Jérôme Mellon Intelligence and Security Specialist |
Below is a list of research papers, book reviews, articles and papers written in an academic, professional or personal context.
Research Papers |
||
| 2007.10.24 |  |
Practical considerations for the potential future ESDP mission to KosovoSaferworld presented at a meeting of the Committee for Civilian Aspects of Crisis Management (CivCom) in Brussels some of the findings from its March and October 2007 conflict analyses. Both studies identified the current risks and drivers of conflict based on consultations with communities in Kosovo. A two-page briefing was later circulated to all CivCom members, strongly suggesting that they be formally included in the mandate of the potential future ESDP mission to avoid mistakes of the past, assist in building close and positive links with Kosovo's society, and increase the chances of success. |
|---|---|---|
| 2007.03.30 | |
Intelligence in Kosovo: Looking aheadThis report analyses some of the best practices developed internationally in the field of intelligence reform and development and considers how they should be applied in Kosovo. Eight key issues pertaining to the establishment of an intelligence service for Kosovo are considered in this report: mandate and tasking, staffing, oversight, independence and impartiality, co-operation with other Kosovo organisations, liaison with foreign partners, sustainable development and public accountability. By advocating for an impartial, apolitical, accountable, efficient and sustainable intelligence service for Kosovo, this report presents the Kosovar public and civil society with a modern image of what an intelligence service should be, aiming to demystify the role and mandate of a domestic intelligence service. |
| 2007.03.26 | |
Ahtisaari's Proposal and the Future of Kosovo's Security SectorAfter over seven years of waiting, the resolution of Kosovo's future status is finally within reach. The Comprehensive Proposal for the Kosovo Status Settlement prepared by Martti Ahtisaari was unveiled to the Serbian and Kosovo Governments on 2 February 2007. Although not final, this 58 page document provides the clearest view yet of Kosovo's final status. Despite extensive media coverage of the Proposal, thus far there has been very little in-depth published analysis of its recommendations and impact. This article presents some of the issues and challenges surrounding the core recommendations presented in Annex VIII of the Proposal that deal with Kosovo's security sector. |
| 2007.02.28 | |
Towards a final settlement of Kosovo’s status?The most positive outcome of Ahtisaari’s proposal is that it ends the uncertainty over Kosovo’s future status that has been troubling Kosovo for eight years. But in doing so, it also creates new challenges and uncertainties. While Ahtisaari’s proposal provides a basis for discussions, there is little time for public consultation and debate before the UN Security Council debates and adopts a new resolution on Kosovo. Nevertheless, civil society will play an essential role in preparing for and monitoring the implementation of the new Kosovo status. |
| 2007.01.31 | |
The Internal Security Sector Review: The Future of Kosovo's Security Sector?On 30 January 2007, the results of a UN-commissioned year-long review of the security sector in Kosovo were quietly published. In their rapid response to the review's final report, Saferworld and the Forum for Civic Initiatives express their concern about the review's narrow scope, its limited consultation with the Kosovan public and its failure to consider vital regional issues, all of which undermine the report. The ISSR has produced some good recommendations under difficult conditions, but both the expensive review process and the publication of its proposals have not been subject to real public and parliamentary scrutiny. Amid speculation surrounding leaks of UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari's Final Status proposals, it is unclear what benefits Kosovo's population will see from this US$2 million ISSR report. |
| 2006.12.01 | |
Understanding Intelligence ServicesThis handout is a reference tool for those wishing to learn more about the nature and the role of intelligence services in a 21st Century European context. It addresses the issues of the intelligence definition, cycle, monitoring and oversight, in addition to looking at some of the intelligence agencies existing around the world and at the particular situation in Kosovo. |
| 2006.11.14 | |
Preparing for a Security Sector Review: Lessons From KosovoThis document reports on the author's involvement in the preparation of the Kosovo Internal Security Sector Review (ISSR) while working as a Programme Analyst for the security sector portfolio of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Kosovo. This post-assignment report, drafted shortly after the end of the author's eighteen-month tenure in Kosovo, is also intended to provide UNDP staff, as well as their United Nations (UN) colleagues and the public in general, with a description of the preparatory work undertaken before the implementation of the ISSR but, more importantly, with a series of lessons learned from such preparatory work. |
| 2006.11.01 | |
Challenges ahead for Kosovo and its civil societyThis article agues that with the political and security challenges ahead, it will be crucial to strengthen the capacity of Kosovan non-governmental organisations in generating meaningful public debates on issues of local or national importance and in exercising their role as public watchdogs and advocates for change. This will be particularly important in the field of security, where there is a dire need for an informed public debate on policies and planned reforms that listens to the views of the people, and for a competent civil society able to engage in debates and monitor progress. Too often in Kosovo, civil society is left aside in important security sector reforms and the future EU-led international presence should take steps to ensure its inclusion into future debates. |
| 2006.08.24 | |
SALW Survey of KosovoThe Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) Survey of Kosovo is intended as a contribution to ongoing attempts at controlling SALW in Kosovo. It covers four main areas of analysis: the distribution of SALW across Kosovo; the impact of SALW on the human environment; the views of the public towards SALW and security in their communities; and the capacity of institutions for dealing with SALW problems in Kosovo. |
| 2006.05.14 | |
Preparing for a Security Sector Review: Lessons From Kosovo, DraftThis document reports on the author's involvement in the preparation of the Kosovo Internal Security Sector Review (ISSR) while working as a Programme Analyst for the security sector portfolio of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Kosovo. This post-assignment report, drafted shortly after the end of the author's eighteen-month tenure in Kosovo, is also intended to provide UNDP staff, as well as their United Nations (UN) colleagues and the public in general, with a description of the preparatory work undertaken before the implementation of the ISSR but, more importantly, with a series of lessons learned from such preparatory work. |
| 2005.09.10 | |
My Year in KosovoExactly one year ago, through the window of a plane, I was overlooking a vast land of green forests and rolling mountains, passing by at great speed a few thousand feet below. Some three hours after leaving London, accompanied by my girlfriend Monica, I landed in Kosovo for my first visit in this part of the world, and for my first experience in a developing, war-torn country. |
| 2005.04.07 | |
Assessment of Administrative Capacity in KosovoThe purpose of this assessment is to document existing capacity of the Kosovo administration, assess this capacity in term of the ability of the administration to manage all the functions of an autonomous entity (without foreign presence), specify the gaps between present capacity and needed capacity, identify existing and planned donors' projects to support the Kosovo Provisional Institutions of Self-Government in building additional capacity, and to point to areas where additional donors' projects would be needed and useful. |
| 2004.02.10 | |
Book Review of Warrior Politics: Why Leadership Demands a Pagan EthosIn Warrior Politics, author and journalist Robert Kaplan suggests that history is full of lessons that our leaders would be wise to reflect upon before making
their tough and sometimes drastic decisions. It is a dense essay on what history can teach us through the writings of others, with perhaps the dual objectives of preventing us
from reinventing the wheel and of saving us from repeating mistakes that have already been made. All in all, it remains a thought-provoking book that gives a much-needed
historical perspective to the current international situation. |
| 2003.11.18 | |
Book Review of Silent Warfare: Understanding the World of IntelligenceSilent Warfare is without a doubt today’s standard for those wanting to understand or be introduced to the world of intelligence. It provides neophytes
with an easily readable introduction into that world, and experienced practitioners and academics with a well-structured, comprehensive treatise to serve as an essential
reference tool. |
| 2003.06.27 | |
What should the security component of Canada's foreign policy be in light of the current international situation?Past history and recent events have shown how instability abroad can have a direct impact on our own security. For example, threats can easily emerge from countries striving with domestic unrest, religious fundamentalism, violent regime changes or armed conflicts, then spread to neighbouring states or overseas countries like Canada. Consequently, it would be in Canada’s national interest to work on improving security and stability around the world. |
| 2003.03.09 | |
Book Review of Covert Entry: Spies, Lies and Crimes Inside Canada's Secret ServiceCovert Entry is about a man named John J. Farrell and his involvement in CSIS operations and activities. This book review asserts that Covert Entry is not about
Canadian intelligence but rather about how amazing Farrell is and how disastrous CSIS is. Still, it gives invaluable access to the details of some CSIS contemporary operations
and to the way things get done in the field. But one should not forget that after all, this book is about a bitter, angry former CSIS informant who seems to have nothing to
lose by telling "his truth" to a well-known journalist. |
| 2003.02.09 | |
The Missing Agency: The Case for a Canadian Foreign Intelligence Service, 2nd EditionThis is essentially an updated version of the dissertation below. New sections have been added to this 2003 edition, some details required by the University
guidelines have been omitted, and a few modifications have been made to the format. |
| 2002.11.15 | |
The Missing Agency: The Case for a Canadian Foreign Intelligence ServiceThe focus of this MA dissertation lies on the controversial statement that Canada needs to create a foreign intelligence agency. This broad topic calls for the
discussion of several related issues. This dissertation addresses the issue of why Ottawa chose not to establish a CFIS in the first place. It also answers how Canada collects
foreign intelligence today and if the existing foreign intelligence apparatus is adequate. It discusses some of Canada’s needs relating to foreign threats and foreign
affairs. Furthermore, this dissertation identifies the arguments in favour and those against the establishment of a CFIS. Finally, it looks at the actual creation of a CFIS,
addressing issues pertaining to its mandate, its positioning, its size and cost, and its operations. |
| 2002.05.03 | |
How Seriously did the Cambridge Spies Damage British Interests During World War Two?Insted of trying to reinvent the assessment of the work of the Cambridge Five and of their success, this essay focuses on a very specific target, namely the degree in which the Cambridge spies damaged British interests during the Second World War. |
| 2002.05.03 | |
Discuss the Significance of Imagery Intelligence Gathered by the USA in the Period 1961-79This essay discusses the significance of the imagery intelligence (IMINT) gathered by the Americans during the period from 1961 to 1979. Various episodes of American history in which IMINT played a role are presented in three general categories. Each section tries to assess how important IMINT gathered during this period was to the Americans – whether politicians or soldiers. |
| 2002.04.30 | |
The Interception of CommunicationsThe interception of communications is part of the ever-growing signals intelligence (SIGINT) field and is the subject of this presentation. Emphasis is put on the National Security Agency (NSA) since it was and remains today the sole collector and processor of Communications Intelligence (COMINT, a form of SIGINT), the primary processor of Foreign Instrumentation Signals Intelligence (FISINT), and the coordinator of the US government’s national Electronics Intelligence (ELINT) program since 1958. |
| 2002.03.22 | |
How did Signals Intelligence Assist the United States in Fighting Japan in the Pacific War of 1941-45?This essay is about the use of SIGINT and discusses how it was used and what impact it had on the development of the Pacific War from after the attack on Pearl Harbor (7 December 1941) to the surrender of Japan (14 August 1945). |
| 2002.03.22 | |
How Successfully did British Intelligence Monitor the Threat from Nazi Germany Before the Outbreak of World War Two?By looking at how successfully British intelligence monitored the threat from Nazi Germany before the outbreak of Wold War Two, this essay intends to assess the quality of the information provided by military intelligence to British leadership before the beginning of the war. |
| 2002.03.14 | |
Argument that SIS had a Good WarDuring the world conflict of 1939 to 1945, her Majesty’s Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) had a good war. In fact, it was a major element in the success
story of British Intelligence in wartime and we can even say, to quote Major-General Sir Kenneth Strong, that '[t]he latter years of World War II and the beginning of the
post-war period were in a sense the golden age of British Intelligence'. |
| 2002.03.05 | |
The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962The Cuban Missile Crisis is probably the event in the Cold War that has received the most popular and scholarly attention and this presentation is an attempt to give an overview of what happened during these two weeks in October 1962 and how the US intelligence community handled what the Soviets called the Caribbean crisis and the Cubans, the Crisis of October. |
| 2002.02.05 | |
American Magic: The Navy Intelligence efforts against the JapaneseThis presentation is intended to give an overview of what was the American Magic and to give two examples of how it has been used by the Americans. Magic is the code assigned to Japanese diplomatic traffic that was intercepted by American intelligence as a result of the breaking of Purple, the Japanese diplomatic code, in 1940. |
| 2002.01.10 | |
Country Assessment of Syria: What to Expect From New President Bashar AssadThis assessment presents the political situation in Syria and, more precisely, what is to be expected from the regime of Bashar Assad, son and successor of the precedent ruler Hazef Assad. The first section briefly presents the regime of Hazef Assad in place before his death in June 2000. Then the second section addresses the question of domestic policies of Bashar Assad while the third presents some issues of foreign relations that the new president has to deal with. |
| 2002.01.07 | |
Soviet and American Intelligence Assessments of the Political Situation in Iran at the Time of the Iranian RevolutionThe assessment of the political situation in Iran during the two-year period preceding the Iranian Revolution is a formidable example of how complex such an assessment can be. The United States and the USSR were greatly involved in the Middle East and Iran was of strategic importance for both countries. This research presents their respective assessment of the political situation in Iran and then identifies what was similar and what was different in these assessments. |
| 2001.12.10 | |
The creation of a Palestinian state composing the West Bank and Gaza as an option for peace in Israel and the occupied territoriesThe conflict opposes Zionist Israelis occupying territories and Palestinians demanding a state for themselves. But the Israelis cannot simply eliminate the Palestinians and the Palestinians cannot get rid of the Israelis. From that assumption emerges the conclusion that compromise would have to be made in order to have peace in the region. Now, would that compromise consist of the creation of a Palestinian state composing the West Bank and Gaza? This paper attempts to examine if the creation of such a state would be a viable option to bring peace in Israel and the occupied territories. |
| 2001.12.07 | |
Assessment of KGB’s Intelligence-Gathering Successfulness in the West During the Period of 1954 to 1991In the West, the KGB mainly sought to cultivate communist ideology and to acquire intelligence which could be useful for the Soviet Union to restore its economic strength and its overall power. Among its targets were West Germany, France, Britain and the United States, each of them being of varying level of priority during the 1954-91 period but all of them always being of major importance for the Soviet Union. This research is aimed at determining to what extent the KGB has been – or has not been – successful in its operations in these Western countries. |
| 2001.11.27 | |
The UKUSA Agreement of 1948This presentation gives a general overview of what is the UKUSA agreement of 1948, also known as the UK-USA Security Agreement or the Secret Treaty. This
highly-classified agreement, involving 15 countries but more importantly the United States and five partners of the British Commonwealth, is mainly about the sharing of
signals intelligence with the parties to the treaty, each of them being responsible for a specific area of the world to cover. |
| 2001.11.16 | |
The Role of the USSR Security Services in the Creation and Maintenance of the Satellite Regimes of the Post-World War Two Soviet BlocThe present research examines to what extent the USSR owed to its security service and its armed forces the creation and maintenance of the satellite regimes of the post-World War Two Soviet Bloc. |
| 2001.11.08 | |
State-Sponsored Terrorism in the Middle East since 1980The objective of this presentation is to give a quick overview of state-sponsored terrorism in the Middle East since 1980. However, emphasis is put on two specific states, namely Lybia and Syria. |
| 2001.10.25 | |
Iraq's International Actions as a Result of its Domestic CircumstancesThe objective of this presentation is to analyse how, since 1980, Iraq’s international actions have been the result of its domestic circumstances and of its internal characteristics. |
| 2001.10.16 | |
The Foreign Intelligence-Gathering of the MfS' Hauptverwaltung AufklärungThis paper presents the operations of the section of the East German intelligence agency responsible for gathering intelligence outside East Germany. That intelligence service was called the MfS, the German acronym for the Ministry of State Security, also known as the Stasi. |
| 1999.12.17 | |
The Role of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service in Immigration Security ScreeningThe main objective of this study is to present and understand the role of the CSIS in the Canadian immigration process. This objective is reached through the analysis of the mandate given to the CSIS by the Department of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) and of specific provisions. It also looks at the procedure of a security screening, some statistics and the grounds of refusal for security reasons. Finally, it looks at some cases and recent events related to security (background) clearance conducted by the CSIS. |
| 1999.12.03 | |
Espionage in International Law: A Necessary EvilThe present study has been done with the objective of getting to know how international law is dealing with the activity of espionage, in order to realize whether there is an actual concern about that kind of practice. It also looks at basic principles as well as more detailed terms regarding espionage. Finally, it takes a look at the distinction made between espionage in time of war and espionage in time of peace. |
| 1999.04.12 | |
L'évolution du renseignement de sécurité au CanadaThis historical research describes the development, the organisations and the structures of the Canadian security intelligence community from 1864 to 1999. |
| 1997.05.19 | |
Aveugle de guerre: Les erreurs d'Hitler au coeur de la défaite de l'AxeThe objective of this paper is to analyse the role of Hitler in the defeat of the Axis powers in the Second World War. It suggests, as a fundamental hypothesis,
that Hitler has been the main cause of the fall of the Axis in 1945. The study starts with an analysis of the man and some traits of his personality that could explain his
future behaviour. Then, the paper goes on with a study of Hitler as the military leader, looking for potential arguments to support the hypothesis. The third chapter presents
the most crucial mistakes made by Hitler during the war while the fourth, in an original and more fantastic extrapolation, presents what would have happened if Hitler had won
the Second World War. |
| Last updated: 2008-04-28 | ||