AFIO Weekly Intelligence Notes #30-16 dated 26 July 2016

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CONTENTS

Section I - INTELLIGENCE HIGHLIGHTS

Section II - CONTEXT & PRECEDENCE

Section III - COMMENTARY

Section IV - Events

Upcoming AFIO Events

Other Upcoming Events

For Additional AFIO and other Events two+ months or more... Calendar of Events 

WIN CREDITS FOR THIS ISSUE: The WIN editors thank the following special contributors:  gh, mk, fm, kc, jm, mr, jg, th and fwr. They have contributed one or more stories used in this issue.

The WIN editors attempt to include a wide range of articles and commentary in the Weekly Notes to inform and educate our readers. However, the views expressed in the articles are purely those of the authors, and in no way reflect support or endorsement from the WIN editors or the AFIO officers and staff. We welcome comments from the WIN readers on any and all articles and commentary.
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There will be no Weekly Intelligence Notes for the week of 2 August 2016
We will resume the following week on 9 August.
Holiday for WINs editors

Did you work for CIA's National Resources Division?

Alumni of CIA National Resources (NR) Division are planning a reunion at a dinner venue in northern Virginia on Saturday, 8 October 2016. Anyone who served in NR or its predecessor organizations are invited. The cost is $100 per person. Those interested in attending may contact Ned Carmody (nedcarmody@gmail.com) for further information.

Congressman Frank Wolf discusses "Nigeria and Boko Haram" at the Westminster Institute

Tuesday 16 August 2016, 7:30 to 8:45 PM in McLean, VA

Nigeria is on the verge of fracturing along religious fault lines. Ethnic and religious minorities in northern Nigeria face systemic and systematic discrimination. Muslims and Christians in northeastern Nigeria are profoundly and negatively impacted by the terrorist violence pursued by Boko Haram. Christians risk extinction in Nigeria's northeast.
Congressman Frank Wolf was widely acknowledged as the "conscience" of the Congress during his long service in the House of Representatives. First elected in 1980, he left Congress at the end of his 17th term in 2015 to focus exclusively on human rights and religious freedom.

Former Congressman Frank Wolf is Senior Fellow of the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative.

Long before the "Arab Spring" turned into an "Arab Winter," Congressman Wolf sounded the alarm about the worsening plight of religious minorities, notably the ancient Christian communities in both Iraq and Egypt.

He has recently returned from a trip to Nigeria. Nigeria is on the verge of fracturing along religious fault lines. Ethnic and religious minorities in northern Nigeria face systemic and systematic discrimination. Muslims and Christians in northeastern Nigeria are profoundly and negatively impacted by the terrorist violence pursued by Boko Haram. Christians risk extinction in Nigeria's northeast.

Congressman Wolf continues to be an advocate for those who cannot speak for themselves. In January 2015, he was appointed the first-ever Wilson Chair in Religious Freedom at Baylor University. That same month he joined the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative, a newly created religious freedom group, as Distinguished Senior Fellow.

He is the author of the International Religious Freedom Act, which infused America's first freedom - religious freedom - into U.S. foreign policy by creating the International Religious Freedom Office at the State Department.

Where: Westminster Institute, 6729 Curran St, McLean, VA 22101.
Register here.

Can't attend above event, or would like to see recent prior ones?
Here are a few to view online.

PROTECTING AMERICA FROM RADICAL ISLAM
Andrew C. McCarthy III is a former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. He led the 1995 terrorism prosecution against Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman. Our legal architecture for fighting the infiltration of radical Islam is stuck in a pre-1993 Cold War framework that prohibits the exclusion of aliens on the grounds of ideological animus against the U.S. as opposed to terrorist activities. We face an ideology that promotes acts of mass terror.
View video here.

DEFINING ISIS AND FIGHTING IT IN MOROCCO
The media and the current U.S. administration have struggled since 2014 to define ISIS. Some have said it is not Islamic at all, which, while well-meaning, seems to fail on its face as ISIS draws upon Islamic texts to justify its actions. ISIS is an apocalyptic, genocidal, Islamic cult. We must address and combat ISIS as a cult to defeat it.
View video here.

HOW JIHADISTS WEAPONIZE ISLAMIC HISTORY
Sunni and Shiia religious extremists in the Middle East have succeeded in weaponizing memory. They wield historical precedence to inform and legitimize their actions and strategies. Nibras Kazimi, an Iraqi citizen, will discuss how they do this and how to undermine their legitimacy by de-weaponizing precedence. His blog Talisman Gate was one of the most riveting Baghdad blogs, written in the midst of its drama and turmoil, providing acute political insight.
View video here.

WINNING THE WAR AGAINST RADICAL ISLAM
Ten years ago we found evidence that al-Qaeda was far more organized and adept than we had realized. It took us nearly that long to locate and execute their leader, Osama bin Laden, and we are far from finished. Al-Qaeda has morphed into a much more dangerous, menacing threat: ISIS. Defeating these radical Islamists will require decisive action. Dr. Michael Ledeen's new book, Field of Fight: How We Can Win the Global War Against Radical Islam and Its Allies (St. Martin's Press, 2016), is co-authored with Lt. General Michael T. Flynn, former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency.
View video here.

 

Section I - INTELLIGENCE HIGHLIGHTS

Spy Agencies Struggle to Spot Threats From Lone, Mentally Ill Attackers.  Recent attacks on civilians in the US and Europe have exposed a gap in the intelligence community's efforts to track suspected extremists and prevent mass killings, a half dozen American, British and French counterterrorism officials told Reuters.

The attacks have a common theme of being carried out by actors with an apparent history of mental illness - but few if any direct links to extremist groups, the officials told Reuters.

From both a legal and a strategic perspective, counterterrorism investigators globally are focused on plots by established violent groups with known ideologies, such as Islamic State.

In the US, laws designed to protect citizens from intrusive government spying can limit investigations of individuals unless they have provable ties to foreign terror groups.  [Read more:  Hosenball/Reuters/25July2016]

New Deputy Directors Appointed at Romanian Intelligence Service.  President Klaus Iohannis signed on Friday the decrees for releasing two-star general Ioan Grosu from deputy director of the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI), effective 1 August, and appointing as deputy directors one-star general Adrian Ciocirlan and colonel Romeo-Cristian Bizadea.

General Grosu got the third star on his retirement. Four more SRI generals - Florea Ciobanu, Vicentiu Mangra, Adrian Popescu and Gheorghe Puiu - were ordered to retire.  [ActMedia/25July2016]

NH Police Meet With Federal Criminal Intelligence Agency to Tackle Drug Crisis.  Local law enforcement officials met with a federal intelligence gathering organization with the goal of sharing information to deal with the drug crisis.

Rep. Frank Guinta, R-NH, and Rep. Annie Kuster, D-NH, as well as representatives from several police departments attended a presentation by the El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC) in Concord Tuesday.

EPIC is an intelligence gathering hub that works with several federal law enforcement agencies and shares information on a nationwide database.

Local departments can share and receive information almost instantly, which gives access to a wide net of intel, including cross-checking out-of-state license plates or data about a person's recent border crossings.  [Read more:  Shaughnessy/NH1/19July2016]

No Change in Top Army, Intel Seats After Failed Coup Attempt: Erdoğan.  Turkey's National Intelligence Agency (MİT) chief Hakan Fidan, who has faced criticism before and after the failed military coup attempt of July 15, and Chief of General Staff Hulusi Akar will both remain in their positions during an upcoming "transition process," President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said. 

"He did not offer his resignation. We did not discuss this," Erdogan said in an interview with the France 24 television station after an unscheduled meeting with Fidan at the presidential palace on July 22, while admitting that there had been an intelligence failure.

"There was a weakness regarding intelligence, a failure," he added, while also noting that such failures had also been seen in the US over the September 11, 2001 attacks and the recent attacks in Belgium and France.

Erdoğan said Fidan and Akar, who was held hostage by the plotters on the night of the attempted coup, would be staying on but their positions were under review.  [Read more:  Hurriyet/24July2016]

Rio Olympics: Brazil Weighs Jihadi Threats.  Brazil's intelligence agency said it was reviewing all threats against the Rio 2016 Games after a jihadi messaging channel called for its followers to target the Olympics.

"Many [threats] are discarded and the ones that deserve attention are investigated exhaustively," the agency said.

Earlier this week, a jihadi channel on the messaging app Telegram called for attacks against the Games and detailed targets and methods, according to the SITE Intelligence Group.

SITE said a message was posted to "Inspire the Believers!" saying, "Lone wolf from anywhere in the world can move to Brazil now." The message also suggested using the Games to target the enemies of jihad, including Western athletes, and said it would introduce the hashtag "#RioLW."  [Read more:  Boykoff/CNN/20July2016]

CTIIC Chief: We're up and Running.  The Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center came out of a simple idea: As with terrorism, the intelligence community needs to produce a holistic, rather than anecdotal, picture of cyber threats. 

The absence of such a portal for cyber-threat intelligence came into stark relief in the aftermath of the November 2014 cyberattack on Sony Pictures Entertainment. There was no one-stop shop the White House could turn to when looking to lay blame for that hack.

In an interview six months after being named CTIIC Director, Tonya Ugoretz said her team is providing a much-needed pipeline of cyber-threat intelligence to policymakers.

CTIIC produces a threat intelligence summary about twice a week to contextualize recent cyber-threat reporting from intelligence agencies. The report is designed to make sense to a non-technical audience, she said.  [Read more:  Lyngaas/FCW/22July2016]

One Russian Security Agency Raids Another, in Rare Sign of Dysfunction.  Russia's main domestic intelligence service raided the Moscow headquarters of an investigative agency on Tuesday, in a rare sign of dysfunction in the country's domestic security services.

The raid, recalling the rivalries and infighting of the immediate post-Soviet period, played out on a main street in the capital, New Arbat, and ended with arrests of three senior prosecutors.

Agents of the Federal Security Service, or FSB, the main successor to the Soviet KGB, searched the offices of the Investigative Committee, the powerful branch of the prosecutor's office that deals with politically hued crimes.

The raid was all the more baffling because the two agencies are generally viewed as operating in lock step to repress political dissent, crack down on organized crime and pursue other high-profile cases in the capital.  [Read more:  Kramer/NYTimes/19July2016]

North Korea Revives Coded Spy Broadcasts After 16-Year Silence.  In an era of sophisticated spycraft, North Korea appears to be returning to the days of shortwave radio.

The North broadcast a series of seemingly random numbers on Pyongyang Radio twice recently, an eerie reminder of the days when the North encrypted messages to its spies in South Korea.

In the latest episode last Friday, an announcer read what she described as "a mathematics review assignment for investigative agent No. 27," engaged in a "distance learning" program.

"Turn to Page 459, No. 35; Page 913, No. 55; Page 135, No. 86," she said, continuing to cite numbers for 14 minutes.   [Read more:  NYTimes/22July2016]

Pentagon Wants to Automate Social-Media Checks on Clearance Holders.  The Pentagon is conducting market research for a planned 12-month "social media checks" pilot that would analyze public posts to help determine an employee's suitability for Defense Intelligence Agency classified work.

The effort is part of a shift away from screening intelligence and military staff every five years, as is current practice. The program is meant to support "continuous evaluation" through automated searches of various data sources, including social media posts, DIA says.

The scope of this particular trial run would involve generating "social media reports" that provide "comprehensive and objective data" and expertise to carry out a "whole of person review," in line with Office of Director of National Intelligence guidelines, states a newly released January draft statement of work.

In May, DNI chief James Clapper issued a directive approving the use of social media in the public domain to vet personnel.  [Read more:  Sternstein/NextGov/20July2016]


Section II - CONTEXT & PRECEDENCE

The Intelligence Community Is Sharing More Data, and Making IT More Secure.  Making sense of the mountains of information collected by agencies within the intelligence community has been a major challenge - one made even more significant by the differences in technology and data from agency to agency.

But a steadily maturing program within the community is helping to address some of its most serious challenges. The Intelligence Community Information Technology Enterprise program, commonly known as ICITE (pronounced eyesight), is improving the way agencies handle, store and analyze data.

ICITE was established in 2012 to help agencies share data more freely using common standards and platforms. The program provides a collaborative environment in which analysts can work. No collaborative environment existed in the past, and now the ICITE program has established a common desktop for users to work from, an App Mall from which users can download community applications, and the IC Cloud for data storage.  [Bannan/FedTech/22July2016]

Book Review: The Black Door - Spies, Secret Intelligence and British Prime Ministers.  The Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq War took a lot of evidence relating to the acquisition, analysis and use of intelligence by the British establishment, and in particular by Prime Minister Blair.

In the executive summary of the report there are a number of trenchant observations and criticisms. It can be argued that many of the lessons learnt highlighted by Chilcot have already been acted upon, not least the crucial role of the National Security Council established by Prime Minister Cameron in 2010.

Aldrich and Cormac are Professors of International Relations who have specialised in studies which include GCHQ and the role of British intelligence in countersurgency in former colonies. They have worked the archives both public and private and benefited from off the record briefings by officials, members of the agencies and former ministers.

Surprisingly, it is the first study looking at nineteen successive Prime Ministers from Asquith in 1909 to Cameron in 2015 and how they have used intelligence. When MI5 and MI6 were founded in 1909 Asquith showed little interest and they fought hard to maintain their budgets, their independence and their staff. At various stages over the last one hundred years they have struggled to retain their individual identities - some people have argued for the sake of economy and rationalisation that both services should be combined - and to remain relevant as threats have declined and emerged - the end of the Cold War and the rise of international terrorism.  [Read more:  Simpson/TotalPolitics/20July2016]

Spy Chief 'Excited' About Agency's Modernization Effort.  Although CIA Director John Brennan admitted last week the agency's modernization effort has experienced pushback from some of its most tenured employees, he expressed excitement over how his agency has used technology to improve its data collection and analytic efforts.

The CIA made news two years ago for its deal with Amazon Web Services to lead the development of cloud computing capabilities for the intelligence community. Then, last year, the CIA stood up its first new directorate in more than 50 years, designed to improve agents' individual tech skills, improve data governance across the agency and to harness the power of big data.

Evidently, it hasn't been easy.  [Read more:  Konkel/NextGov/25July2016]

Identifying the Vulnerabilities:  Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate Marks 10 Years.  If you can imagine a disaster involving explosives or the release of nuclear, biological, chemical, or radioactive material, there's a pretty good chance a group of subject-matter experts within the FBI has built an elaborate scenario around it and tested how well emergency responders face up to it.

It's one of the main jobs of the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Directorate - to imagine worst-case scenarios and then devise ways to prevent and prepare for them. The Directorate was created 10 years ago this month, on July 26, 2006. John Perren, who has served as the WMD Directorate's assistant director since 2012 and was instrumental in its creation, said his team's job is to find gaps and vulnerabilities in the system and work to fix them.

"Countermeasures is the capital P-for-Prevention in the WMD Directorate," said Perren, who retires this month after nearly 30 years as an FBI agent. "That's where we sit down with academia, we sit down with the private sector, we sit down with the scientific community, and we describe to them what we view as the threat. Then together we decide: What are the gaps, what are the vulnerabilities, and how do we mitigate them?"

Given the nature of his job, Perren is often asked what his biggest worries are. "What keeps me up at night is not what I know. It's what I don't know," he has said in speeches, in testimony, and in briefings to members of Congress.  [Read more:  FBI/25July2016]

MI6 Opens Doors to First School Trip.  MI6 has welcomed its first ever school trip as it broadens its recruiting pool for spies and tries to dispel the perception that staff are only chosen via a "tap on the shoulder" at Oxbridge colleges.

Seven prize-winning students from some of the most deprived areas of Wales met the chief of the secretive organisation during a careers trip to the capital. 

The Secret Intelligence Service wants to attract a wider range of recruits, amid fears that potentially successful candidates may be not be considering a career within the service.

The diverse security threats Britain faces also means it needs an ever broader range of spies and skills, sources said.  [Read more:  Farmer/Telegraph/25July2016]

Section III - COMMENTARY

Who Hacked the Democratic National Committee?  In the middle of a presidential campaign, a group of foreign spies infiltrates the information network of a political party. And then, another group of spies from that same foreign nation infiltrates the same network, but in a much clumsier way. The political party finds out and goes public.

The stolen information is released, first a few selected documents to a select publisher, and then later, what is presumably the whole trove ends up online. An individual, who is not a spy, reaches out to media to claim credit, but their story doesn't check out. At the end of it, the chair of the party resigns.

This isn't some cyberpunk thriller. This is a description of our cyberpunk reality.

Here are the relevant players of that above drama: the hacked party is the Democratic National Committee. The foreign power is Russia, and the first group of spies is the FSB, the Kremlin's successor to the infamous Soviet KGB. The clumsier spies are from GRU, Russia's military intelligence agency. "Guccifer 2.0" is the name of the hacker who claims sole responsibility, and the whole trove was published by Wikileaks on Friday, after excerpts were published by The Hill. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, the embattled head of the Democratic National Committee, stepped down yesterday.  [Read more:  Atherton/PopularScience/25July2016]

Section IV - Events

AFIO EDUCATIONAL EVENTS IN COMING TWO MONTHS....

For more information, please contact Tom VanWormer at robsmom@pcisys.net.

Tuesday, 9 August 2016, noon - 2 pm - MacDill AFB, FL - The Florida Suncoast AFIO Chapter hosts Capt Michael Silah, Commander NOAA, on "Hurricane Hunters."

The Florida Suncoast Chapter luncheon features a very topical program by CAPT Michael J. Silah, commander of the NOAA "Hurricane Hunters."
The program is scheduled to start at noon and will include a remembrance of the recently departed Dr. Ken Campbell, a longtime and treasured Chapter member.

Event location: MacDill AFB Surf's Edge Club, 7315 Bayshore Blvd, MacDill AFB, FL 33621. Admission only allowed to those who have pre-registered with the chapter for this event.

If you will be attending, respond to chapter secretary Michael Shapiro no later than noon on Tuesday, 2 August, with your name and the names of any guests. Please do not respond for others, aside from designating any of your own guests, as this will also delay your reservation.

The Surf's Edge Club has tightened its reservation policy, so please do not respond late.

If you (or any of your guests) have not previously attended one of our meetings and need base access, Mr. Shapiro will provide instructions. Important---if you make a reservation, and by 2 August have failed to get a cancellation confirmation and then don't show up, you will be responsible for the cost of the luncheon since the chapter will have to pay for your meal whether you are present or not.

After you RSVP, you will received an acknowledgement from the chapter confirming your registration. Should you not receive a reply within a day or two of registering, get back in touch with Mr. Shapiro at sectysuncoastafio@att.net to verify that your registration was received and to get a confirmation email.

The chapter is looking forward to seeing you at the meeting.
Questions to: Michael Shapiro, Secretary, Florida Suncoast Chapter of AFIO, (813) 832-1164 or sectysuncoastafio@att.net

Saturday, 13 August 2016, 11 am - 3 pm - Orange Park, FL - The North Florida Chapter hosts FBI Agent Dan Moxley, speaking on criminal operations, counterterrorism, counter-intelligence, cyber operations, and assessing the offensive and defensive capabilities of the US government's adversaries from a technical perspective.

Several new and interesting subjects will be covered at our August 13th meeting, ranging from criminal operations, counterterrorism, counter-intelligence, cyber operations, to assessing the offensive and defensive capabilities of the US government's adversaries from a technical perspective. Our speaker, FBI Agent Daniel Moxley, was graduated from Florida State University in May 2009, and has been an FBI Intelligence Analyst for nearly seven years, supporting the FBI intelligence program at both the headquarters and field level. He has participated in numerous high visibility and priority FBI cases, such as the Edward Snowden Compromise, Mexican Drug Cartels, the Boston Marathon Bombing and, most recently, the intelligence community's first successful extradition of a terrorist subject providing support to an extremist group via computer operations.

Please RSVP to Quiel at QBegonia@comcast.net or call him at 904-545-9549. Remember that guests and potential members are cordially invited. Luncheon cost is the usual $24 per person, pay the wait staff at the club. Looking forward to seeing everyone.

10 September 2016, 11:30am - Melbourne, FL - The AFIO Florida Satellite Chapter hosts Lou Pernice on "The History of Homeland Security."

Guest Speaker at this kick-off event for the fall season is Louis Pernice, speaking on "The History of Homeland Security: The American Experience from our Independence to 911." It will be presented from abroad perspective covering both constitutional, budgetary and social issues. Lou will also be covering the topic starting from the early colonial days of defending our borders through the Civil War, both World Wars, the Cold War, evolution of transnational terrorist threat and up to the 9/11 attacks.
Lou's professional background includes: Career law enforcement professional with a leadership record spanning over 40 years of demonstrated success in five federal/state law enforcement/support agencies including: United States Treasury Department - Internal Revenue Service; US Department of Agriculture - Office of Inspector General; US Department of Justice - Office of the Inspector General; US Immigration and Naturalization Service - Office of Professional Responsibility; and the Brevard Police Testing and Selection Center. Lou holds a Masters Degree in Public Administration from John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York and hold a BachelorsDegree in Psychology from Brooklyn College in New York.
Event will be held at Indian River Colony Club, 1936 Freedom Drive, Melbourne, FL 32940.
For more information or to register, do so at this chapter website link.

Other Upcoming Events

16 August 2016, 1130 am to 2 pm - McLean, VA - Pat Neary on "Analytic Quality" at the Defense Intelligence Forum

Mr. Pat Neary will speak on “Analytic Quality: you can’t manage what you don’t measure!”

Mr. Pat Neary is the Chief of Analytic Integrity & Standards in ODNI; as such he evaluates and reports to the DNI and the Congress on the quality of the IC’s analytic efforts. Therefore, he is responsible for ensuring that the Intelligence Community’s finished products are timely, objective, independent of political considerations, based upon all sources of intelligence, and demonstrative of the standards of proper analytic tradecraft. His career includes service as the Research Director at both DIA and DHS I&A, Associate J2 for the Joint Staff, as well as the Army G2 Senior Executive Analyst and the ODNI’s first Director of Strategy. His awards includes the Presidential Meritorious Rank award, the IC Galileo Award, and the National Intelligence Reform Medal.

For this forum, the attribution rules will be presented at the beginning of the presentation to ensure a complete understanding between the speaker and audience on how any disseminated information should be handle.

Location: Pulcinella Restaurant, 6852 Old Dominion Drive, McLean, VA
Pay at the door with a check for $ 29.00 payable to DIAA, Inc. Registration starts at 1130 AM, lunch at 1230 PM

Make reservations by 16 August 2016 by email here. Include names, telephone numbers, and email addresses. For each attendee, choose among chicken cacciatore, tilapia puttanesca, lasagna, sausage with peppers, or fettuccini with portabella for your luncheon selection. Please send in your luncheon selection with your reservation to reduce your wait time.
Checks are preferred, but will accept cash; however, credit card payments are discouraged.

Tuesday 16 August 2016, 7:30 to 8:45 PM - McLean, VA - Congressman Frank Wolf discusses "Nigeria and Boko Haram" at the Westminster Institute

Nigeria is on the verge of fracturing along religious fault lines. Ethnic and religious minorities in northern Nigeria face systemic and systematic discrimination. Muslims and Christians in northeastern Nigeria are profoundly and negatively impacted by the terrorist violence pursued by Boko Haram. Christians risk extinction in Nigeria's northeast.
Congressman Frank Wolf was widely acknowledged as the "conscience" of the Congress during his long service in the House of Representatives. First elected in 1980, he left Congress at the end of his 17th term in 2015 to focus exclusively on human rights and religious freedom.

Former Congressman Frank Wolf is Senior Fellow of the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative.

Long before the "Arab Spring" turned into an "Arab Winter," Congressman Wolf sounded the alarm about the worsening plight of religious minorities, notably the ancient Christian communities in both Iraq and Egypt.

He has recently returned from a trip to Nigeria. Nigeria is on the verge of fracturing along religious fault lines. Ethnic and religious minorities in northern Nigeria face systemic and systematic discrimination. Muslims and Christians in northeastern Nigeria are profoundly and negatively impacted by the terrorist violence pursued by Boko Haram. Christians risk extinction in Nigeria's northeast.

Congressman Wolf continues to be an advocate for those who cannot speak for themselves. In January 2015, he was appointed the first-ever Wilson Chair in Religious Freedom at Baylor University. That same month he joined the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative, a newly created religious freedom group, as Distinguished Senior Fellow.

He is the author of the International Religious Freedom Act, which infused America's first freedom - religious freedom - into U.S. foreign policy by creating the International Religious Freedom Office at the State Department.

Where: Westminster Institute, 6729 Curran St, McLean, VA 22101.
Register here.

Wednesday, 24 August 2016, noon- 2 pm - Washington, DC - Debriefing the President - at the International Spy Museum

In December 2003, after one of the largest, most aggressive manhunts in history, US military forces captured Iraqi president Saddam Hussein near his hometown. Beset by body-double rumors and false alarms, the Bush administration needed positive identification of the prisoner before announcing the capture. John Nixon was a senior CIA leadership analyst who had spent years studying the Iraqi dictator. Called upon to make the official ID, Nixon looked for telltale scars and tattoos and asked Hussein questions only he could answer―the man was indeed Saddam Hussein. Join Nixon as he exposes the preconceived ideas that led Washington policymakers astray and presents a new perspective on America's most enigmatic enemy in Debriefing the President. Tickets: FREE. Visit www.spymuseum.org

Wednesday, 24 August 2016, 6:30 pm- 8:30 pm - Washington, DC - Spies on Screen: The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe - at the International Spy Museum

When this lighthearted tale of espionage, surveillance, and mistaken identity premiered in 1972 it became an international sensation. Pierre Richard is Francois the tall blond man, an unsuspecting violinist who becomes a pawn in a goofy, but deadly, game of spy versus spy within France's Counter-Espionage department. The screwball comedy features a fabulous femme fatale, much slapstick, and lots and lots of collateral damage. Enjoy popcorn and sparkling French soda along with the evening's screening. In French with English subtitles; screening at the Spy Museum. Cosponsored by the Alliance Fran'aise de Washington and Film Movement. Tickets: $10. Visit www.spymuseum.org

28 - 29 October 2016 - The Hague, Netherlands - "Witness to Change: Intelligence Analysis in a Changing Environment" is topic of the NISA 25th Anniversary Conference

The Netherlands Intelligence Studies Association (NISA) celebrates its 25th anniversary with a two-days conference. Main theme is the strongly changed environment of the intelligence analyst during these past 25 years.
In other words: the 25th anniversary as a symbol for the revolutionary changes in the intelligence world with which analysts have to deal; both external developments (the onset of a multipolar world, asymmetric conflicts, the information revolution), and internal changes (in collecting, processing, dissemination, legitimization and supervision).
These developments forced intelligence analysts and organisations to adapt work processes and methods and techniques. Intelligence analysts still mostly operate in secret, but the demands of intelligence consumers and the public have changed over the last 25 years. Social and technological developments have changed the playing field and the rules of the game for the intelligence analyst, leading to an enormous growth in (publicly) available information and means of communication, and demands for more transparency and accountability. Aim of the conference is to touch on the consequences of this changed environment, and to look ahead.

Participants are invited to listen to distinguished experts in the field, and to enter into discussions on various topics relating to intelligence analysis.

The Conference will be held at the Nationaal Archief (the National Archive), Prins Willem Alexanderhof 20, The Hague, the Netherlands.
The conference program may be viewed here as a PDF.

Conference Fee: Standard Fee: Eur175; Student Fee: Eur80 (proof of status required). Fee covers registration, lunch and drinks.
To join the Conference Diner on Friday 28 October 2016, an extra fee of Eur30 is applicable.

To Register: For registration: fill this form. After registration you will receive further information as regards payment of the conference fee and the programme. There is a limited number of seats. Registration for the conference will close on 15 October 2016.
For further information please send an e-mail to 25yearsnisa@gmail.com

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