Maria Katarina Calderoni, IWP alumna and former president of IWP’s student chapter of the International Association for Intelligence Education (IAFIE), attended the IAFIE and IAFIE Europe Chapter’s 2022 Joint Conference in Treviso, Italy, in June 2022. The 3-day conference, hosted by Ècole Universitaire Internationale, was themed “Working Wicked Intelligence Challenges” and focused on Emerging Near Future Intelligence Challenges, Democracy at Risk, Instability and Terrorism, and Education and Research. Over 150 people attended the conference representing over 20 countries from around the world: Denmark; Finland; France; Germany; Greece; Norway; The Netherlands; Poland; Portugal; Romania; Spain; Sweden; Italy; USA; United Kingdom; Canada; Israel; Australia; Switzerland; Nigeria; and the Emirates.
Maj. Gen. Michelle McGuinness and José Casimiro Morgado gave the conference’s keynote speeches. Maj. Gen. McGuinness is the current Deputy Director for Commonwealth Integration (DDCI) at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). She highlighted the need for international cooperation with intelligence partners and explained how the DIA’s use of technology in the ongoing war in Ukraine has enabled better intelligence sharing. José Casimiro Morgado, the current Director of the EU Intelligence and Situation Center, discussed the EU intelligence-sharing model and elaborated on the challenges his organization faces in conducting strategic analysis without operational intelligence.
At the conference, Maria discussed how IAFIE student chapters can increase awareness of IAFIE’s mission and reach future intelligence practitioners. She shared some of the activities IWP’s student Alpha chapter organized during the 2021-2022 academic year and the benefits student membership provides its holders. There was widespread interest in establishing more IAFIE student chapters at universities across the United States and Europe from both the IAFIE leadership and the educators and faculty attending the conference. The conference highlighted the desire for more integration among existing student chapters and between student chapters and the association at large.
Maria graduated as IWP valedictorian in June and attended the conference while visiting family and friends in Italy. She speaks fluent Italian.
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