Vol. 6 No. 3 (2024): 2023 WEST COAST SECURITY CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS — INFLUENCE AND HYBRIDITY: THE EVOLUTION OF VIOLENCE
2023 WEST COAST SECURITY CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS — INFLUENCE AND HYBRIDITY: THE EVOLUTION OF VIOLENCE

I am pleased to present Volume 6, Issue 3 of the Journal of Intelligence, Conflict, and Warfare inspired by CASIS Vancouver’s 6th Annual West Coast Security Conference, Influence and Hybridity: The Evolution of Violence. This year’s event featured nearly fifty speakers across five days and built off the success of the past five years. The conference has seen growth in both scope and attendance, and the focus of this year’s event was to provide a more nuanced understanding of contemporary violence, taking into account shifts in the international system and nature of warfare. Through three days of online speakers and a fourth featuring a competence-based online War Games and Contemporary Conflict Workshop, leading experts, academics, and practitioners came together to further analyse and unpack the contemporary security landscape. Additionally, we transitioned away from a strictly online environment for the first time in three years, hosting an interactive Intelligence Workshop on accountability and best practice, featuring representatives of the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA), the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP), the Privy Council Office Community of Practice (PCO), and Office of the Intelligence Commissioner (OIC).

 

The pieces included in this edition complement the discussions from this year’s West Coast Security Conference, building off of and developing key themes explored by the speakers’ presentations and workshop proceedings. We were privileged to welcome Dr. Loch K. Johnson back to the conference, where he spoke extensively on the topic of intelligence in the age of hegemonic instability. We are happy to host a new piece of work from Dr. Johnson to open this edition, “Intelligence Collection Priorities In An Age Of Renewed Superpower Conflict: Toward A More Expansive Perspective”, which expands on his conference proceedings and draws from his prolific body of work. The piece examines the broad intelligence landscape that emerged for open societies following the Cold War and, most importantly, makes us consider what this means for the future of global democracy in a time of hegemonic conflict, providing insight into the potential path forward. Dr. John Gilmour has been welcomed into the CASIS Vancouver fold, bringing a wealth of experience from his years of service in the PCO and CSIS. We are pleased to host a special conference piece from Dr. Gilmour beginning on page 32 of this edition that fits perfectly into the research purview of CASIS Vancouver, providing an in-depth and penetrating contribution to recent discussions of how terrorism is situated and considered within the broader context of extremism and national security in Canada. Beginning on page 78, Dr. Taofeek Oluwayomi Gidado and Temitope Abeeb Yusuf examine the relationship between police and the public in Nigeria with their study into the normalization of vigilante groups for crime prevention and the resulting impacts on the security architecture of the state. Lastly, briefing notes were prepared for each speaker at the conference to provide those who were unable to join us with a written synopsis of the key themes and research presented on Expanding Intelligence Toolkits, Extremism and Identity, Information Warfare, Proactive Policing, and Soft Violence. The findings provide insight into a world shifting away from the liberal system and provide clarity to often misunderstood topics such as Hybrid Warfare and threats to human infrastructure, while emphasizing the increased importance of education, collaboration, and joint interoperability.

 

Lastly, it was our privilege to welcome back our friend Randolph H. Pherson to the West Coast Security Conference in November, prior to his passing at the beginning of 2024. We would like to take this opportunity to honour Mr. Pherson and acknowledge his work and person. Mr. Pherson was the co-author of Richards J. Heuer, Jr. and a leader in the international intelligence community, known for his development of Structured Analytic Techniques (SATs), authorship of multiple books on analytic thinking and presentation, and years of teaching and mentorship internationally. We are privileged to present one of the last pieces of research by Randolph H. Pherson, “Creative Strategies for Dealing with Disinformation”, which can be found on page 264 of this edition. In it, he outlines his analytic prescriptions for countering the threat of disinformation, providing us with yet another example of the utility of critical, practical, and structured analysis in the field.

 

The key pillars of CASIS Vancouver are the communication and creation of new knowledge and research in the security space, and our purpose is to provide the handshake between academics and practitioners. It is my hope is that these articles and briefings will inspire others to further discussion and research on contemporary and emerging security threats, and I look forward to the wide range of engaging submissions to this journal in the coming months.

 

Sincerely yours,

 

Candyce Kelshall

Conference Briefing Notes

Candyce Kelshall
100-104
BLURRING BOUNDARIES: WAR AND VIOLENCE IN A NEW ERA
pdf
Sara K. Thompson
105-109
POLARIZATION AND INTERVENTION-BASED P/CVE PROGRAMS IN CANADA
PDF
John Gilmour
110-112
DOES CANADA NEED A DEDICATED INTELLIGENCE STRATEGY?
pdf
Mubin Shaikh
113-117
PRISLAMISM, RADICALIZATION AND DERADICALIZATION IN CANADA
PDF
Caroline Orr Bueno
118-121
INFORMATION DARK SPACES: CONCEPTUALIZING AND CHARACTERIZING INVISIBLE VULNERABILITIES IN OUR INFORMATION ENVIRONMENT
PDF
Ian Ralby
122-125
HYBRIDITY, LAWFARE, AND UNLAWFARE IN THE MARITIME DOMAIN
pdf
Dave Jones
126-130
THE ROLE OF INTELLIGENCE IN CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION: SECURING THE METRO RAILWAY AND PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
pdf
Joe Faragone
131-135
A CONTINGENCY APPROACH TO PUBLIC SECTOR PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT: THE CASE OF THE CANADIAN INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY
PDF
John Gilmour
136-137
2023 WEST COAST SECURITY CONFERENCE: OPENING REMARKS DAY 2
pdf
Vincent Virk
138-141
LEADERSHIP IN EVOLVING WARFARE
PDF
Bruce O'Brien
142-145
INTERNATIONAL POLICE COOPERATION: REDUCING GLOBAL CRIME AND HARM
PDF
Barrington Duffy
146-148
CANADIAN POLICE KNOWLEDGE NETWORK TRAINING THE POLICE AND SECURITY PROFESSIONALS IN THE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR POLICING
pdf
Liam Price
149-153
JOINT INTEROPERABILITY AND THE IMPORTANCE OF STRATEGIC COORDINATION GROUPS
PDF
John Coxhead
154-157
THREE POLICING PARADIGMS: EXPLORATORY, SOLUTIONS, AND COLLABORATIONS
PDF
Amanda Blakeman
158-160
NATIONAL POLICE DATABASES AND THEIR INCREASING IMPORTANCE IN 21ST CENTURY POLICING
pdf
Devon Clunis
161-164
THE PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE: CANADIAN POLICING IN THE 21ST CENTURY
pdf
Jacqueline Edwards
165-167
COMMUNITY POLICING AND REPRESENTATION WITHIN POLICING IN CANADA
pdf
John Pyrik
168-169
2023 WEST COAST SECURITY CONFERENCE WELCOMING REMARKS DAY 3
pdf
Jennifer Irish
170-174
LEADING SECURITY AND INTELLIGENCE: CURRENT TRENDS AND ESSENTIAL ABILITIES
pdf
Julian Richards
175-178
THE INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY LANDSCAPE IN THE UK POST-BREXIT
pdf
Barry Zulauf
179-183
PROFESSIONALISM TRUMPS PARTISANSHIP: LESSONS LEARNED ON HOW WE CONTINUALLY UPDATE OUR PRACTICE OF OBJECTIVITY AS ANALYSTS
PDF
Loch K. Johnson
184-187
WHAT SHOULD INTELLIGENCE PRIORITIES BE GIVEN THE STATE OF HEGEMONIC INSTABILITY?
pdf
David Strachan-Morris
188-192
DEVELOPING THEORY ON THE INSURGENT USE OF INTELLIGENCE
PDF
Doug Layton
193-196
ROYAL CANADIAN NAVY STRATEGY IN THE ARCTIC - CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
PDF
Charles Suilen
197-201
LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF REGIONAL COOPERATION: A CASE STUDY OF GUYANA
PDF
Jason Kelshall
202-204
MARITIME SECURITY LESSONS LEARNED FROM INTERNATIONAL SECURITY INITIATIVES IN THE CARIBBEAN
pdf
Victoria Dittmar
205-208
LESSONS LEARNED: HOW FENTANYL IS IMPACTING ORGANIZED CRIME IN NORTH AMERICA
PDF
Samuel Serviss
209-210
2023 WEST COAST SECURITY CONFERENCE WELCOMING REMARKS DAY 4
pdf
Jay Janzen
211-214
THE ROLE OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION WITHIN CONTEMPORARY INFORMATION WARFARE
pdf
Maria Miron
215-218
RUSSIAN INFORMATION WAR
PDF
Philip Davies
219-223
COUNTERINTELLIGENCE AND FIRST LINES OF DEFENSE IN AN AGE OF HYBRID WARFARE
pdf
Ibrahim Muradov
224-227
THE RUSSO-UKRAINIAN WAR: WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR RUSSIA, UKRAINE, AND THE WEST?
PDF
David Kilcullen
228-232
POPULATION-CENTRIC WARFARE
PDF
Gitanjali Adlakha-Hutcheon
233-236
INTELLIGENCE AND FATE: THE ROLE OF FATE AS AN AID TO INTELLIGENCE
PDF
David Redpath
237-240
DESIGNING, DEVELOPING, AND DELIVERING WARGAMES
PDF
John Pyrik, Wade Deisman
241-242
2023 WEST COAST SECURITY CONFERENCE WELCOMING REMARKS DAY 5
pdf
Senior CSIS Executive
243-246
THREE ASPECTS OF ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THE CANADIAN INTELLIGENCE PUBLIC SERVICE
pdf
Hugh Henry
247-250
THE PRIVY COUNCIL OFFICE INTELLIGENCE ANALYST COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE: MISSION, VISION, ROLE, AND PRIORITIES
PDF
Lisa-Marie Inman, Jennifer Kleniewski
251-254
ROLE AND PURPOSE OF NSICOP IN CANADIAN NATIONAL SECURITY
pdf
Justin Dubois
255-257
BALANCING NATIONAL SECURITY INTERESTS WITH PRIVACY, THE CHARTER AND RULE OF LAW: BUILDING CHECKLISTS INTO OPERATION PLANNING
pdf
John Davies
258-260
BUILDING INTELLIGENCE REVIEW INTO NATIONAL SECURITY - THE CANADIAN EXPERIENCE
PDF
Candyce Kelshall
261-263
CONSIDERATIONS FOR UPDATING THE CONTEMPORARY INTELLIGENCE CYCLE TO THE CONTEMPORARY ENVIRONMENT
pdf
Randolph H. Pherson
264-267
CREATIVE STRATEGIES FOR DEALING WITH DISINFORMATION
pdf