October 2025 Digest
Contents:
- Events
- Conferences
- Call for Papers
- Recent Publications
- Podcasts
Events:
Spies, Lies and Cybercrime
7 October 2025
The International Spy Museum, Washington D.C. & Online
Cybercrime is now the fastest-growing criminal enterprise on earth powered by AI scams, deepfakes, and Dark Web threats most people never see coming. Eric O’Neill is here to help. The FBI’s legendary Spy Hunter—who caught America’s most notorious double agent, Robert Hanssen—has now turned his skills to thwart these dangerous new security challenges. Join us for an exclusive launch for O’Neill’s new book Spies, Lies, and Cybercrime. O’Neill wrote this with ordinary people in mind, because the fastest-growing business on Earth is cybercrime and you are the biggest target. O’Neill believes the best way to prepare your mind—and protect your organization and/or the people you care about—is to learn how to think like a spy hunter. This evening, he’ll explore where espionage collides with AI-Driven cybercrime and share some of the steps for staving off cyberattacks, securing data, and keeping private information safe in an increasingly digital and dizzying world.
More details here.
National Socialists in the Service of GDR Espionage.
7 October 2025
German Spy Museum, Berlin, Germany
After the Second World War, the National Socialists were probably the best-connected. They were everywhere: in the parties, in the state parliaments, in the ministries, in the Bundestag, and in the federal government. They were also present in the police and intelligence services. Anyone who wanted information recruited agents from these circles. Surprisingly, this included the GDR spy agency. For example, Hans Sommer, who moved from the Nazi Security Service to the Gehlen Organization, later the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), and then to the GDR's State Security. The recently published book »Spionage im Grenzland« describes intelligence activities from the 19th century to the end of the GDR. However, it can also be read as a warning for the present, says Helmut Müller-Enbergs, one of the authors. He aims to use current research findings to demonstrate to politicians how a foreign power succeeds in exploiting parliamentary groups, for example, and what they are "interested in." A book full of surprises from intelligence research. The curious past of politician Björn Engholm and his involvement with the Stasi are also examined here with astonishing results. The authors are not only academics, but some also belong to various intelligence agencies. *This presentation will be held in german.*
More details here.
Soviet-Bloc and US Intelligence Operations During the Cold War
10 October 2025
The Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University, Online
The end of the Cold War led to a huge increase in the declassification of U.S. and Soviet Bloc intelligence documents. By now, the quantity of available archival documents is so immense that even the most sedulous researchers may have trouble keeping up. The speakers at this seminar will give overviews of Cold War-era archival resources that will be especially important for scholars and students.
“Vigilance is Not Enough – A History of United States Intelligence”
15 October 2025
LBJ School of Public Affairs, Austin, Texas, USA
On Wednesday, October 15, 2025, the Strauss-Clements Intelligence Studies Project will host a public book talk on, “Vigilance is Not Enough – A History of United States Intelligence” with author Dr. Mark Lowenthal. In this book, Mark M. Lowenthal examines the development of U.S. intelligence to explain how and why the United States went from having no intelligence service to speak of to being the world’s predominant intelligence power almost overnight, and he discusses the difficult choices involved in maintaining that dominance in a liberal democracy. The event is free and open to the public.
More details here.
Inside Intelligence presents, “The Art of the Spy Novel”
15 October 2025
Johns Hopkins, Online
Join MS in Intelligence Analysis Program Director Michael Ard as he hosts national security consultant and novelist Jim Lawler who is currently working on his third espionage novel, The Traitor’s Tale, which examines treachery and treason deep within the CIA. Lawler’s first novel, Living Lies (2021), an espionage story of the Iranian nuclear weapons program, was listed in December 2022 by Spyscape as number 38 on its list of the 50 best spy novels ever written. His second novel, In the Twinkling of an Eye, was published in April 2022 and chronicles the recruiting of a spy at the heart of a devastating covert Russian-North Korean genetic bioweapons program. Lawler is the senior advisor to Brasidas Group, a global corporate intelligence and risk advisory firm, and to Alpha 506, a global network of trained intelligence and special forces operators. He is also the senior partner at MDO Group, which provides HUMINT training focused on WMD, CI, technical and cyber issues. He is a noted speaker on the topic of Insider Threats. Lawler boasts a decorated 25-year CIA career, serving in various international posts and leading the Counterproliferation Division's Special Activities Unit. Notably, as Chief of one of the highly impactful takedown teams, he received the CIA's Trailblazer Award in 2007 for disrupting one of the most dangerous nuclear weapons networks in history.
More details here.
SCIF After Hours
23 October 2025
Intelligence and National Security Alliance, Herndon, VA, USA
Join 100 intelligence and national security professionals on Thursday, October 23, for our TS/SI/NF program SCIF After Hours with Daniel Richard, Associate Deputy Director, Digital Innovation, CIA. The evening kicks off with a networking reception, followed by a fireside chat with Mr. Richard focused on:
- Accelerating mission success with AI, cyber, and cloud
- Harnessing commercial tech for intelligence advantage
- Countering evolving cyber and information warfare threats
- Deepening partnerships with the defense industrial base
Bring your questions for the audience Q&A and then stick around as the program wraps up with a dessert reception and extended networking time to continue the conversations! * TS//SI/NF clearance required*
More details here.
Conferences:
35th Austrian Center for Intelligence, Propaganda and Security Studies Conference – Truth?
10 October 2025
Vienna, Austria
On 10 October 2025, we at the Austrian Center for Intelligence, Propaganda and Security Studies (ACIPSS) cordially invite you to the 35th Annual Conference at FH Campus Wien. Under the title “Truth?”, experts will discuss current issues in security and society:
- From Foresight to Policy in the German Armed Forces and the National Intelligence Council, Leopold Schmertzing (AIES, Associated Fellow)
- AI in Countering Hybrid Threats – Strategies to Combat Disinformation, Michael Suker (National Defence Academy)
- Risk Assessment Methods – Theoretical Concepts and Practical Challenges, Deshire Kurtaj (FH Campus Wien)
- Submarine Cables as the Digital Nervous System of Modern Society, André Wibmer (FH Campus Wien)
- Liberated, Occupied, or “Austria GmbH”? The Truth about the Origins of the Second Republic in 1945, Stefan Ratzl (University of Salzburg)
- Between Intuition and Manipulation – Psychological Patterns in Modern Online Dating, Jacqueline Uhl (Psychologist)
*This conference will be held in german.*
More details here.
National Intelligence Academy International Congress on Intelligence Studies
10-12 October 2025
Istanbul, Turkey
The first International Intelligence Congress on Intelligence Studies, organized by the National Intelligence Academy, is scheduled to take place in Istanbul from October 10 to 12, 2025. This Congress represents a significant initiative aligned with the Academy’s vision, aimed at advancing the field of intelligence studies and fostering the development of a cohesive intelligence community. It is expected to play a pivotal role in identifying new research inquiries and domains by emphasizing the interdisciplinary potential inherent in intelligence studies. The Congress will feature panel sessions and roundtable discussions, along with the presentation of approximately 250 scholarly papers. The presentations and discussions will encompass a diverse thematic range, including topics such as intelligence theory, the intersection of intelligence and art, historical perspectives on intelligence, artificial intelligence, as well as medical and financial intelligence.
More details here.
Behörden Spiegel Intelligence Conference: The New Role of Intelligence Services
15-16 October 2025
Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin
In view of the global power shifts between the USA, Russia and China and a transatlantic paradigm shift in the Western community of states, the civil and military security architecture of Germany and Europe is facing more fundamental challenges than ever. As the "first line of defense" for our democracy, freedom, prosperity, and future prospects, intelligence services are particularly exposed and have a duty. They are required to be the first to identify and analyze security threats and risks, and to contribute to adequate and timely decision-making by governments and authorities through their reporting and warning functions. The increasingly apparent transatlantic security policy paradigm shift will influence intelligence cooperation between European states, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Japan as like-minded partners. How will the relationship develop between the previous intelligence support of EU decision-making structures and processes (EU-INTCEN, EUMS.INT, SATCEN) and an emerging "coalition of the willing" among EU member states? Under what conditions could EU structures or improved intergovernmental formats for intensified intelligence cooperation emerge? What capabilities must German and European services acquire, what powers must they be granted in order to be able to make the necessary contribution to securing their existence, even with reduced US support, in the face of a growing threat to internal and external security from espionage, cyber operations, sabotage and subversion, including the direct military threat to the European alliance territory from Russian or even distant forces using hybrid means? What consequences will this new situation have for the development of an adequate security architecture in Germany, particularly with regard to the necessary capacity building initiatives of the services, the establishment of a Federal Security Council and a cross-departmental and cross-state Situation and Analysis Center, which in turn will be based on a structure of similar centers in the departments and states?
Specific questions that will also be discussed at this year’s conference are:
- What is the status of the personnel, material and structural strengthening of the German intelligence and security services?
- What must be done, within the framework of what is constitutionally possible, to ensure that the services are legally adequately strengthened?
- Where and in what way does the German security architecture need a technological update in terms of networking, digital security and AI-supported data management, including the establishment of digital platforms for situation assessment and evaluation in the Federal Chancellery and ministries?
- How should an effective and efficient federal-state structure be organizationally reflected in the desired joint situation assessment and evaluation?
- Can lessons be learned from the European Union's federal cooperation formats, particularly the EU INTCEN and EUMS.INT analysis staffs?
- What consequences will the global security policy paradigm shift have for parliamentary and executive oversight bodies and institutions? How will oversight and capacity to act be adjusted?
More details here.
The Annual Israeli Conference in Intelligence Studies: Intelligence Transformations After Failure
28-29 October 2025
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
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 will address the following issues:
- 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
More details here.
Twenty years After the Butler Review: Have we learned anything?
Oxford Intelligence Group Conference
6-7 November 2025
Nuttfield College, Oxford, UK
The Oxford Intelligence Group was founded at Nuffield College in 2004 to facilitate a forum for a briefing and discussion of the Review of Intelligence on Weapons of Mass Destruction, HC898 14 July 2004 by Lord Robin Butler (aka, the Butler Review). The review concluded that key intelligence used to justify the war with Iraq was unreliable, yet it was still used in the decision-making process. Twenty years later, we celebrate the continuing work of the OIG by revisiting the Butler Review and tracking the successes and failures of the intelligence community since that time. But are the lessons identified by Lord Butler still relevant today? Or were they ever learned? Are the ambiguities and uncertainties of intelligence forecasting adequately understood? As a nation's national security depends on closer collaboration between the intelligence community and commercial corporations, what is the role of academic intelligence studies? What is the connection between strong citizen forces and the defense of liberal democracies? Can there be a 'theory of everything' that synthesizes the past's disparate approaches?
The conference will result in a special issue for the Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence. Themes include but are not limited to:
- Retrospective analysis of the Butler Report
- Legislative developments, oversight, and organization of national security
- Responses to successes – and failures in intelligence forecasting
- Did the release of classified material by Edward Snowden make a difference?
- The role of public opinion and trust in national security policy
- Changing attitudes to OSINT or the role of technology in intelligence analysis
- The future of the Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance versus bilateral intelligence sharing
- Rule-based international order – whose rules are they and are they still relevant to security.
More details here.
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:
Call for Papers: 2nd Annual Meeting of the Society for Military History
Abstracts Due: 17 October 2025
Conference: 26-29 March 2026
Arlington, VA, USA
The Society for Military History is pleased to call for papers for its 92nd Annual Meeting, hosted at the Crystal Gate Marriott, Arlington, Virginia. The Program Committee’s objective is to create a slate of panels that represent the breadth of expertise and interests, as well as the overall diversity of the Society’s wide-ranging membership. Proposals for panels and papers on all facets of military history (broadly defined) will be considered for inclusion. We encourage new and existing Society members, whether in academic institutions, the armed forces and governmental agencies, museums and archives, independent scholars, or employed internationally, to participate.
Priority will be given to complete panel submissions that highlight the presentation of original research, new interpretations, topics of immediate interest to our membership, and cutting-edge trends and subject matter. Roundtable submissions and proposals for individual papers and posters are also welcome. For details see below.
Panel, paper, and poster proposals must include the following information:
- Panel proposals (ideally of three papers) must include: a panel title and 300-word abstract summarizing the theme of the panel; paper titles and a 300-word abstracts for the three papers proposed; and a one-page professional curriculum vitae for each panelist (including the chair and commentator). CVs must include professional affiliation and email address but should not contain other personal information.
- Roundtable proposals must include a roundtable title, the full names and professional affiliations of each participant, a 300-word abstract summarizing the roundtable’s themes, points of discussion, and expected contribution of each participant; and a one-page curriculum vitae for each participant (including the moderator, if any). Roundtables may follow different formats but should plan for no more than 5-minute presentations by individual participants.
- Poster proposals allow military historians (especially, but not limited to, graduate students) to share their research through visual materials. Proposals should clearly explain (in no more than 300 words) the poster’s topics and arguments, as well as how the information will be presented visually and include a one-page curriculum vitae. This year we also especially encourage posters on the teaching of military history at all levels. The poster format is well suited to conveying information about teaching tools, tricks, and materials. In coordination with the SMH committee on teaching, and with the author’s permission, select posters may be displayed at an SMH table at conferences for educators (such as the National Council for History Education and the National Council for Social Studies).
- Individual paper proposals will also be considered and must include a paper title, 300-word abstract of the paper, and one-page curriculum vitae. If accepted, individual papers will be assigned by the program committee to an appropriate panel with a chair and commentator. Presenters who wish to volunteer to serve as chairs and commentators should send a one-page curriculum vitae to the program committee chair at the email listed below.
All proposals must be submitted by October 17, 2025. All accepted presenters, chairs, and commentators must be members of the Society for Military History by December 31, 2025, to be placed on the conference program.
More details here.
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.
Recent Publications:
Henschke, Adam., "Moral Risk, Moral Injury, and Institutional Responsibility: Ethical Issues in HUMINT,” International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence
Grace, Peter C., The Intelligence Intellectuals: Social Scientists and the Making of the CIA, Georgetown University Press
Harding, Emily, “Intelligence in a Transparent World,” Center for Strategic and International Studies
Podcasts:
SpyCast
The Dark Web Broker
True Spies
Blood on the Waterside
The World of Intelligence
OSINT and the Changing Character of Warfare
The National Security Podcast
Evolving Lessons in Counterterrorism from 9/11 to 2025