KCSI Digest - Jan 2025 | King’s Centre for the Study of Intelligence

January 2025 Digest

Events:

Cold War Virginia
26 January
The Cold War Museum, Online

The Commonwealth played a central role in United States involvement during the Cold War. With doomsday planning operations underway for World War III, the location of the Pentagon, CIA and other federal agencies established Northern Virginia as an epicenter of decision-making. As Virginia military bases readied for a potential surprise attack by the Soviet Union, local research facilities played a paramount role in the Space Race. In 1960, the Soviet Union’s shoot-down of U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers, a Virginia native, created a superpower crisis of epic proportions. Cold War historians Francis Gary Powers Jr. and Christopher Sturdevant will talk about their book on Cold War sites, personalities, and spies associated with the Commonwealth of Virginia along with other tales of espionage, heroism, and betrayal.

More details here.

Sell Like a Spy - Communication Strategies from the World of Espionage
14 January
The Institute of World Politics, Washington D.C.

Spies are not who you think they are. Far from the world of James Bond, they use skills that each of us can harness to refine our ability to grow relationships, influence people, and overcome a variety of challenges. In his book and the training program author Jeremy Hurewitz provides he shares not only tradecraft from the spy world, but also from law enforcement, military special forces, and other members of America's elite government agencies. Jeremy illuminates these concepts with compelling stories from the field and attendees will leave the discussion with a variety of communication methods to use in their careers and everyday lives.

More details here.

Courier: My Life as a Spy in Communist Czechoslovakia
28 January
The Friends of Czech Heritage, Embassy of the Czech Republic, London

Prof. Mark Cornwall, Emeritus Professor of Modern European History at the University of Southampton, draws on his own surveillance file, asking why, when and where he was being followed and assessed by the StB (the Czechoslovak security police). He then widens the focus to evaluate the general methods of StB information-gathering during the last years of communism. Who were the StB informers, and how far can we speak of an efficient system of vigilance, especially of foreign visitors to the country? Although so much of the StB archive was deliberately destroyed in December 1989, the talk reveals what can still be learnt from scrutinizing some personal case studies. It thereby offers some deeper suggestions about the actual (in)stability of the late communist regime in the build-up to the Velvet Revolution.

More details here.

David McCloskey in conversation with Gordon Corera
28 January
Waterstones Trafalgar Square, London

David McCloskey, the acclaimed author of Damascus Station and Moscow X, in conversation with Gordon Corera will discuss 'The Seventh Floor', a riveting, impeccably executed espionage thriller. A book about a Russian who arrives in Singapore with a secret to sell. When the Russian is killed and Sam Joseph, the CIA officer dispatched for the meet, goes missing, Artemis Procter is made a scapegoat and run out of the service. Traded back in a spy swap, Sam appears at Procter’s central Florida doorstep months later with an explosive secret: there is a Russian mole hidden deep within the upper reaches of CIA. As Procter and Sam investigate, they arrive at a shortlist of suspects made up of both Procter’s closest friends and fiercest enemies. The hunt soon requires Procter to dredge up her own checkered past in service of CIA, placing her and Sam into the sights of a savvy Russian spymaster who will protect Moscow’s mole in Langley at all costs, even if it means wreaking bloody havoc across the United States. Bouncing between the corridors of Langley and the Kremlin, the thrilling new novel by David McCloskey explores the nature of friendship in a faithless business, and what it means to love a place that does not love you back.

More details here.

Spy, Propagandist and “Best Friend the Czechs Ever Had”
30 January
British Czech and Slovak Association, Embassy of the Czech Republic, London and online

Robert Bruce Lockhart had an extraordinary career. In 1918, he served as the British Government’s “Agent” in Bolshevik Russia and orchestrated a brazen plot to topple Vladimir Lenin’s regime. The plot’s failure resulted in Lockhart’s imprisonment in the Kremlin before returning to Britain in disgrace. He was subsequently posted to the Prague Legation – the hub of ‘Eastern’ Europe’s post-war reconstruction. Lockhart was not to know that his arrival in the newly created Czechoslovakia would lead to his enduring affection for the Czech people, a lifelong friendship with Jan and Tomáš Masaryk and a willingness to defend their country from Nazi and Communist aggression for years to come. This talk led by James Crossland, Professor of International History at Liverpool John Moores University, explores Lockhart’s service as Britain’s representative to the Czechoslovak Government-in-Exile during World War Two, his work with the Special Operations Executive and the Czech resistance and his attempts, following the Communist coup of 1948, to use his gifts as a propagandist and practitioner of psychological warfare to rally the Czechs in the face of Soviet expansionism.

More details here.

Coffee and Conversation with the Hon. Michael Casey
14 January
Intelligence and National Security Alliance, Online

Join online for a special Coffee & Conversation with The Hon. Michael Casey, Director, National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC), on Tuesday, January 14, from 1:00-1:45 PM EST. Moderated by INSA President Suzanne Wilson Heckenberg, the discussion will focus on the growing nation-state threats to Western emerging tech firms, including malign investment, supply chain, and insider threats; Secure Innovation Guidance issued by NCSC & Five Eyes Intelligence Partnership; Ongoing PRC & Russian threats to critical infrastructure; and NCSC and counterintelligence outreach to the Defense Industrial Base.

More details here.

Coffee and Conversation with Dr. Timothy Wood
15 January
Intelligence and National Security Alliance, Online

Start the new year with a virtual Coffee & Conversation featuring Dr. Timothy Wood, Deputy Program Manager of the Machine-Assisted Analytic Rapid-Repository System (MARS) at DIA’s Directorate for Analysis. Moderated by Bishop Garrison, INSA's VP for Policy, the discussion will focus on integrating OSINT technology into MARS, using AI and machine learning for big data analysis and tackling challenges with innovative commercial solutions.

More details here.

Conferences:

Society for Intelligence History Conference
6 – 8 February 2025
International Spy Museum, Washington, D.C.

The Society for Intelligence History (SIH) will be pleased to welcome you to our fourth conference, which will be held at the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C., February 6-8, 2025. The annual conference provides a setting for exchange between intelligence scholars, practitioners, and students from around the world. Join us for two full days of expert panels, two blockbuster keynote lunch panels, and opportunities to meet other scholars and publishers. Registration fee includes admission to all panels and SIH-sponsored program events at the International Spy Museum venue with simple refreshments provided during breaks and keynote lunches.

More details here.

Recent Publications:

John Gilmour, ‘ Asymmetries and instabilities; Attaché Intelligence Liaison or ‘Legalised Spies’ in Stockholm and London during the Second World War?,” Journal of Intelligence History https://doi.org/10.1080/16161262.2024.2444804

Vivi Ringnes Berrefjord, ‘Commercially sourced Intelligence: Friend or Foe?,” Intelligence and National Security https://doi.org/10.1080/02684527.2024.2437955

James J. Wirtz, ‘Do We Need Diffuse Intelligence?,’ International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence https://doi.org/10.1080/08850607.2024.2428710