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

November 2025 Digest

Contents:

Events
Conferences
Call for Papers
Recent Publications
Podcasts

Events:

Berlin Freedom Week
10 November 2025
BND Visitor Center, Berlin

Under the motto "Freedom. Security. Dialogue.", the BND (German Federal Intelligence Service) is participating as a project partner in the Berlin Freedom Week, which is being held for the first time this year, with its visitor center . The BND visitor center will therefore be open on Monday, November 10, 2025, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. We would like to offer you an exciting day with interesting lectures and discussions on the topic of freedom - and therefore expressly not only on the fall of the Berlin Wall and the fall of the Iron Curtain. Alongside the lectures with prominent speakers, we will guide you through the BND exhibition at regular intervals throughout the day. *These discussions and tour will be held in German*

More details here.

Intelligence Services in the Wars: Ukraine and Iran
11 November 2025
German Spy Museum, Berlin

The military defense of Ukraine over the past three years has brought entirely new dimensions to warfare and, at the same time, impressively demonstrated the central importance of effective intelligence services at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels. For example, the vital satellite reconnaissance for the early identification and warning of ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as drones of all kinds. In turn, the Ukrainian military intelligence service has achieved extraordinary successes in reconnaissance and combating Russian military targets. The same can be observed in the conflicts in the Middle East: For years, Israeli intelligence services have created the operational conditions for a massive military strike against Iranian military and security structures. This has also enabled the targeted killing of numerous military, intelligence, and nuclear science leaders. The importance of long-term, strategically positioned, high-performance, modern intelligence services for the security and defense capabilities of states has thus become clearer than ever. What can, what must we learn from this?

More details here.

Inside Intelligence: Chinese Espionage Operations and Tactics
12 November 2025
Johns Hopkins, Online

Join MS in Intelligence Analysis program Director Michael Ard as he hosts Nicholas Eftimiades, assistant teaching professor of Homeland Security at Penn State Harrisburg’s School of Public Affairs, for a discussion on Chinese Espionage Operations and Tactics. Retired from the U.S. Department of Defense, Eftimiades spent 34 years in analysis, human and technical intelligence collection, and leadership roles in the CIA, as a Special Agent in the U.S. Department of State and the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, and as a Senior Intelligence Officer in Defense Intelligence Agency. His book, “Chinese Intelligence Operations,” is the first-ever scholarly examination of the structure, operations, and methodology of the intelligence services of the People’s Republic of China. His recent book “Chinese Espionage: Operations and Tactics” expands on that work. A nonresident Senior Fellow at the Forward Defense practice of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, Eftimiades is a frequent lecturer and public speaker on future technology, space, and national security issues.

More details here.

Roger Leiver’s Evening Lecture: House of Spies
14 November 2025
RAF Biggin Hill Museum and Chapel, Kent, UK

Join us as Roger Leivers explores the world of Intelligence during the Second World War and delivers his fascinating talk, House of Spies. Leivers explores the world of Intelligence, focusing on the role of Farm House and its role in gathering intelligence on the German Nuclear Programme. The Nightingale Café will be open from 6-7pm for refreshments and the discussion and Q&A will start at 7.

More details here.

Austin Carson, ‘Seeing like a superpower: Geopolitics and the Infrastructure of Intelligence’
14 November 2025
Cambridge Intelligence Seminar, Online

Infrastructures are everywhere in international politics. Carson will discuss the infrastructures of modern intelligence collection to understand how logistics and built physical systems allow states to “see” or “sense” from a distance. He will examine the unique features of intelligence infrastructures (clandestine/hidden status; political sensitivity of hosting it; need for proximity to the surveillance target) and their implications for geopolitics. Intelligence infrastructures are often large, material, and a snapshot in time that must be adapted. They are sticky and resistant to change, create a distinctive geography of strategic importance, and become entangled in domestic politics. Carson will introduce key cases of Cold War American intelligence infrastructures before comparing these with more contemporary changes and continuities from around the world.

More details here.

Dexter Ingram and The Spy Archive
22 November 2025
International Spy Museum, Washington D.C.

On Saturday, November 22nd at 10AM, we invite members to join Dexter Ingram, SPY Advisory Board member, as he leads a formal discussion on his new book, The Spy Archive. Dexter Ingram is a counterterrorism and counter WMD strategist with over 25 years of experience. His field experience spans multiple continents-from coordinating counterterrorism efforts at INTERPOL in Lyon, France; to leading U.S. interagency delegations to Asia and Africa focusing on nuclear proliferation deterrence; to serving as an advisor in Afghanistan's volatile Helmand Province. Dexter has assembled one of the most impressive private spy collections outside government archives. He currently serves on the boards of the International Spy Museum; Real Spy Comics; and the National Counterterrorism, Innovation, Technology, and Education Center. Dexter is the founder of IN Network, a nonprofit dedicated to mentoring promising young minds interested in careers in national security. Through his Substack, Code Name Citizen, he explores espionage history and draws connections between past intelligence operations and today's evolving national security challenges.

More details here.

Lord Sumption, ‘Inside the World of Medieval Espionage’
21 November 2025
Cambridge Intelligence Seminar, online

Field intelligence in the course of military operations is as old as war itself, but the systematic collection of political and strategic intelligence begins in the sixteenth century. However, medieval governments were just as curious as modern ones about what their adversaries were planning, even though they were more haphasard in their methods. Jonathan Sumption discusses the ways in which they discovered each other’s secrets.

More details here.

Philipp Springer: The Full-Time Staff
25 November 2025
Stasi Headquarters, Campus for Democracy, Berlin

The full-time employees of the East German State Security Service (Stasi) produced and left behind millions of photographs. They themselves are extremely rarely seen in them. The Stasi thus protected its secret police work. This photo book, for the first time, focuses on those who usually stood behind the surveillance camera. This book is the result of extensive research in the Stasi Records Archive, uncovering largely unpublished photographs of full-time employees of the East German State Security Service (Stasi). Supplemented by biographical sketches of the individuals photographed, it offers a unique glimpse into the daily lives of these secret police officers. These photographs have rarely been used as historical sources. The book aims to encourage greater research into these full-time employees. At the same time, the images are insightful for anyone interested in photography, contemporary history, and the history of East Germany.

More details here.

Conferences:

International Conference Need to Know XIV
Need to Know Annual Conference: In a World of Mirrors. Intelligence and Disinformation
Conference: 27-28 November 2025
Kraków, Poland

Many view the Cold War as the peak of intelligence battles and disinformation campaigns. Nevertheless, in recent years, suspicions of Russian influence on the politics of other nations have sparked a resurgence in discussions on deception, influence operations, disinformation, and societal resilience. Sometimes, these operations are intended 'only' to mislead enemy special services; sometimes, they target governments and politicians, and those aimed at entire societies, states, and nations, or even global public opinion, are considered the most dangerous. The names for this phenomenon are plentiful: Denial and deception (D&D), Hybrid Warfare, Subversion, Active Measures, Political Ideological Diversion, and Psychological Warfare. The exact definitions are often blurred and overlapping but have in common the mingling of foreign intelligence services in political and (dis)information struggles.

To intelligence scholars, security authorities, and societies, the correlation between intelligence services and disinformation constitutes a significant challenge. The complicated question is when foreign intelligence services disseminate malign information and when other actors are involved. The consequences of this dilemma are not just academic, as they determine whether disinformation needs to be handled secretly by counterintelligence organizations or whether it is openly addressed by other societal institutions or even by individual citizens. During the Cold War, both the East and the West favored the first variant, albeit on different scales. In the current situation, the options still seem open.

At this year's Need to Know conference, we address topics such as.:

Examples of Intelligence Services’ actual D&D/active measures operations
Intelligence Services countering similar covert measures
The use of true or false information for covert campaigns
Long-time effect of disinformation
Biases in judging the role of Intelligence Services’ role in disinformation
Consequences of misunderstanding covert disinformation
The agent of influence and front organizations
Media and conduits of disinformation

More details here.

Call for Papers:

2026 ICE Academic Conference
Call for Papers: Science and Intelligence in Europe: Responding to a New Era of Uncertainty
Abstracts Due: 14 November 2025
Conference: 17-19 June 2026
University of the Bundeswehr, Munich, Germany

In a time of geopolitical upheaval and rapid technological change, the study of intelligence has never been more urgent. The 2026 ICE Academic Conference brings together experts in Intelligence and Security Studies from across Europe. Its aim is to advance Intelligence Studies as a discipline and to strengthen ICE as a central hub in the European research network. The ICE Academic Conference is held under the auspices of the rotating Presidency of the Intelligence College in Europe, in close consultation with its Academic Advisory Board. Previous conferences took place in Salamanca under the Spanish Presidency in 2024 and in Bucharest under the Romanian Presidency in 2023. The 2026 Academic Conference will be hosted under the German Presidency at the University of the Bundeswehr in Munich, from 17–19 June 2026. It responds to the growing need for scholarly engagement with intelligence and security matters by bringing together experts on Intelligence and Security Studies in a pan-European academic context. The conference aims to boost the development of Intelligence Studies as an academic discipline in Europe and to establish ICE as one of the central nodes in the European Intelligence Studies network.

The ICE Academic Advisory Board invite submissions of abstracts (maximum 200 words) for the 2026 ICE Academic Conference, held under Germany’s Presidency on the theme “Science and Intelligence. “The Academic Advisory Board particularly welcome contributions that:

Address the science-intelligence nexus, especially in light of Europe's current technological and geopolitical transformations
Address the challenges faced by European countries in this evolving context
Take an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary perspective, drawing on diverse methods (quantitative, qualitative or mixed)
Consider intelligence not only from the perspective of science, but also examine science through the lens of intelligence analysis and practice

Eligible contributors include academics from universities, research institutes and other higher education institutions located in a member state of the Intelligence College in Europe. Applicants must also hold citizenship of an ICE member state. Affiliation with an ICE member institution is not a prerequisite for participation. Please submit your abstract to: ip@hsbund-nd.de by Friday, 14 November 2025.

More details here.

Call for Papers: Diplomacy, Intelligence and Influence in the Balkans and Beyond, 17th-19th Centuries
Abstracts Due: 30 November 2025
Conference: 24-25 March 2026
Bulgarian Academy of Science, Sofia, Bulgaria

With the emergence and spread of the new diplomacy during the Early Modern period, intelligence became an essential element of the emerging information and communication systems, key to geopolitical decision-making processes. The conference aims to bring together scholars and stimulate discussion of the entanglements between diplomatic and intelligence activities in the Ottoman Balkans emphasizing the role of the human factor, as well as the organization, functioning, and effectiveness of influential social and espionage networks within the framework of the European modernity.

In the 16th century, in the context of the escalation of traditional political struggles for hegemony in Europe and the emergence of new military and economic challenges “from outside”, beyond the borders of the Old Continent, political decision-making needed more than ever to ensure a constant flow of up-to-date information. This required organizing and maintaining networks of loyal contacts to ensure the adapting to the most efficient working methods. The gathered information subsequently played a key role in making tactical political decisions and made espionage and its main weapon – cryptography – the first assistants of diplomacy.

Submissions related to the following issues are welcome:

Diplomatic missions and intelligence activities in the geographical area of South-Eastern Europe and the chronological range of the 17th–19th c.
Social networks of individual diplomats and agents
Economic networks as a means of intelligence
Intelligence techniques and practices
Transmission of information
Diplomacy and espionage in times of peace and crisis

Please send an abstract of up to 300 words for fifteen-minute papers and a short biographical note to di.balkans.project@gmail.com. The deadline for submission is 30 November 2025. Applicants will be notified of the acceptance of their proposal by 15 December 2025. The conference will be held in person on 24-25 March 2026, at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia.

More details here.

Intelligence Studies Consortium (ISC) Spring 2026 Symposium
Call for Papers: The Intelligence Profession: Future Challenges and Opportunities
Abstracts Due: 16 January 2026
Symposium: 24 March 2026
University of Virginia, Charlottsville, VA

The Intelligence Studies Consortium (ISC) was established in 2018 by the National Intelligence University (NIU) and university partners to promote communication and cooperation among academic and government organizations. The ISC provides an organized forum for the partner universities to collaborate in exploring issues and engaging in solutions that can improve national security. The participating universities have intelligence studies academic programs and unique relationships with many government agencies, non-government organizations, and the private sector; the ISC seeks to develop these relationships and provide an integrated forum to discuss critical intelligence issues in intelligence education.

The upcoming Spring 2026 Symposium, titled "The Intelligence Profession: Future Challenges & Opportunities," will feature a combination of keynote speakers, student and faculty panels, student and faculty poster sessions, networking opportunities, and a Career Fair. We will feature information about publication, internships, and employment opportunities in government (intelligence community and non-Title 50 jobs) and the private sector. This symposium will be conducted both in-person and virtually; all sessions will be recorded. We’ll provide morning refreshments and host an evening reception. We will recognize outstanding student presentations with awards.

This Call for Submissions aims to solicit fresh insights from students and faculty members at the ISC universities—at the graduate, undergraduate, or post-doctoral levels—for presentation at the Spring 2026 Symposium, “The Intelligence Profession: Future Challenges & Opportunities.” The lines of effort for this challenge, supported by the Intelligence Studies Consortium, include Homeland Security, National Security & Great Power Competition, Business/Private Sector, Emerging Technologies, and the Concept & Future of Intelligence Studies. Individuals or teams of students should submit ideas in one of the areas below or note that their submission falls in an unidentified area (Open Topic Submission).

This symposium is an opportunity for students and faculty members to present recent work at an academic conference in a panel format. Panelists will be selected for participation in the symposium based on their proposal, which will be judged by the ISC faculty representatives, using the criteria below. In addition, all persons (whether or not selected for a panel) will have the opportunity to present in a poster session. Please submit a 1-2 page proposal (an abstract) for a 10-minute presentation at the symposium and panel discussion. Government employees are obligated to obtain prepublication review on their own prior to submission.

More details here.

Call for Papers: National Intelligence History Conference, ‘Intelligence Collaboration and Co-operation’
Abstracts Due: 29 January 2026
Conference: 14-16 October 2026
Bletchley Park, Milton Keynes, UK

The Bletchley Park Trust and GCHQ invite submissions for papers to be presented at the National Intelligence History Conference (NIHC) in October 2026. The conference is jointly hosted by Bletchley Park Trust (BPT) and the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). The conference will take place at the Fellowship Auditorium and Block E Learning Centre at Bletchley Park, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, UK, from the 14 – 16 October 2026. Submissions for papers to be delivered at the conference are welcomed from all those with an interest in intelligence history. This includes current and former intelligence practitioners, established academics, junior and early career scholars, and private researchers, as well as interested members of the public.

Submissions are therefore particularly welcomed which cover subjects accessible to an interested non-academic audience, as well as academic and specialist topics. In addition to the plenary talks and panels, submissions are also invited of academic posters for display within the conference suite.

The theme of the 2026 conference is ‘International Collaboration and Co-operation’. Before, and during, World War Two Bletchley Park’s close working relationships with personnel from the USA, Poland and France had substantial and significant effects in the intelligence war against the Axis powers. From international agencies to individuals, the interconnectedness of intelligence can have a global reach. This conference dives into the details of what international relationships, of all kinds, have brought to intelligence successes and failures. Submissions are invited on topics including, but not limited to:

International collaboration, unsanctioned cooperation and inter-agency communication.
Intelligence-sharing, isolation and international boundaries.
Nationality, national identity and intelligence.
Signals intelligence, HUMINT, COMINT, espionage and criminal intelligence.
Intelligence as represented in popular culture and literature, including fiction, documentary, TV and film.
Public perceptions of intelligence practice and institutions.

Papers are also welcome on contemporary issues and events, but these should ideally be framed in a historical context. The theme of this conference is broader than just SIGINT, and submissions on all types of intelligence will be accepted and reviewed equally.

More details here.

2026 IAFIE Global Annual Conference
Call for Papers: The Convergence of Artificial Intelligence, Cyber and Intelligence on National Security Interests
Abstracts Due: 31 January 2026
Conference: 1-3 June 2026
University of North Georgia, Dahlonega, Georgia, USA

The International Association for Intelligence Education (IAFIE) in partnership with the University of North Georgia invites submissions for its Annual Conference, "The Convergence of Artificial Intelligence, Cyber, and Intelligence on National Security Interests", taking place in Dahlonega, Georgia in the United States of America (USA), from June 1st to 3rd, 2026. We welcome proposals from academics and practitioners in fields such as intelligence, security, strategic studies, cybersecurity, law enforcement, decision sciences, international relations, law, history, journalism, and communication, among others. Submissions should align with the conference theme and tracks, or related topics and may take the form of:

Fully Formed Panels (3-5 papers)
Roundtable Discussions (topic-focused discussions)
Standard Papers (individual papers assigned to panels)
Poster Presentations (interactive session)

More details here.

Call for Papers: Counter Threat Finance (CTF) in Strategic Competition and Hybrid Warfare
Submission Deadline: 31 January 2026

We are in an era of strategic competition characterized by persistent engagement below the threshold of conventional warfare. State and non-state actors increasingly exploit economic vulnerabilities and financial networks to achieve strategic objectives while maintaining plausible deniability. PRISM seeks to advance scholarly understanding of Counter Threat Finance (CTF) and Threat Finance and Economic Levers of Power (TFEL) as critical components of contemporary irregular warfare and strategic competition.

We welcome original research addressing, but not limited to, the following areas:

Economic Warfare and Financial Warfare in Strategic Competition.
Threat Finance Intelligence.
Counter Threat Finance Operations.
Innovation, Emerging Technology and Future Challenges in Counter Threat Finance.

Suggested areas for articles range from conceptual or doctrinal through to historical case studies and future horizon scanning.

Examples focus areas are:

Defining Economic Warfare and Financial Warfare.
Counter Threat Finance versus Threat Finance and Economic Levers of Power.
Case studies of Economic Warfare and Financial Warfare.
Allies’ and partners’ approaches to Counter Threat Finance.
Adversaries’ approach to Counter Threat Finance.
Threat Finance and Operations in the Information Environment (OIE).
Supply chain weaponization and critical infrastructure vulnerabilities.
Integration of economic and financial tools in hybrid warfare campaigns.
State-sponsored criminal networks and their financing mechanisms.
Proxies, cutouts, and financial intermediaries in gray zone operations.
Financial intelligence collection and analysis methodologies.
Financial Intelligence as an intelligence discipline.
Emerging technologies and Counter Threat Finance.

More details here.

Intelligence and National Security Journal
Call for Papers: Special Issue on Psychology and Intelligence
Expressions of Interest: 1 February 2026 (Title/Abstract)
Initial Submission Deadline: 1 March 2027
Word Count: 7,000-10,000

Intelligence and National Security invites submissions for a special issue on Political Psychology and Intelligence. This issue seeks to highlight the intersection between intelligence gathering and analysis including career advancement, and the political and psychological factors that may influence it.

The special issue offers an opportunity to explore the ways in which intelligence gathering and analysis may be affected by political and psychological factors broadly constructed. This might include work on the way political or other biases might influence self-selection into intelligence work, procedures around recruitment, hiring and promotion, intelligence collection, analysis or interpretation of information. In addition, work that explores the way ubiquitous psychological biases can affect all aspects of the intelligence space, including the collection and processing of information is strongly encouraged.

The goal of the special issue is to highlight often unrecognized or ignored aspect of intelligence collection and analysis and to raise awareness of the role of psychological processes in intelligence. The journal of Intelligence and National Security is seeking research articles that investigate these themes in systematic and in-depth fashion. Articles enhancing theorical construction as well as empirical papers are welcome.

We invite research paper submissions that address, but are not limited to, the following themes:

The politicization of intelligence
Leadership analysis
The way specific psychological bias can influence intelligence collection or analysis
How psychology might be useful in counterintelligence programs
How psychological factors enter into decisions to join the intelligence community
How political bias can influence the interpretation of data
Personality effects on intelligence work
How and wheather psychological analysis of adversaries can provide useful information

Questions and inquiries can be sent via email to Rose_McDermottt@Brown.edu