The international conference Intelligence in the Knowledge Society is organized by the “Mihai Viteazul” National Intelligence Academy. This academic event targets scholars and practitioners in the field of intelligence and security studies, as part of a long term effort to develop a specific Romanian academic perspective on intelligence.

Intelligence has, over the past two decades, increasingly garnered popular attention as the wider public has become more and more aware of the inner workings of a previously secret world. As global events have taken unexpected turns, the seemingly forgotten logic of interstate conflict has re-emerged, giving renewed value to the currency of hard power. Within this context, intelligence has become, once again, a tool for informing critical state decisions and of non-attributable power projection.

With the advent of the information age, global powers developed technical capabilities that far outmatch anything that was imaginable even two decades ago. Conversely, while lacking the sophisticated capabilities of world players, small states have the potential to excel in providing regionally- anchored knowledge and original approaches to the solution of culturally specific problems.

Within the midst of this turbulent time, academic intelligence studies have developed gradually as a discipline, employing methods and theories from political science, international relations and security studies. The study of intelligence policies and organizations, as well as intelligence cultures and trans-national cooperation has complemented the traditional writing of intelligence history.

At the crossroads of the Continental, Mediterranean and Central Europe, Romania lies in a triple geopolitical intersection that shapes an unique security culture and an international orientation translated into both a challenge and a strategic advantage.

For more than two decades, the Intelligence in the Knowledge Society conference, organized by the “Mihai Viteazul” National Intelligence Academy has represented a forum for encounters of intelligence academics and practitioners. While the barriers between the two professional groups sometimes seem insurmountable, the IKS conference has constantly and consistently contributed to the generation of a common language and to the sharing of information between scholars and representatives of intelligence services.

The XXV edition of the Intelligence in the Knowledge Society conference takes places in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and the fluctuations of the virus at national, European and global level.TherapidspreadofCOVID-19hasgeneratedchangesinallareas,actingasaninvisibleglobal enemy.Intelligenceorganizationsarealsodealingwiththenewtypesofthreatsassociated totheconstantdevelopmentofnoveldatatoolsandtechniques.Forbeingsuccessfulin preventingorcombating(nextgeneration)securitythreats,intelligenceorganizationsand governmentscanlookintothecollaborationbetweennationsbasedoncommoncultural knowledge,goodcommunicationskills,integratingaspectsofdigitalchangesintermsof legislationandtools,orreshapingoldstrategies.

Theconferenceinvitesexperts,analysts,practitionersandresearcherstodiscussmainchallengesandeffectsofnovelsecuritythreats onstatedevelopment,onpolicieschanges,technologicaldevelopmentsandactionplans adoptedbydifferentstateactorsto prevent andcounternext-generationchallenges. Contributionsareexpectedtobringnovelperspectivesonintelligenceanalysis,historyand theory, as well as strategic pastandfuturedevelopments.IKS represents a forum forconversationbetweenacademicsandpractitioners,wherebothperspectivesarewelcomeandtheirinter-relationscanbeexplored.

Considering the above mentioned context and with the aim of taking advantage of the benefits that the classic format of the IKS conference offers – like academic conversations, partnership and networking opportunities, or sharing experiences and practices with experts within the same field of interests -, the XXV IKS edition will take place in two stages:

1. Publishing double blind peer-reviewed articles on the conference’s topics in the Romanian Intelligence Studies Review (RISR);
2. Organizing the event in October, 2021, in a format permitted by the COVID-19 pandemic evolution. The IKS conference represents the unique initiative within the Black Sea Region which gathers academics and practitioners in intelligence.