The Covid-19 crisis has underlined in stark terms for governments the world over the importance of receiving timely warning of impending threats, the necessity of adequate risk management, and the necessity of resilience throughout society.

Our panel of leading academics and experts in the field, with decades of experience advising the British government, will discuss these questions. They will reflect on what we might learn today from recent experience in identifying, managing, and coping with terrorist threats. They will consider whether systems designed and implemented to help secure society from surprise attacks, can aid in the current crisis. And what role intelligence might play in warning of future crises.

Panelists:

• Chair: Professor Michael Goodman, Head of the Department of War Studies and Professor of Intelligence and International Affairs.
• Learning to be less surprised by surprise, Professor Sir David Omand, former UK Security and Intelligence Coordinator and Director of GCHQ and Visiting Professor at the Department of War Studies.
• Making risk judgments in the absence of evidence, Suzanne Raine, former Foreign Office official and Visiting Fellow at the Department of War Studies
• Lessons from Counter-terrorism work for tackling future [security] challenges, Keith Beaven, former Director of Counter Terrorism at the Foreign Office and Visiting Research Fellow at the Department of War Studies.
• How can Humint contribute to warning, risk and resilience?, John Taylor, trainer and adviser in intelligence and security and Visiting Fellow at the Department of War Studies