EPIIC Students Engage with Mark Galeotti
Thursday, February 5th, Mark Galeotti, expert on organized crime and security in Russia, gave a talk to EPIIC and Fletcher students on President Vladimir Putin’s intelligence forces. Galeotti currently holds the positions of Clinical Professor of Global Affairs and Academic Director of the Transnational Security Concentration in MS in the Global Affairs Program at New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies. In addition, he writes a blog, “In Moscow’s Shadows,” where he addresses issues concerning conflict, governance and intelligence in Russia.
Galeotti’s talk, entitled “Putin’s Spies: How Intelligence is Both Russia’s Secret Weapon and its Achilles’ Heel,” covered everything from the evolution of the intelligence system under the succession of Russian presidents as it morphed from the KGB to the current FSB. According to Galeotti, the FSB is not radically different from the KGB, but instead a compartmentalized version. In addition, Galeotti covered President Putin’s heavy reliance on his intelligence services, stating that Putin believes there are multiple layers of truth to every scenario. As a result, Russian intelligence becomes Putin’s greatest tool for fitting the world to his interpretations. Galeotti’s main point was that Putin uses his intelligence services extensively and, therefore, depends on them for his policymaking. But in doing so, Putin puts himself at the mercy of these services, and intelligence takes on a much bigger role in political decisions.
Overall, both the EPIIC and Fletcher students considered Galeotti’s to be a very interesting and important talk that shed light on the intricacies of the Putin government and the significance of the intelligence forces in Russia.
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