The participation of the SRI-ANIMV delegation at the IAFIE 2016 international conference, Breda, Netherlands

Between 22 and 24 June 2016, a delegation from the ”Mihai Viteazul” National Intelligence Academy within the Romanian Intelligence Service took part in the 12th edition of the international conference organized by the International Association for Intelligence Education (IAFIE), dedicated to intelligence education. Hosted in Europe for the first time, the event was held in the city of Breda (Netherlands), at the headquarters of the Dutch Royal Military Academy and, at the same time, it marked the launch of the European Chapter of the IAFIE conference. Therefore, from now on, the conference is to be held every year in a European country, a detail confirming the importance of the European intelligence community and security culture on the international level.

The theme of this year edition was “Connecting Intelligence Education Communities: Europe, North America and Beyond”, reuniting more than 150 participants from 16 countries. The ANIMV delegation included Mr. Niculae Iancu, Rector of the Academy, researchers from the National Institute for Intelligence Studies within the Academy and SRI officers.

It is a landmark event among international scientific activities in the field of intelligence studies and the only global conference dedicated to intelligence education. This year conference tackled a large array of topics within its 24 panels, such as: the reform of intelligence education and related studies in accordance with the dynamics of the security environment of the 21st century, the development of cooperation in the intelligence analysis, innovative approaches in specialized training and learning process in the intelligence field, the need for new curricula in the intelligence field or the development of research activities and the increase of specialized publications.

The participation of the Romanian representatives was noticed ever since the opening of the conference by its president, Mr. Larry Valero, while their contributions received positive reviews, thus confirming the commitment of the Romanian Intelligence Service to the international academic community, by means of the ”Mihai Viteazul” National Intelligence Academy. Thus were acknowledged the Academy s efforts to consolidate the intelligence education and studies, its contribution being systematically materialized on the national level in the promotion and the development of the intelligence culture and of the Romanian school in this essential area for the research and education in the security field.

During the conference, ”Mihai Viteazul” National Intelligence Academy organized a debate panel on the role of the intelligence and security education in the consolidation of risk management. Among the participants to the Romanian debate panel headed by Mr. Niculae Iancu, Rector of the Academy, one could count Adam Svendsen, British author and expert in the field of intelligence cooperation and Randolph Pherson, author and trainer internationally renowned for his contribution to the development of intelligence analysis. Also, results of the “Social Perception and Communication Strategies regarding National Security Risks (REACT)” project, implemented by the ANIMV and financed by UEFISCDI (the Human Resource – Young Teams Program), were presented during the same panel.

Moreover, the Romanian representatives had the opportunity to take part in working groups and to exchange best practices and expertise in the field of intelligence education and research. In this respect, the results obtained following the participation in the IAFIE conference refer, on the one hand, to the promotion of the Romanian intelligence school and to its contribution to the international efforts to sustain the development of this particular scientific field, and, on the other hand, to the knowledge transfer capitalized in study programs and quality research activities.