We are excited to welcome Kenneth to speak to the Society and its friends at the restaurant Au Vieux Saint Martin. The event will be held upstairs in the first floor dining room. The restaurant is on the Sablon on the left going towards the Grand Place. All should register as soon as possible in order not to be disappointed, see below. Looking forward to seeing you there.
With so many upcoming elections, there is great concern about rampant disinformation influencing their outcomes, spread by hostile foreign actors. However, many initiatives to counter the phenomenon don’t seem to go much further than monitoring and lamenting the problem. Information operation practices are not new in international politics though, and perhaps in past techniques lie a more effective way of actually countering disinformation.
Members of the Society, members of our sister societies, and their guests are welcome.
Speaker's Bio
Dr Kenneth LASOEN, former CamSoc VP and Professor of Intelligence at the University of Antwerp, will put the concept of disinformation in its historical and practical context to examine how age-old counterintelligence and counterdeception principles can help this fight.
Kenneth studied Ancient History at the universities of Ghent and Leuven (Belgium) and Intelligence and Security Studies at Brunel University London and the University of Cambridge (UK). He is also an alumnus of the High Studies in Security and Defence at the Belgian Royal Military Academy.
Since 2013 he researches security and intelligence, with a focus on counterintelligence, disinformation, offensive cyber operations, and a particular interest towards insider threat detection and mitigation. His research has been published in some of the foremost academic security journals, among which the Journal of Strategic Studies, Terrorism and Political Violence, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, Intelligence and National Security, Studies in Intelligence, International Journal of Intelligence and Counterntelligence, Journal of Intelligence History, Comparative Strategy and the Journal of Cold War Studies. His PhD investigated the Belgian intelligence and security services’ performance in the run up to the terrorist attacks of 2015-2016 in Paris and Brussels. He is the author of a best-selling book on the Belgian intelligence services. Professor Lasoen is a recognized voice on security matters in national and international media. He lectures on Intelligence and Security at the Political Science department of the University of Antwerp, and also teaches at certain European intelligence services.
Between 2018 and 2020 Kenneth was national security advisor to a Belgian political party, the Flemish social democrats, where he helped draft the national security and defence chapters of the current Belgian government’s coalition agreement. In 2022 Kenneth worked for Clingendael, the Dutch Institute for International Relations as a research fellow for security and defence, focused on intelligence, counter hybrid and cyber defence. He has been visiting professor at the University of Utrecht where he taught on counterinsurgency, and is now senior researcher at the Knowledge Centre Security Intelligence (https://knowledgecentersecurityintelligence.com
Menu
Included is a seated dinner where we have opted for a fixed menu with a vegetarian option. Wine, water and coffee or tea is included. There is also a cash bar.