KU will host Women in the US Intelligence Community conference

LAWRENCE — The Intelligence Community Center for Academic Excellence (IC CAE) at the University of Kansas will welcome women from the U.S. intelligence community for its first event this academic year from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Aug. 30 at the Jayhawk Welcome Center.

The Women in the U.S. Intelligence Community conference will feature officials from the CIA, FBI, the U.S. Cyber Command and Department of Energy. Following the conference introduction by Barbara Bichelmeyer, KU provost and executive vice chancellor, discussions will include:

• Cynthia Storer, veteran CIA senior terrorism analyst, and Beth Bailey, KU Foundation Distinguished Professor of History, who will discuss Storer’s role for “Sisterhood: The Women Who Tracked Bin Laden.”
• Jeanette Milazzo, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI Kansas City office, and Hannah Britton, KU professor of political science and of women, gender & sexuality studies, who will discuss FBI’s efforts to counter human trafficking in the heartland.   
• Following the keynote interviews, Storer and Milazzo will join Lindsey Maier and Candy Smith, U.S. intelligence officers from the Department of Energy and Army, respectively, for a moderated roundtable on the representation of women in the intelligence community. Jorhena Thomas, a veteran FBI senior leader and current director with the nonprofit girlsecurity, will serve as moderator for the panel.   

The program is free and open to the public, but registration is requested.    

The IC CAE program is a workforce development program funded by Office of the Director of National Intelligence for the purpose of increasing diversity within the U.S. intelligence community. KU is partnered with minority-serving institutions Dodge City Community College, Garden City Community College, Seward County Community College and Kansas City Community College, which comprise the Kansas consortium.