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

May 2025 Digest

Events:

Enigma Traitors
2 May 2025
International Spy Museum, Washington D.C. and online

Join Spy Museum Honorary Board Member Dermot Turing as he reveals a very different perspective on the story of Enigma and secret codebreaking in the Second World War. Building on decades of research and his unique position as Alan Turing’s nephew, Turing has recently written Enigma Traitors: The Struggle to Lose the Cipher War. In this evening’s talk, Turing will explore the obstinacy, overconfidence, and ostrich-like behavior on both sides and why he believes this made the codebreakers’ contest a race to fail first! Turing will pull back the veil on the treachery, betrayal, and deception of the Enigma traitors and shed light on the people who fought behind the scenes for cipher security.

More details here.

Ignorance is Deadly: The Middle East and the Role of the Secret Services
06 May 2025
German Spy Museum, Berlin

“Ignorance is deadly,” says BND agent and secret diplomat Gerhard Conrad, formerly the highest-ranking civilian intelligence officer at the European level. He was an agent for the Federal Intelligence Service for 30 years and was entrusted with top-secret missions in many hotspots around the world. He negotiated prisoner exchanges with terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah and governments in the Middle East. Hostage releases made Conrad known as a skilled negotiator. The Middle East conflict has once again opened up deep divides and raised pressing questions. How could what happened in Israel on October 7, 2023, happen? How did the intelligence services fail to recognize the impending catastrophe, and at what levels did they fail? Why is it that intelligence agencies repeatedly fail in their core mission of "speaking truth to power"? In times of fake news and hybrid warfare, it's more difficult than ever to obtain reliable information and provide actionable guidance on future developments. What do we need now to be prepared for an increasingly dangerous future with an effective intelligence service? *This discussion will be conducted in German.

More details here.

MI5: Official Secrets Exhibition
8 May 2025
The National Archives, London, UK

Come join us at the Friends of The National Archives for an exclusive event showcasing the MI5: Official Secrets Exhibition. Explore the fascinating world of espionage and intelligence while networking with like-minded individuals. Step inside the hidden world of MI5 and explore the extraordinary stories behind the security of a nation. For the first time, MI5’s history will go on display to the public in a major new exhibition, made possible through an unprecedented partnership between the Security Service and The National Archives. Explore the ever-changing world of espionage and security threats through original case files, photographs and papers, alongside the real equipment used by spies and spy-catchers over MI5’s 115-year history. From counter-espionage and daring double-agents during the world wars, to chilling Cold War confessions and the counter-terrorism of recent times, this historic exhibition will take you behind the scenes of one of Britain’s most iconic institutions.

More details here.

On the Trail of Spies
10 May 2025
London, UK

It’s a great pleasure to present Gordon Corera, host of the podcast The Rest is Classified which delves into the world of secrets and spies. A former BBC Security Correspondent, Gordon has written a number of books on security and spying, including MI6: Life and Death in the British Secret Service, Intercept: The Secret History of Computers and Spies and Russians Among Us: Sleeper Cells & the Hunt for Putin’s Agents. His next book Spy in the Archive comes out in June. He will be in conversation with BBC journalist and presenter of The World Today Maryam Moshiri.

More details here.

Sergei and the Westminster Spy Ring: Live Event
14 May 2025
Greenwood Theatre, London, UK

Join the team behind the chart-topping podcast, Sergei and the Westminster Spy Ring, and hear about our ongoing campaign for a full government investigation into Russian interference in UK democracy. Thee podcast investigates a Russian spy ring operating in plain sight of British politics, revealing connections between Conservative Party members and Russian lobbyists including in the lead up to the Brexit referendum. With law enforcement and intelligence services largely silent, this event asks the urgent question: Why was nothing done?This is a rare opportunity to hear directly from those exposing the hidden forces shaping UK politics — an event combining investigative journalism, espionage, law, and activism.

More details here.

The Spy and the State
14 May 2025
International Spy Museum, Washington D.C. and online

Is the US intelligence community’s greatest struggle with the American people, who expect it to keep them safe but not at the cost of their liberty and principles? Join Dr. Jeffrey P. Rogg, author of The Spy and the State: The History of American Intelligence in conversation with former CIA Museum historian and bestselling author Dr. Nicholas Reynolds. Rogg will describe how he used original research to develop a new interpretation of US history from the Revolutionary War to the present day. They will explore the origins and evolution of intelligence in America, including its overlooked role in some of the key events that shaped the nation. And how do these events echo today? They’ll reveal the historical origins of contemporary controversies in American intelligence that continue to receive widespread, constant attention in the news. They’ll discuss Rogg’s concept of US civil-intelligence relations to explain the fraught interaction between intelligence and the society it serves. However, Reynolds and Rogg will not just explore questions from the past, but also the questions for the future that the United States must confront as intelligence gains ever greater importance in the twenty-first century.

More details here.

Geopolitics and Deterrence in Cyberspace: Opportunities and Limits of Offensive Cyber Capabilities
20 May 2025
Stanford Center for International Security and Cooperation, online

Conflicts and crises between nations play out in cyberspace. For many years, policy practitioners have proposed a parallel between nuclear deterrence and cyber deterrence. Over the last decade, practical lessons learned from cyber offenses and defense across policy and operations contradict any parallel to nuclear deterrence theory. Indeed, it is better to think of offensive cyber-attacks as a new form of warfare, playing out across offense and defense. AI is about to supercharge both sides of this equation through everything from identifying vulnerabilities and exploits to managing cyber operations. This talk will discuss the lessons learned across offense and defense, based on the Anne Neuberger’s experiences in the policy and operational arenas at the White House’s National Security Council, NSA and USCC.

More details here.

Spy Chat with Chris Costa and special guest Colonel (Ret.) Fleming “Tal” Sullivan
20 May 2025
International Spy Museum, online

Join us for an online discussion of the latest intelligence, national security, and terrorism issues in the news. Spy Museum Executive Director Chris Costa will be joined by Colonel (Ret.) Fleming “Tal” Sullivan, former Director of Sensitive Activities, United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM).

Sullivan’s 30-year military career included 26 years as a United States Army Special Forces Officer (Green Beret). As a Green Beret, Sullivan served in various leadership roles involving direct action, clandestine, and strategic execution of our nation’s most sensitive defense policies and special operations during peacetime and in combat abroad. This included Director of Sensitive Activities USSOCOM; commander of a special operations task force in Beirut Lebanon; and commander of a joint unconventional warfare operational group. Sullivan also served as Military Deputy Director, Special Activities in Washington DC. Sullivan received numerous awards and accolades including five Bronze Star Medals, a Defense Superior Service Award, and two Legions of Merit Awards. He is currently the Director of Human Performance at GAP Solutions Inc. and the founder and president of Défions Strategic Consulting, LLC.

More details here.

In-Store Book Signing Event: In True Face with Jonna Mendez
24 May 2025
International Spy Museum Store, Washington D.C.

The bestselling coauthor of The Moscow Rules and Argo tells her riveting, courageous story of being a female spy at the height of the Cold War. Jonna Hiestand Mendez began her CIA career as a “contract wife” performing secretarial duties for the CIA as a convenience to her husband, a young officer stationed in Europe. She needed his permission to open a bank account or shut off the gas to their apartment. Yet Mendez had a talent for espionage, too, and she soon took on bigger and more significant roles at the Agency. She parlayed her interest in photography into an operational role overseas, an unlikely area for a woman in the CIA. Often underestimated, occasionally undermined, she lived under cover and served tours of duty all over the globe, rising first to become an international spy and ultimately to Chief of Disguise at CIA’s Office of Technical Service.In True Face: A Woman's Life in the CIA, Unmasked recounts not only the drama of Mendez’s high-stakes work—how this savvy operator parlayed her “everywoman” appeal into incredible subterfuge—but also the grit and good fortune it took for her to navigate a misogynistic world. This is the story of an incredible spy career and what it took to achieve it.

More details here.

Under the Nuclear Shadow: China’s Information-Age Weapons in International Security
29 May 2025
Stanford Center for International Security and Cooperation, online

How can states use military force to achieve their political aims without triggering a catastrophic nuclear war? How has China coped with this dilemma? While other nuclear-armed countries have preferred the traditional options of threatening to use nuclear weapons or fielding capabilities for decisive conventional military victories, China has instead chosen to rely on information-age weapons—offensive cyber capabilities, counterspace capabilities, and precision conventional missiles—to coerce its adversaries. In Under the Nuclear Shadow: China’s Information-Age Weapons in International Security (Princeton University Press, 2025) Fiona Cunningham explains this distinctive aspect of China’s post–Cold War deterrence strategy using an original theory of strategic substitution. When crises with adversaries created leverage deficits that highlighted the inadequacy of China’s existing military capabilities, China pursued information-age weapons that promised to provide coercive leverage against adversaries more quickly and credibly than the traditional options adopted by other nuclear-armed states. Drawing on hundreds of original Chinese-language sources and interviews with experts in China, the book provides new insights into the information-age technologies that are reshaping how states gain coercive leverage.

More details here.

Conferences:

15th Annual International Student Conference of the Cold War History Research Center, Budapest
27-28 May 2025
Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary

The 15th Annual International Student Conference will be held at Corvinus University of Budapest on May 27–28, 2025. The conference will take place in Budapest, Hungary, and organized in collaboration with the Cold War International History Project, Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars, Washington D.C. As in previous conferences, this year’s event will focus on the Cold War era in general and the post-Cold War period and will include a series of panel discussions and presentations covering a range of topics such as cultural narratives, ideological influences and Cold War strategies.

Topics include (but are not limited to):

East Central Europe in the Cold War and its Aftermath
Hungary in the Cold War
Western Europe and the Cold War
The Soviet Union and the United States in the Cold War
Asia and Africa in the Cold War and its Aftermath
International Relations during the Cold War
International Relations in the post-Cold War era

More details here.

Call for Papers:

International Intelligence History Association Intelligence History Book Prize 2025
Submissions Due: 1 June 2025

We are delighted to announce our call for nominations for the Intelligence History Book Prize 2025. The prize is worth €1,000 and will be awarded by the International Intelligence History Association (IIHA) at the 2025 IIHA Annual Conference in Tutzing, Germany, 26–28 September 2025. The book prize winner will also be featured in a future issue of the Journal of Intelligence History. There will be honorable mentions for highly commended runners-up. Books must have been published between 1 January 2024 and 1 June 2025. All entries must be based on sound and accurate historical research in the field of intelligence history, encouraging further exploration of the historical past from antiquity to contemporary history; research can cover any geographic region. Nominations are expected to make a significant contribution to the field. To submit please complete and send the online application form and send 1 digital copy of the nominated book, the author’s CV, and at least 1 review to the prize-giving committee via the IIHA executive director by the submission date of 1 June 2025. Submitted publications will not be returned.

More details here.

The Israeli Intelligence Studies Conference 2025
Call for Papers: Intelligence Transformations After Failure
Abstracts Due: 31 July 2025
Conference: 28 -29 October 2025

The Hamas-led surprise attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and the multi-front war that followed have sparked global debates about intelligence, security, and adaptation. How can intelligence-policy relations be restructured to improve early warning and crisis preparedness in the wake of failure? What organizational reforms emerge after intelligence breakdowns, and how do they shape future effectiveness? What technological and methodological advancements should intelligence agencies integrate to enhance operations and decision-making, and to what extent? Intelligence failures often serve as catalysts for change, driving institutional learning, structural reforms, and innovation. At a time when intelligence agencies are under intense scrutiny and the demand for resilience is greater than ever, this conference explores the theme “Intelligence Transformations After Failure.”

We encourage submissions addressing the following issues, but not limited to them:

The politics of intelligence (e.g., intelligence-policy relations, intelligence oversight, state inquiries, public trust, ethics of secrecy and espionage)
Technological, methodological, and cultural dimensions of early warning & intelligence collection, analysis, and operations
State intelligence relations with the private sector & civil society
Intelligence education for students & practitioners

We also invite nominations of excellent research in Intelligence Studies (IS) for the following awards:

Best Book (or monograph dissertation)
Best Peer-Reviewed Article
Best Graduate Paper

More details here.

Recent Publications:

Díaz Matey, G,” New Horizons in Intelligence Cooperation: Spain and the Evolution of EU and NATO Intelligence,” International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence
https://doi.org/10.1080/08850607.2024.2426723

Jones,C., & Geist Pinfold, R, “Israel and the Politics of Intelligence Failure on 7 October,” The RUSI Journal
https://doi.org/10.1080/03071847.2025.2487510

Lindsay, J. R., “Stuxnet revisited: From cyber warfare to secret statecraft,” Journal of Strategic Studies
https://doi.org/10.1080/01402390.2025.2481447

Papageorgiou, M., Leoni, Z., “The Five Eyes Allies and China: Assessing Threat Perceptions and Power Dynamics,” Journal of Chinese Political Science
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11366-025-09913-w