
Successful intelligence education conference
The IAFIE conference in Copenhagen 11 to 13 September successfully demonstrated the Scandinavian capacity for intelligence studies and education.
The conference was hosted by the Royal Danish Defence College (RDDC) in close cooperation with the Norwegian Defence University College (NDUC) and the International Association for Intelligence Education (IAFIE).
Over 140 participants from European and US intelligence educational institutions, as well as intelligence professionals and private companies, came together to discuss the different futures of intelligence in a more uncertain world.
In their opening remarks, Henrik Breitenbauch and Saira Basit, the two college deans, both expressed good faith in the future of Nordic cooperation in the field of intelligence education. Basit introduced the audience to the preparations of a new NDUC master’s degree in military studies and welcomed ideas on how best to integrate the topic of intelligence into the studies of military operations.
Academics from the Norwegian Defence University College in several panels
During the three days in Copenhagen, the NDUC staff participated in several panels. Markus Züdoff Widborg was discussant on the panel New Technologies and Cyber; Tom Røseth moderated the keynote lecture on Norwegian Defence Intelligence by Kristin Ven Bruusgaard, and Bjørn Gunnar Isaksen acted as discussant at the round table Russian Intelligence Practices during the War in Ukraine, 2022–2023.
Associate professors Maya Mynster Christensen (RDDC) and Tom Røseth (NDUC) were key contributors to the conference’s execution, profile and specific programme. Thanks to their efforts, and to the organising committee headed by the RDDC, the conference succeeded in bringing the Scandinavian intelligence community on research and education several steps closer to their peers in Europe and in the US.