Initiatives

Public Events and Major Conferences

ISP hosts and invites speakers in the national security and intelligence fields, to include Directors of National Intelligence Avril Haines and Dan Coats, to discuss important intelligence topics. 

Information on previous ISP symposiums are found below:

ISP will continue hosting IC leaders and distinguished experts at public events in Austin. 

Scholarly and Academic Endeavors

In May 2023, ISP hosted the annual Texas Intelligence Academy (TIA), an intensive academic program focused on intelligence and national security in Washington, D.C. In the program, a cohort of 15 undergraduate students from UT-System institutions participate in lectures and social events with distinguished scholars and practitioners, simulation exercises, and visits to sites related to intelligence. In the past, the TIA visited the Central Intelligence Agency, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Capitol Hill, and Gettysburg National Military Park. The inaugural TIA was offered in May 2018.

During the 2021-22 academic year, ISP sponsored a Policy Research Project (PRP) at the LBJ School of Public Affairs on Intelligence in Defense of Democracy. This PRP, led by ISP Director Steve Slick, was undertaken on behalf of policy clients at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Students conducted dozens of research interviews and briefed their findings and recommendations to senior IC officials and Senate Select Committee on Intelligence staff members. The PRP report is available here.

Shortly after its establishment, ISP launched the "Bobby R. Inman Award" competition to recognize outstanding student scholarship in the field of intelligence. ISP announced the inaugural recipient--together with two semifinalists--in June 2015 and recognized successive rounds of winning authors in 2016 through 2023. 

ISP hosted its first post-doctoral research fellow, Dr. Kiril Avramov, during the 2018-19 academic year. Dr. Avramov conducted research on Russian "active measures." In 2020, Dr. Avramov was appointed as an assistant professor in the Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies. He currently serves as the Director of UT-Austin's Global Disinformation Lab.