csds bulletin
Newsletter of the Centre for Security and Defence Studies
23 March 2012

In this issue

• Annual Reporting Time

• Canada and the New Middle East

• Call for papers - Understanding and Improving Intelligence Analysis

Annual Reporting Time

Dear CSDS Faculty, Research Associates and Students:

It is time once again to ask you to please submit an annual report of activities for the current fiscal year (April 2011-March 30, 2012). It is imperative that we get as complete and accurate a report as possible and that we get the report back promptly, and no later than April 6. Please look for an email from Eric Jardine which will include a reporting template. We understand that this can be a burden. But on the bright side, with the demise of the SDF program this is the last annual report we will be asking for.

Thank you for your cooperation.

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Canada and the New Middle East

From: Jason Wiseman <jason.wiseman@atlantic-council.ca>

Subject: CANADA AND THE NEW MIDDLE EAST - MARCH 28, 2012 - HYATT REGENCY HOTEL

"CANADA AND THE NEW MIDDLE EAST"
CONFERENCE

MARCH 28, 2012
12:30 PM to 9 PM
Hyatt Regency Hotel, 370 King Street West Toronto

The role of Canada in the Middle East remains largely unknown and misunderstood. This conference will provide unique insight into the challenges and opportunities Canada faces in the years ahead.

The Atlantic Council of Canada and the Advocates for Civil Liberties, are presenting an important, all-day Conference, entitled "Canada and the New Middle East", to be held March 28th at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, 370 King Street West, Toronto, with high-profile speakers who include federal government officials, noted academics, journalists, and renowned professionals in the fields of economics and security.

Some of our outstanding speakers include:

Energy and Economics: Lawrence Solomon, Financial Post
Mike Ward, Former Consul and Senior Trade Commissioner to Turkey
Andy Mahut, Canadian Industry Program for Energy Conservation, Manager – U.S. Steel Canada Inc.
Counter-Terrorism and Homeland Security: Raymond Boisvert, Assistant Director, CSIS
Supt. Doug Best¸ RCMP National Security Section
John Thompson, Mackenzie Institute
Canada, Iran, and the Arab Spring: Peter Goodspeed, National Post
Ramin Jahanbegloo, Professor in the Centre for Ethics at the University of Toronto
Boaz Ganor, Executive Director of the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism
Human Rights Challenges: Nazanin Afshin-Jam, President and Co-Founder of ‘Stop Child Executions’, Iranian-Canadian Activist
Raheel Raza, Consultant for Interfaith and Intercultural Diversity, author and human rights advocate
Marina Nemat, author, human rights advocate and former political prisoner

Tickets to the entire Conference and Dinner are $75 for General Admission, $30 for Faculty and $10 for Students.

VIP Admission is $100 which guarantees Reserved Table Seating and exclusive entrance to the Closing Reception with speakers.

Your business or professional firm may purchase a table for 10 guests, at $1,000, which will be clearly indicated with your business name.

Details are available on our website at http://atlantic-council.ca. Call us to register at (416) 979-1875.

Please direct any inquiries to our Conference Coordinator:

Jason Wiseman Counter-Terrorism Analyst
Atlantic Council of Canada
165 University Ave.
Toronto, ON
Jason.wiseman@atlantic-council.ca

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Call for papers - Understanding and Improving Intelligence Analysis

From: Stephen Marrin <Stephen.Marrin@brunel.ac.uk>
Subject: CFP: Understanding and Improving Intelligence Analysis: Learning from Other Disciplines

This is a call for papers and presentations (CFP) for two events we are hosting this summer related to ?Understanding and Improving Intelligence Analysis: Learning from Other Disciplines.? The events will be held 8 June and 13 July 2012 at Brunel University in London.

The purpose of these two events is to engage in a cross-disciplinary discussion about the value of learning from other fields to improve both the understanding and the practice of intelligence analysis. It will also create the network and infrastructure for an international consortium for the study of intelligence analysis.

The event on 8 June 2012 will be devoted to what we can learn from the comparison between intelligence analysis and journalism since both fields involve the acquisition, evaluation, and dissemination of information.

The event on 13 July 2012 will be devoted to explaining how practitioners in a wider set of non-intelligence fields overcome challenges in their respective domains, to include medicine, the social and behavioural sciences, history and historiography, anthropology and other disciplines engaged in ethnographic research, econometric forecasting, and legal reasoning.

We welcome paper and presentation proposals evaluating best practices for overcoming challenges in any non-intelligence field that are analogous to those that exist in the intelligence field, or compares/contrasts challenges in intelligence analysis to those faced by professionals in other disciplines.

To submit a proposal, send an email to Stephen Marrin (stephen.marrin@brunel.ac.uk) by 18 March 2012 with: (1) Name of author/presenter, affiliation/institution and contact information (email and phone); and (2) Paper Title and Abstract (a brief 200-500 word overview of the paper/presentation).

Notifications of acceptances will be made on or before 1 April 2012.

Please let me know if you have any questions?

-------------------------------------------------
Dr. Stephen Marrin
Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies
Department of Politics and History
Brunel University
Uxbridge (West London), England
stephen.marrin@brunel.ac.uk
http://www.brunel.ac.uk/sss/research/research-centres/bciss

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