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The Clements-Strauss Intelligence Studies Project of The University of Texas at Austin announces the 10th annual competition recognizing outstanding student research and writing on topics related to intelligence and national security. The winner of the “Inman Award” will receive a cash prize of $5,000, with two semifinalists each receiving a cash prize of $2,500. This competition is open to unpublished…

Carter Burwell, a Public Interest Declassification Board board member, moderated a discussion with Erin Mahan, Chief Historian at the Office of the Secretary of Defense; Adam Howard, the director of the Office of the Historian at the U.S. Department of State; and John Fox, a historian at the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The conversation discussed…

Dr. Will Inboden sat down with Sen. John Cornyn to discuss the issues of declassification and transparency, along with the ongoing debate about the renewal of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The two also discussed the role of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Congressional oversight, and how Section 702’s renewal is important for…

Adam Klein moderated a panel with Jared Abrams, a research associate at Applied Research Laboratories; Ivan Lee, the founder & CEO of Datasaur.ai; Alex Joel, a senior project director and adjunct professor at Washington College of Law, American University; and Ezra Cohen, the former chair of Public Interest Declassification Board and Undersecretary of Defense for…

Aaron O’Connell, the director of research at the Clements Center for National Security, moderated a panel with Jim Goldgeier, a visiting scholar at the Center for International Security and Cooperation; Deborah Pearlstein, co-director of the Floersheimer Center for Constitutional Democracy; Jeremi Suri, the Mack Brown Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs at UT Austin;…

Christy Abizaid, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, spoke about the duties of the center, terrorist threats to the United States and the role of counter-terrorism during an era of strategic competition. She also participated in a moderated question and answer session with Paul Pope, discussing U.S. foreign policy, the counter-terrorism mission, and what…

Sheena Greitens moderated a panel discussion about the Russo-Ukrainian war and broader challenges to European security. The conversation featured Gen. Vince Brooks, U.S. Army ( Ret.), former Commander, United Nations Command/Combined Forces Command/United States Forces Korea; Susan Colbourn, associate director of the Program in American Grand Strategy, Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University;…

Slick noted that given the scale and variety of the Hamas attacks, “it is highly unlikely that the planning, training and positioning of this number of fighters would have escaped Israel’s collection systems. It’s more likely that relevant information was not processed or evaluated correctly or recognized as an indicator of hostilities.”

On September 13th, the Clements Center for National Security, the Strauss Center for International Security and Law, and the Clements-Strauss Intelligence Studies Project, hosted “The War in Ukraine: On the Battlefield, in the Kremlin, and in the Courtroom.” The event kicked off with keynote remarks on “Investigating Russian War Crimes: Ukraine’s Quest for Justice” by…

The Clements-Strauss Intelligence Studies Project is now accepting applications to participate in the 2024 Texas Intelligence Academy (TIA). TIA is a competitive, all-expenses paid, intensive academic program for UT undergraduate students focused on intelligence and national security in Washington, D.C. The 2024 program will run from May 12 to 21, 2024. INFO SESSION: October 24,…

ISP-Sponsored Surveys During the Biden Presidency Affirm Continued Strong Public Support for the Intelligence Community But Also Signal Growing Partisanship The Chicago Council on Global Affairs recently published the results of two annual polls sponsored by UT-Austin’s Clements-Strauss Intelligence Studies Project. The surveys conducted in 2021 and 2022 confirm that most Americans believe US intelligence…

The Intelligence Studies Project of the University of Texas at Austin is pleased to announce the winner and two semifinalists in the ninth-annual competition recognizing outstanding student research and writing on topics related to intelligence and national security.   The recipient of the “Inman Award” is A.J. Dilts, a 2023 graduate of Harvard University in History and Government. His…

The Clements-Strauss Intelligence Studies Project hosted the fourth running of the Texas Intelligence Academy (TIA) from May 16 to 25, 2023 in the National Capital Area. The TIA 2023 cohort comprised 15 undergraduate students from UT-Austin, UT-El Paso, and UT-San Antonio. Students participated in classroom lectures and exercises with current and former senior intelligence professionals…

On this episode of Horns of a Dilemma, former Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Mission Integration Beth Sanner delivers a candid and enriching lecture about being an intelligence professional at the highest level in the White House.

The Intelligence Studies Project of The University of Texas at Austin announces the 8th annual competition recognizing outstanding student research and writing on topics related to intelligence and national security. The winner of the “Inman Award” will receive a cash prize of $5,000, with two semifinalists each receiving a cash prize of $2,500. This competition is open to unpublished work by undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in degree programs at accredited U.S. higher education institutions during the 2022-23 academic year. The deadline for submitting papers is June 30, 2023. 

Former Clements Center Undergraduate Fellow Nicholas Romanow, now an Ensign in the U.S. Navy, has a new piece on Proceedings, in which he considers the current push to declassify more information using the Russian invasion of Ukraine as an example of some of the possible pros and cons.

A report by the Global Disinformation Lab at UT Austin and NGA Tearline was recently featured on intel.gov. The report analyzes resource reallocation by Russia in Ukraine, countering a senior Russian official’s denial of the existence of filtration sites at a United Nations Security Council Meeting. Great work! 

A report by the Global Disinformation Lab at UT Austin and NGA Tearline was recently featured on intel.gov. The report analyzes resource reallocation by Russia in Ukraine, countering a senior Russian official’s denial of the existence of filtration sites at a United Nations Security Council Meeting. Great work! 

The Clements and Strauss Center’s Intelligence Studies Project is pleased to announce the winner and two semifinalists in the eighth-annual competition recognizing outstanding student research and writing on topics related to intelligence and national security.  

The University of Texas at Austin’s Intelligence Studies Project recently hosted its third Texas Intelligence Academy (TIA) in Washington, D.C. From the end of May through early June, fourteen undergraduate students from UT-Austin, UT-El Paso and UT-San Antonio participated in an intensive academic program focused on intelligence and national security. The cohort attended classroom lectures and exercises with former senior intelligence professionals, including former Clements Center Graduate Fellow and current Lecturer and Graduate Director of the Intelligence and National Security Studies Master of Science program at UT-El Paso, Diana Bolsinger and Clements Center Senior National Security Fellow Nick Rasmussen. The lectures covered a variety of intelligence-related topics, including analysis, human intelligence, technical intelligence, covert action, counterterrorism, intelligence reform, and intelligence-policymaker relationships. 

The Intelligence Studies Project of The University of Texas at Austin announces the 8th annual competition recognizing outstanding student research and writing on topics related to intelligence and national security. The winner of the “Inman Award” will receive a cash prize of $5,000, with two semifinalists each receiving a cash prize of $2,500. This competition is open to unpublished work by undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in degree programs at accredited U.S. higher education institutions during the 2021-22 academic year. The deadline for submitting papers is June 30, 2022. 

This week’s Horns of a Dilemma may be a first in that it deals with a work of fiction.  Author David McCloskey joins Stephen Slick of the Intelligence Studies Project at the University of Texas, Austin, to discuss his new novel, Damascus Station.

Studies in Intelligence, the journal of the U.S. IC’s Center for the Study of Intelligence, recently released an unclassified special edition that includes reflections on the current state of integration within U.S. intelligence.  Studies Volume 65, No. 3 is available in full here.  This edition includes an essay by ISP Director Steve Slick “On a Path Toward Intelligence Integration” that concludes “[p]rogress along this path has been uneven, but U.S. Intelligence is immeasurably more unified and effective than it was when [the author] entered on duty during the final throes of the Cold War.”   

Applications are now open for the Intelligence Studies Project 2021 Texas Intelligence Academy (TIA), an intensive academic program focused on intelligence and national security. Application deadline is November 30, 2021 by 11:59PM CST.  2022 Program Dates: May 22 to June 1, 2022 For more information about the TIA and detailed application instructions, please visit the TIA program page.

Intelligence Studies Project Director Stephen Slick contributed to a special UNCLAS edition of “Studies of Intelligence” that was released earlier this week. Several scholars were asked to react to an article by Jim Clapper reflecting on the state of intelligence integration. Slick’s response is not a rebuttal of that optimistic essay but an argument that…

The 2016 presidential election was a milestone in modern American politics, not only for the surprising victory of a candidate whom many pundits and observers had considered unlikely to win, but also for the degree to which foreign powers attempted to influence the electoral process and outcome. In this week’s Horns of a Dilemma, we hear…

Diana Bolsinger, Lecturer and Graduate Director of the Intelligence and National Security Studies Master of Science program at UT-El Paso and Clements Center Graduate Fellow, joins the Spy Museum’s podcast, SpyCast, for “Afghanistan, the Mujahedeen, Al Qaeda – My Time at CIA & State with Diana Bolsinger.”

The Intelligence Studies Project of the University of Texas at Austin is pleased to announce the winner and two semifinalists in its seventh-annual competition recognizing outstanding student research and writing on topics related to intelligence and national security.

The Chicago Council on Global Affairs recently published the results from the fourth round of an annual poll sponsored by the University of Texas at Austin’s Intelligence Studies Project (ISP) that seeks to shed light on Americans’ perceptions of our intelligence agencies. The survey was conducted and reported by ISP Director Steve Slick, Strauss Center Distinguished Scholar Joshua Busby, and Clements Center Undergraduate Fellow Archit Oswal.

Steve Slick, Director of the Intelligence Studies Project, quoted After Nuclear Site Blackout, Thunder From Iran, and Silence From U.S. latest article addressing Iran’s nuclear programs from the NYT,

The Intelligence Studies Project of The University of Texas at Austin announces the sixth annual competition recognizing outstanding student research and writing on topics related to intelligence and national security.  The winner of the “Inman Award” will receive a cash prize of $5,000, with two semifinalists each receiving a cash prize of $2,500.  This competition is open to unpublished work by undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in degree programs at accredited U.S. higher education institutions during the 2019-20 academic year.  The deadline for submitting papers is June 30, 2021. 

In this episode of Horns, Nina Jankowicz discusses her book, How to Lose the Information War: Russia, Fake News, and the Future of Conflict. Jankowicz’s book covers Russian disinformation efforts in Estonia, Georgia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, and the United States. She argues that disinformation shouldn’t be viewed strictly from a technical perspective, since successful…