International Intelligence History Association (IIHA) 2026 Annual Conference in conjunction with Georgetown University’s Kalaris Conference
Allies and Adversaries: U.S.-European Intelligence Relations
We are pleased to announce the conference program for the 2026 IIHA Annual Conference in conjunction with Georgetown University’s Kalaris Conference. To participate, please register with the form below. There will be no conference fee, however, only coffee breaks will be catered.
Conference Program
Day 1 Tuesday, 29 September 2026
Young Researchers Forum at the Spy Museum
12.00 p.m. Arrival and Registration
1.00 –3.00 p.m. Introduction
Mark Jacobsen, Spy Museum
Shlomo Shpiro, Bar Ilan-University, Chairman IIHA
Forum 1 Student Forum
Chair: Thomas Wegener Friis, University of Southern Denmark, Odense
Arjun Venkatesh, Georgetown University
LBJ intervention in the DR
Julian Schirnding Yach, Georgetown University
Operation Eagle Claw – Iran
Brendan Ehrhart, Georgetown University
First Gulf War
Julian Tan, Georgetown University
Chinese intervention Korean War
Ryan Sarafoglu, Georgetown University
Soviet invasion Afghanistan
CC Mesa, Georgetown University
Bay of Pigs
3.00 –3.30 p.m. Break
3.30 – 4.30 p.m. Forum 2 Ph.D. Forum
Chair: Wolfgang Krieger, University of Marburg
Ana M. Florea, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (SNSPA), Bucharest
Allies and Adversaries – U.S.-European Intelligence Relations.
Oliver Drewes, University of Trier
Intelligence Analysis in Comparison – Bureaucratic influences on analytical strength
Ante Batistić / Lucija Zadro, Dr. Franjo Tuđman Defense and Security University, Zagreb
Under the Lens: Croatian Dissident Bruno Bušić and the Yugoslav State Security Apparatus
4.30–5.00 p.m. Break
5.00–6.00 p.m. Forum 3 Ph.D. Forum
Chair: Charlotte Backerra, University of Klagenfurt
Saoud Al-Eshaq, Oxford
From the Shah to the Supreme Leader: Continuities in Iran’s Intelligence Community
Luca Bracciali, Leiden University
Beyond Failure: Evaluating the Accuracy of British Military Intelligence During Operation Market Garden
Ellen Beindorf, University of Southern Denmark
British Intelligence in Schleswig-Holstein 1945–1955
6.00 p.m.- Conference get-together:
At the Bar of the Hilton Washington DC National Mall
Day 2 Wednesday, 30 September 2026
at Georgetown University
9.30 a.m. Arrival and Registration
10.00 –10.30 a.m. Greetings and Opening
Heidi Urben, Georgetown University
Shlomo Shpiro, Bar Ilan-University, Chairman IIHA
Thomas Boghardt, Washington
10.30 –12.00 p.m. Panel I
Chair: Gordan Akrap, Franjo Tuđman Defense and Security University
Anna Mazurkiewicz, University of Gdansk
Making Friends: Ethnic Networks and the Social History of U.S. Intelligence in Poland, 1917–1989
Thomas Boghardt, Washington
U.S. Intelligence and the Berlin Crisis, 1958-1961
Christopher Gunn, Coastal Carolina University
Stay Behind or Roll Back: U.S. Covert Operations in Austria and Hungary, 1945–1948
Dieter Bacher, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for the Remembrance of War
The United States and the Establishment of Austrian civilian intelligence
12.00 –1.00 p.m. Lunch Break
Possibility of having lunch at the Georgetown Campus
1.00 –2.00 p.m. IIHA Membership Meeting
2.00–4.00 p.m. Panel II
Chair: Mark Jacobsen, Spy Museum
Władysław Bułhak, IPN/University of Warsaw
The conspiracy to murder Polish doctors in the United States?
Susan M. Perlman, Holocaust Museum & Georgetown University
Letters from Vichy: US Intelligence and France’s Collaborationist Regime
Ljuba Dornik Šubelj, Ljubljana
Missions Halyard and Ranger: the role of George Kraigher in World War II
Nicholas Reynolds, Washington
No Straight Line: How American Intelligence Grew and Formed Alliances in World War II
Kevin C. Ruffner, Washington
A War Crime without a Body: How a U.S. Army War Crimes Investigation Unfolded in Early Cold War Berlin
4.00 –4.30 p.m. Coffee Break
4.30 –5.30 p.m. Keynote Speech
Mike Dempsey, Washington
Day 3 Thursday, 1 October
at Georgetown University
9.30 –10.30 a.m. Panel III
Chair: Thomas Boghardt, Washington
Stephen Long, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University
Just One Strand in the Whole Fabric: Demystifying Kim Philby’s Role in Undermining Anglo-American Covert Action in Albania
Niccolò Petrelli, Roma Tre University
Beyond Patron and Client: Hegemony, Resistance, and the Evolution of US-Italian Intelligence Relations in the Cold War
Marek Hańderek, IPN/University of Krakow
Jack Bjoze and the Polish Military Intelligence Spy Network in the New York Area in the Late 1940s and Early 1950s
10.30 –11.00 a.m. Coffee Break
11.00 –12.30 p.m. Panel IV
Chair: Matt Millard, Air University
Charlotte Backerra, University of Klagenfurt
Imperial-American Intelligence Relations in the Age of Revolution
Jokin de Carlos-Sola, Leiden
Intelligence and Espionage in Europe after the 1830 Revolution
Mark Stout, International Spy Museum
American Intelligence Liaison with European Services during World War I
Michael Wala, Ruhr University
Friendly Visits and Espionage: Reichswehr Covert Operations in the United States, 1922–1935
12.30 –2.00 p.m. Lunch Break
Possibility of having lunch at the Georgetown Campus
2.00 – 4.00 p.m. Panel V
Chair: Susan Perlman, US Holocaust Memorial Museum & Georgetown University
Mensut Ademi, AAB College in Prishtina
Transatlantic Intelligence Cooperation in Preventing Organized Crime and Extremism: Case Study Western Balkans
Tomasz Kozłowski, Institute of National Remembrance
From Adversaries to Partners: The CIA and the Transformation of Polish Intelligence, 1988–1995
Shlomo Shpiro, Bar-Ilan University
Transatlantic Counterintelligence Cooperation – the US, the UK and Israel
Ronan Mainprize, Stockholm School of Economics
Lobbies, Whips, and Turkeys: American-Israeli Intelligence Diplomacy in 1967
Irina Tsukerman, The Washington Outsider
Reassessing Trust: Saudi–Russian Intelligence Ties and the Fragility of Transatlantic Assumptions
4.00 p.m. Final Remarks and End of the Conference
Start Career Fair