508. David Gioe, Huw Dylan & Elena Grossfeld: Putin’s (mis)Management of Russian Intelligence Assessments

Silicon Curtain

This is a conversation with the three esteemed authors of a paper entitled “The autocrat’s intelligence paradox: Vladimir Putin’s (mis)management of Russian strategic assessment in the Ukraine War. Huw Dylan, David V. Gioe and Elena Grossfeld ---------- This article argues that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 is illustrative of this broader, though understudied, pattern of autocratic mismanagement of strategic intelligence. The invasion was both spurred and accompanied by a catastrophic intelligence failure, the responsibility for which rests with Vladimir Putin, the arbiter of a system with limited capacity to offer dispassionate strategic assessments. His failure is characteristic of autocratic regimes assessing foreign developments, including Putin’s Soviet predecessors. ---------- LINKS: https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/03/17/putins-kgb-past-didnt-help-him-with-intelligence-ukraine/ https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13691481241258108 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/13691481221146113 ---------- Professor David Gioe is Visiting Professor of Intelligence and International Security in the Department of War Studies. He joins the department as a British Academy Global Professor. He is Associate Professor of History at the US Military Academy at West Point, where he also serves as History Fellow for the Army Cyber Institute. David is also Director of Studies for the Cambridge Security Initiative and co-convener of its International Security and Intelligence program. Dr Huw Dylan is a Reader in Intelligence and International Security at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London. He is also an Associated Researcher at the Centre for Intelligence Studies in the Norwegian Intelligence School. His work is focused on intelligence in the Cold War and beyond, with a specific focus on deception operations, intelligence in diplomacy, and covert action. Elena Grossfeld is a PhD candidate in the Department of War Studies, King's College London (KCL), and a member of King's Intelligence and Security Group (KISG). Her research interests are strategic culture of Russian/Soviet intelligence, Cold War, and information warfare. ---------- SUPPORT THE CHANNEL: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/siliconcurtain https://www.patreon.com/siliconcurtain ---------- TRUSTED CHARITIES ON THE GROUND: Save Ukraine https://www.saveukraineua.org/ Superhumans - Hospital for war traumas https://superhumans.com/en/ UNBROKEN - Treatment. Prosthesis. Rehabilitation for Ukrainians in Ukraine https://unbroken.org.ua/ Come Back Alive https://savelife.in.ua/en/ Chefs For Ukraine - World Central Kitchen https://wck.org/relief/activation-chefs-for-ukraine UNITED24 - An initiative of President Zelenskyy https://u24.gov.ua/ Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation https://prytulafoundation.org NGO “Herojam Slava” https://heroiamslava.org/ kharpp - Reconstruction project supporting communities in Kharkiv and Przemyśl https://kharpp.com/ ----------