2008, 11:30 a.m. - Phoenix, AZ - The AFIO Arizona Chapter luncheon will hear "Inside the Terrorist Mind: The Unconscious Reality of Those Who Would Destroy Us" by guest speaker Barry Austin Goodfield, Ph.D.

Goodfield is Senior professor at Henley-Putnam University, an online intelligence university composed of ex-CIA and Secret Service officials. The event takes place at the Hilton Garden Inn in Phoenix, (One block West of Central Avenue on Clarendon and one block South of Indian School Road). For reservations or concerns, please call Simone Lopes at 480.368.0374

Further info or to register...

OTHER IMPORTANT UPCOMING EVENTS .....

7 June 2008 - Northampton, MA - AFIO New England Spring meeting features Dr. Kristie Macrakis on East German Espionage.

The meeting will be held at the Hotel Northampton at 36 King Str., Northampton, MA, 413-584-3100.  A full description of services as well as directions to the hotel, are available on-line at http://www.hotelnorthampton.com. 
Our schedule is as follows: Registration & gathering, 11:00 - 1200, Luncheon at 1200 followed by our speaker, Kristie Macrakis, Ph.D. who will speak on East German Espionage, with adjournment at 2:30PM.
Note, as this meeting is a one day event we have not made any arrangements with the Hotel Northampton for a reduced room rate. For additional information contact afionechapter@gmail.com
Luncheon reservations must be made by May 27th with: Mr. Arthur Hulnick, 216 Summit Avenue # E102, Brookline, MA 02446, 617-739-7074 or hlnk@aol.com.  Advance reservations are $25.00 per person, $30.00 at the door - per person.

21 June 2008 - Kennebunkport, ME - The Maine Chapter hosts Tyler Drumheller, for CIA.

The Maine Chapter meets at the Kennebunk Free Library in Kennebunk at 2:00 p.m. Our speaker will be Tyler Drumheller, recently retired after a career of service to our country as a Central Intelligence Agency operations officer. For further information or to register contact David Austin at lcda@midmaine.com

Tuesday, 19 August 2008 – Vienna, VA - THE SIXTH ANNUAL AFIO SOCIAL EVENT - The Boston Pops at the Wolf Trap Park in Vienna, Virginia!

This year we have moved the annual social from Boston's Symphony Hall to the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts on Tuesday, August 19 at 8:00 PM. The concert choice for this year will once again be the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra. For those who would like to attend the social/concert at Wolf Trap [located at 1645 Trap Road, Vienna, Virginia 22182], you must purchase directly through Wolf Trap for seating choices. Since there are no group reserved seating, details on a meeting location to socialize prior to the concert will be announced at a later date. Tickets for this concert and Wolf Trap 2008 Filene Center Season go on sale Saturday March 29. Call the Wolf Trap Box Office at (703) 255-1868 to purchase tickets. http://www.wolftrap.org No portion of your purchase constitutes a donation to AFIO; therefore this is strictly a social event.

AFIO 2008 SPY AUCTION IS SEEKING DONATIONS

 The Second AFIO Spy Auction is fast approaching. So is Spring Cleaning. Who can resist? This is the right moment to donate appropriate, unwanted items to the 2008 Auction, receive a great tax-deduction, benefit numerous AFIO programs....and enjoy all that extra space in your office or home.
Your donated items will be placed in the online Auction catalog. Worth exploring because you may find treasures donated by others calling out to you and that newly empty shelf. Last year we had the famous pipe one sees in many of the photos of DCI Allen Dulles - along with the original photograph. It quickly sold, and both donor and winning bidder left their keyboards happy. As did AFIO, for which we thank all participants.
The goal this year: to raise funds to support AFIO programs in the areas of education, career recruitment, scholarships, seminars, publications, and conferences.
Please help by donating books, gift items, historic photos, documents or even your services [legal, accounting, career advisory, investigatory] that would be of interest to AFIO Members or the public. Donors receive a tax-deduction receipt for the value their donated items received when auctioned. Items that do not sell are noted with a donation receipt for the property, but specific valuation is left to the donor and their own appraisers.
 We request items be submitted before May 15, 2008, to give us time to insert them into the auction but will still take donated items throughout the auction.
Sponsorship's Available
Platinum - $750  (name/logo, website link, featured sponsor in auction plus additional benefits - contact AFIO for details)
Gold - $500  (name/logo with your website link)
Silver - $250  (Name/logo only)
Although the auction does not open until June 1st and you will not be able to bid at this time, you are welcome to visit the auction site at www.afio.cmarket.com

Further info or to register....

OPERATION ISTANBUL....

SpyCruise in the Black Sea - July 2009 - Certain to Sell Out during 2008 so Do not wait.
Join Intelligence Professionals from CIA, the RCMP Security Service, and the KGB July '09 on a Trip of a Lifetime to Istanbul, Balaklava, Sochi, Yalta, and back...learning why these places have intelligence significance through talks by experts on espionage, tradecraft, clandestine equipment, and related on-the-job matters.

Join us on the Seabourn Odyssey in July 2009 to visit some fascinating sites of great historical value, and be accompanied by a group of intelligence professionals drawn from the international intelligence community (including the CIA, RCMP Security Service and the KGB) who will give daily lectures on Cold War espionage, intelligence tradecraft, clandestine equipment and other related topics.
1. ISTANBUL. We shall visit the home and office of Kim Philby, the British Secret Intelligence Service officer who was the local station commander between 1946 and 1949. He was also a Soviet spy and he betrayed details of several covert operations mounted from Istanbul across the Turkish border. Also on the itinerary is the Soviet legation where a GRU officer, Konstantin Volkov, worked until he offered to defect to the British in September 1945. He too was betrayed by Philby who flew from London to handle his case, only to find that Volkov had been arrested by the NKVD. Our escort will be one of the world's leading intelligence authorities who coauthored Philby's biography.
2. SOCHI. Stalin's camouflaged dacha in the woods above Sochi gave him a secure refuge and an isolated, guarded compound in which he relaxed and planned his strategy. His study, billiards-room and living quarters remain unchanged, and we will enjoy lunch in his dining-room where there will be a lecture on Stalin and Lavrenti Beria, his notorious intelligence chief.
3. YALTA. The venue for the great February 1945 Crimea Conference attended by Winston Churchill, Stalin and an ailing President Roosevelt, we will tour the Czar's summer palace where the meetings took place and see the room on the ground floor where FDR stayed, tended by his daughter. We will also visit the Vorontsov villa where Churchill and the British delegation stayed and hear a talk from Nigel West on Alger Hiss, the State Department adviser who was a Soviet spy and a member of the American delegation.
4. BALAKLAVA. This former Soviet Black Sea Fleet base includes an underground submarine depot carved out of a mountain and concealed behind huge camouflaged bomb-proof steel doors. Built in conditions of great secrecy in 1956, the cavernous facility includes a canal to the open sea, a dry dock, weapons bays and workshops, and now accommodates a Cold War museum filled with naval exhibits. We will be accompanied by a former Soviet nuclear submarine commander who worked on the site, and his wife. 
Dates: Embark 8 July 2009, Istanbul. Disembark 18 July 2009, Istanbul. Contact: amanda@travelxperts.com