Conference at Williams College on U.S. Intelligence Studies to Address Questions Raised by Sept. 11

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., April 2, 2008 (AScribe Newswire) -- The September 11 attacks and the war in Iraq have raised a number of questions about U.S. intelligence.

o Why did the intelligence community fail to prevent 9/11?

o How do policy makers use intelligence to make decisions about war and peace?

o Should Americans be willing to sacrifice their civil liberties in the name of national security?

Richard Betts explores these questions and others in his critically acclaimed recent book, Enemies of Intelligence. On Saturday, April 12, the Leadership Studies Program at Williams College will welcome Richard Betts and other leading intelligence scholars to discuss Betts's work and offer insights about the future of U.S. intelligence. The conference will feature a range of academic experts along with representatives from the Department of Defense and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

The public is invited and the event is free.

"In from the Cold: Richard Betts and the Renaissance of Intelligence Studies"

A schedule of the panel discussions and the conference's participant bios follows.

Saturday, April 12 - Griffin Hall, room 3

9-10:30 a.m. - Intelligence and Foreign Policy

Chair: Joshua Rovner, Williams College

Paul Pillar, Georgetown University

Thomas Mahnken, Department of Defense

Glenn Hastedt, James Madison University

James Wirtz, Naval Postgraduate School

10:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m. - Surprise Attack and Intelligence Reform

Chair: Richard Gid Powers, College of Staten Island

Richard Russell, National Defense University

Arthur Hulnick, Boston University

Stephen Marrin, Mercyhurst College

Erik Dahl, Harvard University

2:15-3:45 p.m. - Secrecy and Democracy

Chair: Stephanie Kaplan, MIT

James Bruce, RAND

David Kaiser, Naval War College

Ted Gup, Case Western Reserve University

Participants bios in alphabetical order

Richard K. Betts is the Arnold Saltzman Professor of War and Peace Studies in the Department of Political Science, the director of the Institute of War and Peace Studies, and the director of the International Security Policy Program in the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.

Betts has taught at Harvard University and was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution until 1990. A former staff member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the National Security Council, and the Walter Mondale presidential campaign, Betts has been a consultant to the National Intelligence Council and Central Intelligence Agency.

He is the author of "Soldiers, Statesmen and Cold War Crises" (Harvard, 1977), "The Irony of Vietnam: The System Worked" with Leslie Gelb (Brookings, 1979), "Nonproliferation and U.S. Foreign Policy" (Brookings, 1980), "Cruise Missiles: Technology Strategy, Politics" (Brookings, 1981), and "Nuclear Blackmail and Nuclear Balance" (Brookings, 1987), and "Military Readiness" (Brookings, 1995). He is also the editor of "Conflict After the Cold War: Arguments on Causes of War and Peace," 2nd ed. (Longman, 2001). His writings have earned five prizes, including the Woodrow Wilson Award of the American Political Science Association for the best book in political science.

James B. Bruce is a retired career CIA intelligence analyst who has served with the National Intelligence Council, within the Directorates of Intelligence and Operations, and has worked extensively with other intelligence community organizations. Bruce is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation. He is the co-editor, with Roger Z. George, of "Analyzing Intelligence: Origins, Obstacles, and Innovations" (Georgetown, 2008).

Erik J. Dahl retired from the U.S. Navy in 2002 after serving 21 years as an intelligence officer. He is a pre-doctoral fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, and a Ph.D. candidate at The Fletcher School of Tufts University. His dissertation research examines the causes of intelligence failure and success in preventing surprise attacks from Pearl Harbor to 9/11. In September 2008 he will join the faculty of the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, as an assistant professor of national security affairs.

Ted Gup, the legendary investigative reporter, is the author of "Nation of Secrets: the Threat to Democracy and the American Way of Life" (Doubleday, 2000) and "The Book of Honor: Covert Lives & Classified Deaths at the CIA" (Doubleday, 2000). He is the Shirley Wormster Professor of Journalism at Case Western Reserve University. His Nation of Secrets received the prestigious Goldsmith Book Prize from Harvard University's Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy.

Glenn P. Hastedt is professor of political science at James Madison University where he teaches courses on American foreign policy and international relations. He has edited two books on intelligence, "Controlling Intelligence" (Frank Cass, 1991) and "Analysis and Estimates" (Frank Cass, 1996). He is the also the author of "American Foreign Policy: Past, Present, Future" (Prentice-Hall, 1997), and "World Politics in a Changing World" (Allyn & Bacon, forthcoming).

Arthur S. Hulnick is associate professor of international relations at Boston University. A veteran of more than 35 years in the profession of intelligence, including seven years as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Air Force and 28 years in the Central Intelligence Agency, Hulnick was one of the early pioneers in developing courses at the university level on strategic intelligence, and he has written extensively on the subject. His recent publications include "Keeping Us Safe: Secret Intelligence and Homeland Security" (Praeger, 2004) and "Fixing the Spy Machine: Preparing American Intelligence for the 21st Century" (Praeger, 1999).

David E. Kaiser is professor in the strategy and policy department of the Naval War College. His books include "Economic Diplomacy and the Origins of the Second World War" (Princeton, 1980); "Politics and War: European Conflict from Philip II to Hitler" (Harvard, 1990); "American Tragedy: Kennedy, Johnson, and the Origins of the Vietnam War" (Harvard, 2002); and "The Road to Dallas: The Assassination of John F. Kennedy" (Harvard, 2008).

Stephanie Kaplan served as special assistant to the executive and deputy director of the 9/11 Commission, where she was also managing editor of the Commission's final report. She is a doctoral candidate in political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an affiliate of the MIT Security Studies Program. She is also a pre-doctoral fellow with the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism and a consultant to the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point.

Thomas G. Mahnken is Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Policy Planning. He has served on the faculty at the Naval War College as well as the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. His publications include "Paradoxes of Strategic Intelligence: Essays in Honor of Michael I. Handel," edited with Richard K. Betts (Frank Cass, 2003), and "The Information Revolution in Military Affairs: Prospects for Asia," edited with Emily O. Goldman (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004).

Stephen Marrin is assistant professor in the intelligence studies department at Mercyhurst College and a doctoral candidate at the University of Virginia. A former analyst in the CIA and the Government Accountability Office, he has written on various aspects of intelligence studies, including one that led to the creation of CIA University. In 2004, the National Journal described him as one of the country's top 10 experts on intelligence reform.

Paul R. Pillar is visiting professor in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University. He retired in 2005 from a 28-year career in the U.S. intelligence community. Earlier he served in a variety of analytical and managerial positions, including as chief of analytic units at the CIA covering portions of the Near East, the Persian Gulf, and South Asia. He also served in the National Intelligence Council as one of the original members of its Analytic Group. He has been executive assistant to CIA's deputy director for Intelligence and executive assistant to director of Central Intelligence William Webster.

Richard Gid Powers is professor of history at the College of Staten Island. A specialist on national security and the FBI, he is the author of "G-Men: Hoover's FBI in American Popular Culture" (1983); "Secrecy and Power: The Life of J. Edgar Hoover" (1987); "Not Without Honor: The History of American Anticommunism" (1996); and "Broken: The Troubled Past and Uncertain Future of the FBI" (2004). He also worked with Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan on "Secrecy: The American Experience" (1998), and contributed the introduction.

Joshua Rovner is the Stanley Kaplan Postdoctoral Fellow in Leadership Studies and Political Science at Williams College, where he teaches courses on international security and American foreign policy. His doctoral dissertation, "Intelligence-Policy Relations and the Problem of Politicization" (MIT, 2008), explores the use of intelligence in national security policy making. He has published in International Security, The International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, Strategic Insights, and The Boston Globe.

Richard L. Russell is professor of National Security Affairs at the National Defense University's Near East-South Asia Center for Strategic Studies. He also served 17 years as a political-military analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency. He is the author of "Sharpening Strategic Intelligence: Why the CIA Gets It Wrong and What Needs to be Done to Get It Right" (Cambridge University Press, 2007); "Weapons Proliferation and War in the Greater Middle East: Strategic Contest" (Routledge, 2005); and "George F. Kennan's Strategic Thought: The Making of an American Political Realist" (Praeger, 1999).

James J. Wirtz is acting dean of the School of International Graduate Studies and professor in the department of national security affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School. He is editor of the Palgrave Macmillan series, Initiatives in Strategic Studies: Issues and Policies and section chair of the Intelligence Studies Section of the International Studies Association. He is a past president of the International Security and Arms Control Section of the American Political Science Association. Wirtz is the author of "The Tet Offensive: Intelligence Failure in War" (Cornell, 1991). He has also co-edited several volumes on intelligence.

The conference is sponsored by both the Stanley Kaplan Program in American Foreign Policy and the Leadership Studies Program at Williams.

For building locations on the Williams campus, please consult the map outside the driveway entrance to the Security Office located in Hopkins Hall on Main Street (Rte. 2), next to the Thompson Memorial Chapel, or call the Office of Public Affairs 413-597-4277. The map can also be found on the web at www.williams.edu/home/campusmap/

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CONTACT: NOTE TO EDITORS: To access the Williams College online faculty experts database, visit http://www.williams.edu/admin/news/experts.php

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Contact Information:
Jo Procter, Williams College Public Affairs, 413-597-4279,

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