27 January 2026 - 10:00 EST / 15:00 GMT / 16:00 CET
Jeffrey Rogg – Book Talk: The Spy and the State: The History of American Intelligence
Abstract: Is the NSA spying on Americans? It wouldn't be the first time. Does the CIA still assassinate people? Depends on what you mean by "assassinate." Is the intelligence community really a "deep state" that subverts American democracy? Not exactly, but it has interfered in politics too often in US history. These types of questions have preoccupied the American people and international audiences in recent years. But the origins of these and other controversies reach back even further in US history. The Spy and the State provides readers with the foundation to understand the past, navigate the present, and shape the future of American intelligence.
Bio: Dr. Jeffrey Rogg is Senior Research Fellow at the University of South Florida’s Global and National Security Institute. Previously, he was an assistant professor at the Joint Special Operations University (U.S. Special Operations Command) and The Citadel. He was also a postdoctoral fellow in the National Security Affairs Department at the U.S. Naval War College. Jeff is the vice president of the Society for Intelligence History and an assistant editor of Intelligence and National Security. His work has appeared in several academic journals and volumes as well as media including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The National Interest, The Hill, and the Los Angeles Times. Jeff’s book, The Spy and the State: The History of American Intelligence, was published by Oxford University Press in June 2025. Jeff has a BA in Latin and ancient history from Swarthmore College, a JD from Villanova University School of Law, an MA in security studies from Georgetown University, and a PhD in history from The Ohio State University. He served six years in the Massachusetts Army National Guard as an infantryman.
10 February 2026 - 10:00 EST / 15:00 GMT / 16:00 CET
John Blaxland - Revealing Secrets About the Antecedents of the Five Eyes Network
Abstract: This lecture examines the evolution of signals intelligence (SIGINT) and cyber capabilities as core pillars of the Five Eyes intelligence partnership. Tracing developments from early cryptology and wartime SIGINT cooperation to contemporary cyber operations, it highlights how technological change, alliance trust, and shared operational experience shaped enduring intelligence integration among Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and New Zealand. Case studies from the Second World War, the Cold War, and post–Cold War operations illustrate continuity and adaptation in intelligence practice. The lecture concludes by assessing contemporary challenges—from cyber vulnerability to alliance strain—and explores future trajectories for Five Eyes cooperation in an increasingly contested Indo-Pacific environment.
Bio: Dr John Blaxland is Director of the ANU North America Liaison Office and Professor of International Security and Intelligence Studies in the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre (SDSC), Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, College of Asia and the Pacific at the Australian National University (ANU). A former Australian military intelligence officer, he is a trusted and highly regarded historian who has authored or co-authored over a dozen broad-ranging works on international, military, security and intelligence affairs including: Revealing Secrets: An Unofficial History of Australian Signals Intelligence and the Advent of Cyber (UNSW Press, 2023); The Secret Cold War: the official history of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), Vol. III (Allen & Unwin, 2016); and The Protest Years: the official history of ASIO, Vol., II (Allen & Unwin, 2015). He is also an occasional media commentator.
10 March 2026 - 10:00 EST / 15:00 GMT / 16:00 CET
Richard J. Aldrich - US intelligence, Secrecy, and the Media in the 21st Century
Abstract: America is a notably open society, showcased by a First Amendment that allows the press an almost unique freedom to publish on national security matters. Yet America has also given high priority to national intelligence and takes pride in its numerous secret agencies. More than any other country America exemplifies the paradox of an open society defended by secret means. Almost from its foundation the CIA has had to pursue espionage and covert action amid what might be called a national culture of unsecrecy that required sophistication and self-restraint on all sides. But after 9/11 the established conventions that made this consensus possible gradually collapsed. Over the next two decades following 9/11, what was once an animated national security conversation, admittedly testy at times, was displaced by something rather more chaotic, with many of these more recent issues focused on the White House. Why was America’s unique culture of unsecrecy finally unravelling?
Bio: Richard J. Aldrich is a Professor of International Security at the University of Warwick and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He is the author of many books, including GCHQ, The Hidden Hand, The Black Door, and The Secret Royals.
14 April 2026 - 10:00 EST / 15:00 GMT / 16:00 CET
Gudrun Persson - Novel insights into Russian military thought—from the Crimean War to the war in Ukraine
Abstract: The development of the Russian military's strategic thought is an understudied and thus misunderstood subject in the West. Strategy in Russia encompasses the broader context of foreign and domestic policy as well as the military's ties to the country's leadership. The military's strategic thought is closely linked to Russia's existence as a state and explains patterns of Russian confrontation. In Russian Military Thought, the renowned scholar Gudrun Persson offers novel insights into Russian military thought on doctrine and strategy, from the Crimean War to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Persson dismantles the simplistic notion that Russian military thought is "backward," instead presenting a deeper analysis of the drivers that influence the changes in Russian military strategy. Through archival research based on Russian language sources, Persson offers a multidisciplinary perspective, drawing on theoretical insights from history and political science that enable her to make a nuanced, qualitative analysis.
This book will be essential reading for practitioners, scholars, and students who seek to understand the mind-set of the current Russian leadership and the constraints that shape Russia's future possibilities.
Bio: Dr. Gudrun Persson, Associate Professor at the Slavic Department, Stockholm University. She has published widely on Russian affairs, including five monographs. She is a member of The Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences, and The Royal Society of Naval Sciences. Her latest book is "Russian Military Thought: The Evolution of Strategy since the Crimean War" (Georgetown University Press, 2025).
12 May 2026 - 10:00 EST / 15:00 GMT / 16:00 CET
Damien Van Puyvelde - The French DGSE: Secrecy, Reform, and Representation
Abstract: France has traditionally treated intelligence as a secret instrument of executive power, rooted in raison d’État and largely shielded from public scrutiny. Yet in recent decades, intelligence has gradually emerged as a recognised public policy domain, accompanied by growing oversight, public communication, and cultural representation. The evolution of the Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure (DGSE) reflects this shift. Once associated primarily with covert operations and scandals, France's foreign intelligence service now occupies a more visible place in political discourse while promoting selective narratives about its missions, values, and past performance, from its Second World War heritage to more recent episodes such as French intelligence assessments of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. How do intelligence agencies construct and sustain legitimacy in democratic societies? And how do institutional self-representations shape reform and mediate tensions between secrecy and accountability?
Bio: Damien Van Puyvelde is Associate Professor and Head of the Intelligence and Security Research Group at Leiden University. He also serves as a research fellow with the Strategic Research Institute of the French Ministry of Armed Forces. He is the author of Outsourcing US Intelligence, co-author of Cybersecurity: Politics, Governance and Conflict in Cyberspace (Polity), and co-editor of Researching National Security Intelligence, and Covert Action: National Approaches to unacknowledged interventions. His latest book: The DGSE: A Concise History of France's Foreign Intelligence Service, is now out with Georgetown University Press.
