24 May 1999
Date: Mon, 24 May 1999 19:31:35 +0200 To: jya@jya.com From: "C.Wiebes" <wiebes@pscw.uva.nl> Subject: Sigint conference announcement SIGINT IN EUROPE DURING THE COLD WAR More and more students of the Cold War begin to realize that the intelligence communities played an important role during the Cold War. In recent years in particular the importance of Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) has been stressed and especially the capabilities and possibilities of reading and deciphering diplomatic, military, commercial and other communications of other nations. This growing awareness of the importance of intelligence applies not only to the activities of the big services but also to those of the smaller nations like for example the Netherlands. For this exact reason a couple of years ago the Netherlands Intelligence Studies Association (NISA) was established in which academics and (former and still active) members of the Netherlands intelligence community work together in order to promote research into the history of Dutch intelligence communities. This growing interest had led in Holland to publications dealing with the history of the Dutch internal security service (1995), the Dutch Navy Intelligence (1997) and the Netherlands foreign intelligence service (November 1998). As honorary secretary of the NISA it is my pleasure to announce that the NISA will host an international conference dealing with THE IMPORTANCE OF SIGINT IN WESTERN EUROPE IN THE COLD WAR This conference with a particular emphasis on Sigint and the Northwestern European nations will take place on Saturday November 27 in Amsterdam. The line up of the program is as follows: SPEAKERS: 09.45: Opening of the Conference and Welcome to the speakers and participants 10.00: Matthew Aid (United States, ex-NSA) Introduction on the importance of SIGINT in the Cold War 10.45: coffee 11.00: Richard Aldrich (United Kingdom, University of Nottingham) GCHQ and Sigint in the Cold War 11.45: Erich Schmidt-Eenboom (Germany, Forschungsinstitut für Friendenspolitik) The BND, German Military Forces and Sigint in the Cold War 12.30: lunch 13.30: Alf Jacobsen (Norway, NRK) Scandinavia, Sigint and the Cold War 14.15: Cees Wiebes (Netherlands, NISA) The history of the WKC (Dutch NSA/GCHQ) 15.00: Tea 15.30: Wies Platje (Netherlands, NISA) Dutch Sigint and the conflict with Indonesia, 1950 - 62 16.15: Round Table discussion The importance of Sigint during the Cold War 17.00: Closing Remarks + Reception Since the number of seats is strictly limited to 100, you are requested to submit your registration as soon as possible. Places will be attributed on a first registered-first served basis. The conference rate is US $ 80 including lunch and drinks at the reception. Please register as quickly as possible by sending an E-mail or letter to the honorary secretary of the NISA, Dr. Cees Wiebes, at the following address: Dr. Cees Wiebes Honorary secretary NISA P.O. Box 18 210 1001 ZC Amsterdam The Netherlands E-mail: WIEBES@PSCW.UVA.NL