British counter-terrorism expert in Adelaide

Friday, 14 September 2007

A key British adviser on counter-terrorism will be at the University of Adelaide next week to address Australian security and intelligence experts on the effectiveness of intelligence today.

British Government intelligence adviser and Oxford University academic Dr Roy Giles is in Adelaide to give the keynote address at a conference, 'Intelligence Analysis in the Asia-Pacific Conference 2007: Intelligence Culture and Practice', to be held Monday and Tuesday, 17-18 September.

Dr Giles, a former colonel in the British Army who has been involved with global intelligence for many years, will address defence chiefs, intelligence experts and academics on the continuity and change in intelligence.

Dr Giles also believes that local government has an important role to play in intelligence gathering and in coping with disaster and terrorism, based on his UK experience.

"It should all be at the grass-roots level when it comes to reviving a community after any major disaster. The key word here is resilience; with resilience as our theme at local level we aim to cope to the very best of our ability, and with the needs of our people in desperate straits. Local government in the UK is the active decision maker," Dr Giles says.

"It is this level of authority that knows the local people, the local areas and available facilities. They can assist at street level, being the ones who know how best the area can recover after a terrorist outrage happens."

The conference examines two aspects of intelligence of critical importance: culture and practice.

"The culture of intelligence determines how intelligence agencies operate, what they collect and the assessments they develop. These intelligence cultures in turn drive its practice," says conference organiser and University of Adelaide Associate Professor in Politics Felix Patrikeeff.

"The practical challenges of intelligence are at the heart of making intelligence and analysis effective. This conference considers some of the practical problems facing intelligence analysts today from a multidisciplinary perspective."

The Conference is the second in an annual series examining intelligence and security in the Asia-Pacific.

"The conference draws on national and international expertise to consider especially intelligence and security in the increasingly complex political environment of the Asia-Pacific Region," Associate Professor Patrikeeff says.

"At a time when intelligence-gathering and its role in the maintenance of security are frequently front-page news, this conference brings together a number of novel perspectives on these inter-related themes."

The conference will also include a range of speakers in the field of security and intelligence, such as:

• Professor Greg Barton of Monash University, an authority on Jemaah Islamiyah; and
  
  
• Dr Per-Arne Persson of the Swedish National Defence College on Understanding and Creating Cultures in Intelligence Analysis
  

The two-day conference is organised by the South Australian Branch of the Australian Institute of International Affairs.

The conference will be held on Monday 17 and Tuesday 18 September at the University of Adelaide Club, Hughes Plaza, University of Adelaide, North Terrace Campus.

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