Intelligence and National Security Journal

Our Special Forum in remembrance David Kahn is trending at No.2 in the ObserveIR History ranking. https://lnkd.in/efzt8eXh

Our special forum in memory of David Kahn, who passed away in January this year, is now available online. We have contributions from Loch Johnson, David Sherman, Stephen Budiansky, Michael Warner, and Mark Stout. https://lnkd.in/eGtNU2FJ

Our latest edition, Vol 34, Issue 5 is out now! We start with another of our Profiles in Intelligence, an interview with Vappala Balachandran by Dr. Dheeraj Paramesha Chaya: https://lnkd.in/ezyiU6kh Attributing digital covert action: the curious case of WikiSaudiLeaks Simin Kargar https://lnkd.in/efqZr_DF ‘The weatherman and the umbrella’: a case of complex and multilayered defence intelligence relations in the Netherlands Saskia P. https://lnkd.in/eyNrAkEG Overt action: congressional oversight, private activism and Afghan covert action policy in the Reagan administration Diana Bolsinger https://lnkd.in/e6wBCpG7 ‘Vital and irreplaceable facilities’: explaining leverage when states host great powers’ spying operations Cullen G. Nutt https://lnkd.in/eEvuyswt Ignorance, indifference, or incompetence: why are Russian covert actions so easily unmasked? Kevin Riehle https://lnkd.in/e6finnMs Scholar, diplomat, Intelligence pioneer: Herbert Norman and Canada’s Special Intelligence Section, 1942-1945 Sam Eberlee https://lnkd.in/eiyvhRwv Identification-imitation-amplification: understanding divisive influence campaigns through cyberspace Jelena Vicic & Richard Harknett https://lnkd.in/e6EvSvxk Review Article The evolution of African intelligence cultures R. Gerald Hughes & Martin Plaut https://lnkd.in/eQqq4uRB

We are soliciting nominations for this year's Polly Corrigan Book Prize! This award, co-sponsored by King's Centre for the Study of Intelligence (KCSI) honours the life and work of the late Polly Corrigan, former journalist, PhD candidate, and teaching assistant at King’s College London, whose research focused on Great Terror in 1930s Soviet Union. The Prize aims to recognise scholarship published within the realm of intelligence and security written by female scholars and/or about women. It encourages scholars to go beyond traditional lines of inquiry and explore how women contributed to, and participated in the making of, the ‘Secret World’. For more details please go to https://lnkd.in/gAAsN3Pw

Delighted to share this Call for Papers for a special issue of Intelligence and National Security Journal on private sector intelligence, which I have the honour of guest editing alongside the brilliant Lewis Sage-Passant, PhD and Angela Lewis, PhD. Many thanks to Stephen Marrin for this opportunity. If anyone is thinking of writing on this critical and understudied subject, please do! #intelligenceanalysis

Yesterday the International Studies Association Intelligence Studies Section honoured our US Editor Stephen Marrin with the Distinguished Scholar Award for his outstanding work in the field and his service to the section. The award was presented by our UK Editor, Mark Phythian. Congratulations, Stephen!

Our Special Forum on Intelligence and Theory is now available online! The contributors were: Peter de Werd, Stephen Coulthart, Giangiuseppe Pili, Jules Gaspard, Cristina Ivan, Hager Ben Jaffel, Sebastian Larsson, Damien Rogers, Hamilton Bean, Ph.D., MBA, APR, Hedvig Örden, Christian Kaunert & Dr Samantha Newbery MSyI. *I've tried to tag as many of the authors as I can. My apologies to those I couldn't find. "This Forum arises from debates at panels of the Intelligence Studies Section of the International Studies Association (ISA) at the 2023 ISA annual conference. A range of scholars studying intelligence were invited by the editor, Peter de Werd, to share their views in autonomous statements. They were asked what they see as the most important issue(s), trend, challenge or controversy in intelligence research. Although the format does not allow for in depth elaborations, it is particularly valuable in providing an overview of contemporary academic perspectives and their interpretations. Bringing these together, comparing and contrasting them, contributes to mapping the field and hence can further a constructive academic debate". https://lnkd.in/ervfxKa8

Our March edition, Vol. 39, No. 2, is now out and it's a fascinating Special Edition - 'Spies as Writers' edited by Alan Burton, Huw Dylan, and Jago Morrison! https://lnkd.in/gn-K4iVy "This special issue of Intelligence and National Security examines the unique and significant roles played by writers as intermediaries between the secret state and the public sphere. Intelligence agencies operate in the shadows and are often assumed to be exempt from public oversight. Popular espionage fiction repeatedly reinforces the idea of the spy’s exceptionality, as perfectly exemplified in 007’s ‘license to kill’. Bond, most famous of all spies, is not only authorized to carry out extrajudicial killings but seems to enjoy a blanket immunity from accountability, whether legal or political. As many intelligence chiefs have complained, Fleming’s work projects a fantasy bearing little connection with the day-to-day work of intelligence agencies. As the essays published here show, intelligence work often merges dramatically with the sphere of politics and public debate, and writers have regularly found themselves acting as intermediaries between the secret state and the people. In this issue, leading scholars from across Literary and Intelligence Studies explore this interaction across a range of periods and national contexts. In the past, the two disciplines have occasionally been brought together, notably in Wesley Wark’s Spy Fiction, Spy Film and Real Intelligence (1991). But rarely has the resultant scholarship been as truly interdisciplinary or international as the essays presented here."

We are very sorry to hear of the death of David Kahn last week. He was one of the leading lights of intelligence studies, with his groundbreaking history of cryptography, and was one of our Board Members. We offer our deepest condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.