Our main goal is to improve understanding of how intelligence and security services operate, how they are embedded in broader political, bureaucratic, and societal contexts, and how their methodologies can be complemented.

The complexity of an intelligence problem determines to a great extent the certainty that can be provided by intelligence and security services.

This article explores an emerging “cultural turn” in intelligence studies, which, if fully realized, could entail the expansion of the discipline to include new methodologies and theories, and a more integrative understanding of historical causality that locates intelligence agencies within the widersocio-cultural…

Can dynamic testing provide us with insight in children’s potential for learning?

In this article, Thomas Maguire, Assistant Professor at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, examines why states use intelligence to influence external audiences.

GLOBALINT is a pioneering study of intelligence in the Global South. It asks ‘how do (un)democratic shifts in political governance impact intelligence services in contexts of violent conflict?

Together with Pepijn Tuinier and Thijs Brocades Zaalberg, Sebastiaan Rietjens researched the role of trust in an international intelligence cooperation.

Why, then, do governments choose to disclose intelligence and what factors shape how they do so?

Who are open-source intelligence activists and how reliable are their contributions to public understanding of Russia’s war in Ukraine?

This book is the first comparative study of estimative intelligence and strategic surprise in a European context, complementing and testing insights from previous studies centred on the United States. It does extensive empirical analysis of open-source material and interviews in relation to three cases…

In this article, Thomas Maguire, assistant professor at the Institute of Governance and Global Affairs, examines the intelligence of the US, British and Ukrainian governments and NATO partners concerning Russia and its war against Ukraine. This article discusses how and why governments communicate intelligence…

The ‘Toetsingscommissie Inzet Bevoegdheden’ (TIB), an independent Dutch committee overseeing intelligence efforts and competences, is facing criticism on its supervision of the Dutch intelligence services. ‘Whether the increased supervision is hurting (national) security, can really only be determined…

Nineteen students who obtained excellent results in the minor Intelligence Studies received the annual Kluitersprijs.

Twenty three students who obtained excellent results in the minor Intelligence Studies received the annual Kluitersprijs.

The ‘University of the Netherlands’ is a series of lectures in which academics address topics based on their expertise. In the latest instalment, cultural historian Simon Willmetts discusses how intelligence services operate and what has changed since 9/11.

In this article, Ben de Jong, research fellow at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, examines the relationship between double agents and their handlers.

You’re about to start your minor at Leiden University. Make sure you are well prepared and get your studies off to a good start.

How have British, Dutch, and German security services dealt with political violence and terrorism since the late 1960s; to what extent did they consider these new phenomena as a task and how have they developed activities in order to counter these security threats?

In recent months, the Dutch Islamic Haga Lyceum has increasingly come under the suspicion. The school is suspected of spreading a state-threatening version of the Salafist doctrine. This information came from the Dutch Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD).

On 1 September 2017, Prof. dr. Paul H.A.M. Abels (60) will start as professor by special appointment of Governance of Intelligence and Security Services at Leiden University. This chair is placed at the Institute for Security and Global Affairs (ISGA).

On 15 December, Director of the MIVD General Jan Swillens, visited the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA) to give a lecture on international intelligence cooperation together with ISGA/NLDA researcher Pepijn Tuinier. This event, co-organised by the Intelligence and Security Group and the…

It recently emerged that a Swiss firm secretly owned by the CIA and the West German intelligence service BND had been selling manipulated coding equipment to numerous governments, including allies, to spy on them through a Swiss cover firm for years.

Prof. dr. ir. Bas Rietjens of the Dutch Defense Academy (NLDA) has been appointed Professor by special appointment Intelligence in War and Conflict at Leiden University’s Institute for Security and Global Affairs (ISGA). The appointment of Rietjens is the result of a more intensive collaboration between…

Minister Grapperhaus wants to use intelligence services in the investigation of drug crime. There are many doubts about this wish in the intelligence world. Paul Abels, Professor by Special Appointment Governance of Intelligence and Security Services at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA),…

Many people were using social media to follow last weekend’s march on Moscow by the Wagner mercenaries. And they weren’t the only ones: intelligence services were also watching with great interest. What kind of information do they obtain from social media and what are the advantages and disadvantage…

On 16 April, an edition of Zembla, the Dutch documentary programme produced by BNNVARA, investigated the connection between Thierry Baudet, leader of Dutch political party Forum for Democracy and the Kremlin. Ben de Jong, visiting lecturer at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs, was interviewed…

New article on popular culture influences on cybersecurity experts, available Open Access at Contemporary Security Policy, part of a special issue edited by dr. Myriam Dunn Cavelty.

On Tuesday 24 September the Marengo trial, also known as the trail against the so-called Mocro Maffia, continued behind closed doors after the fatal shooting of barrister Derk Wiersum. The main suspect is Ridouan Taghi. He is believed to be residing abroad along with several accomplices.

This article reviews how external expertise supports intelligence production and crisis decision-making with Germany's response to the Russio-Ukrainian war.

Simon Willmetts walks listeners through the founding of the CIA, its successes, controversies, portrayal in media and film.

This book, edited by Joost Augusteijn, Constant Hijzen and Mark Leon de Vries, explores how democratic regimes have dealt with anti-democratic forces in society, from the late nineteenth to the early twenty-first century.

On Tuesday 20 March, Constant Hijzen, Assistant Professor of Intelligence Studies at the Institute of Security and Global Affairs (ISGA), gave a lecture in the Diplomacy and Global Affairs Research Seminar series of Diplomacy and Global Affairs Research, titled ‘Of ticking bombs: Western services against…

This paper aims to understand the most common underlying problems causing strategic surprise in the context of the European Union.

The debate about state behaviour in cyberspace may be set in the wrong legal key.

On 25 April the Dutch Review Committee for the Deployment of Powers (in Dutch: TIB) presented its first annual report to the First and Second Chamber of the Dutch government. The TIB informs in the annual report on its findings and activities in the period from 1 May 2018 to 1 April 2019. The report…

Eva Michaels talks about the current international security environment, including intelligence issues with Sir John Sawers in an interview in El País.