First IAFIE International Conference A Success!

First IAFIE International Conference A Success!

IAFIE’s 6th Annual Conference, but the first held outside of the United States, has proven to be a success. Over 85 attendees went to Ottawa, Canada for the conference and participated in 11 workshops, four special sessions, and several key presentations. Headlining the presentations were Ms. Marie Lucie Morin, National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of Canada; Ms. Shelly Bruce, Deputy Chief, SIGINT, of the Communication Security Establishment of Canada (Canada’s equivalent of the US National Security Agency); and Mr. Dick Fadden, Director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. All three provided insights into the operations of key Canadian intelligence operations.

New this year was an extra day of conferencing (Tuesday) in which most of the attendees participated. These were on "Hypothesis Generation and Quadrant Crunching”, with Randy Pherson and Mary O’Sullivan; "Canadian Intelligence and Security Systems”, with Wesley Wark; "Doctrinal/Analytical Issues and Risk Doctrine”, with Bret Peppler; and "Premortem Assessment and Structured Self-Critique,” also with Randy Pherson and Mary O’Sullivan. These pilot, longer sessions will be incorporated as well into future conferences.

Participants this year were from 7 countries: Canada, U.S., Australia, Romania, Great Britain, Hungary and Denmark. Organizations supporting the conference through exhibits included American Military University, National Defense Intelligence College, University of Maryland University College, Henley-Putnam University, i2, Arabia Inform, and Communication Security Establishment of Canada.

Next year’s conference will be in the Washington, DC area, at a location to be determined. If you have ideas for where it could be held, let us know!