Raleigh Spy Conference
Conference History
The Raleigh Spy Conference was founded in 2003 by magazine editor
and publisher Bernie Reeves to address the increasing flow of
declassified information available since the end of the Cold War.
The Raleigh Spy Conference is recognized as the top intelligence
conference specifically for the lay public by the Association of
Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO). Three of the six conferences
have been filmed and aired on C-SPAN.
The topic for the initial conference in 2003 featured revelations
from the Cold War by former KGB Major General Oleg Kalugin; leading
intelligence scholar Christopher Andrew of Cambridge University;
CIA's Brian Kelley (the "wrong man" in the Robert Hanssen case);
CIA's Historic Intelligence Collection curator Hayden Peake; and
former Member of Parliament and intelligence expert Nigel West.
In 2004 the RSC addressed the connection between intelligence and
the war on terrorism, featuring Al-Qaeda expert Bruce Hoffman of the
RAND Corporation; suicide bomber researcher Kim Cragin; and US
embassy security officer Dennis Pluchinsky.
In 2005 Cold War scholars Harvey Klehr, John Earl Haynes, Ronald
Radosh and Steve Usdin discussed the changing interpretation of the
era and the reaction in the academic establishment.
In 2006, Brian Latell and Gene Poteat of CIA; Tim Naftali - now
curator of the Nixon Library; and Miami Herald reporter Don Bohning
addressed Castro and Cuba the week Fidel Castro stepped down.
In 2008 (there was no 2007 event due to a date change) the
conference dramatized unsolved spy cases with presentations by
Washington Post associate editor and espionage novelist David
Ignatius; former FBI special agent IC Smith on Chinese espionage;
CIA's Brain Kelley; David Robarge - chief historian at CIA - on the
life and career of James Angleton; and Jerry Schecter, Time magazine
chief correspondent in Moscow for a several years during the Cold.
In 2009 the conference addressed lady spies and "sexspionage" with
presentations by British researcher Nigel West; NCIS agent Ron
Olive, who tracked down Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard and his wife
Anne; British historian Terry Crowdy; FBI special agent IC Smith on
the notorious female spy Katrina Leung; and Brian Kelley on the case
of Felix Bloch, the US diplomat dismissed by the US State Department
but as yet not charged with espionage, who allegedly passed
messages to KGB handlers via a dominatrix call girl.
The Raleigh Spy Conference is held annually in
Raleigh, NC, presented by Raleigh Metro Magazine and area sponsors.
Go to www.raleighspyconference.com for summaries of past
conferences, speaker biographies and information on upcoming events.
Executive Summary: Origins and Purposes
Bernie Reeves, editor and publisher of Raleigh Metro Magazine (www.metronc.com) became interested in the subject of espionage after the realization that intelligence is the calculus of history in the modern era. Keying back to the declassification of the Ultra Secret form World War 11, Reeves says: “We don’t know what really happened until someone declassifies something.”
Reeves founded The Raleigh Spy Conference in 2003 to dramatize the sudden and voluminous data available from the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the revelations released by CIA and NSA at the Venona Conference in 1995 of formerly secret coded messages to American communists from the USSR, and to recognize the immense contribution made by scholars who have diligently researched and published seminal works critical to the re-writing of modern history caused by newly declassified information.
The first RSC featured appearances by the world’s most well known intelligence expert Christopher Andrew of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge; former KGB major general Oleg Kalugin; curator of the CIA collection Hayden Peake; the wrong man in the Robert Hanssen case Brian Kelley of CIA; and researcher and author Nigel West.
In year two, Bruce Hoffman of RAND - the leading expert on Al Queada - headlined a conference with security experts discussing the connection between intelligence and terrorism as the argument raged about where to place the blame for 9-11. Former Member of Parliament Nigel West revealed the role of MI5 in uncovering IRA terrorists, Dennis Pulchinsky discussed embassy security and Hamas expert Kim Cragin revealed formerly unknown information on the profile of suicide bombers
In year three the conference turned to the scholarship of the Cold War with co-authors Harvey Klehr and John Earl Haynes; Ronald Radsoh, the former communist who authored the Rosenberg File and Red Star Over Hollywood about the influence of the Soviet Union in the film industry; Steve Usdin with new information on the Americans who helped kick-start the computer age in the USSR; and IC Smith on the emerging danger from Chinese espionage.
In year four in 2006 the RSC opened on the subject of Castro and Cuba the same week Fidel became ill. Featured were CIA Cuba expert Brain Latell; author and researcher Tim Naftali, Gene Poteat of CIA who was in the thick of the Cuban Missile Crisis; anti-Castro activist Humberto Fontova; and Miami journalist Don Bohning who has covered Cuba under Castro since his take-over in 1959. Three segments of this conference were aired by C-SPAN.
In year five the conference made international headlines with the appearance of former CIA officer Tennent Bagley who was shunned by the CIA after his book Spy Wars refuted the acceptance of KGB double agent Yuri Nosenko as a bona fide defector. Also appearing was CIA historian David Robarge who delivered the first truly complete profile of infamous counterintelligence CIA chief James Angleton. Brian Kelley revealed formerly classified details about the most famous double agent cases of the Cold War and Washington Post associate editor and espionage novelist David Ignatius related his career to events and revelations in the world of intelligence.
Year six RSC presents “Sexspionage and the Subtle Art of Seduction”, featuring the role of lady spies and the use of sex in intelligence operations. Go to www.raleighspyconference.com for details and make plans to attend what promises to be an exciting event.