Over 70 people gathered at the Myrtle Beach Education Center on the morning of Thursday, December 7, for the third Chanticleer Intelligence Brief Symposium. The event featured timely updates about some of the world’s most critical hot spots by a panel of CIB Analysts. It was held in conjunction with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Coastal Carolina University, and supported by the Edwards College of Humanities and Arts at CCU.

The audience was exposed to analytical briefs about several timely topics. The CIB’s North Korea Analyst, Matt Pologe spoke about the possibility of a war involving North Korea in the near future. The head of the CIB’s Russia Desk, Madison Nowlin, delivered a presentation about the Islamic State factor in the bilateral relationship between Russia and the United States. Our Communications Officer and head of the Africa Desk, Allison Reilly, discussed security developments in southern Africa, focusing on last month’s military coup in Zimbabwe, which ousted the country’s longtime leader, Robert Mugabe.

Following the break, our Turkey expert, Katelyn Montrief, spoke about the unsettled state of Turkish politics and its effect on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, of which Turkey is the sole Muslim member state, having the Organization’s second-largest army. Next spoke CIB Americas Analyst Maeve Stewart, who discussed the state of far-right violent groups in the United States in the past year and addressed the question of whether their plans and actions constitute a national security threat for the country as a whole. The two-hour event concluded with Anthony Hess, a CCU Solar Ambassador, who briefed the audience on the growth of the renewable energy sector in China and Beijing’s intention of becoming a global leader in renewable energy.

During the event, the CIB raised funds for its activities by offering community subscriptions to The Intelligence Review, its peer-reviewed publication that is published twice a year in cooperation with the European Intelligence Academy. The Symposium was moderated by CIB Faculty Advisor Dr. Joseph Fitsanakis. The CIB wishes to express its gratitude to CCU Director of Community Outreach Dr. Carol Osborne, OLLI Senior Director of Operations Kelli Barker, OLLI Administrative Specialist Ellen Jumpole, and OLLI Board of Advisors member Samih Baalbaki for their help in coordinating this event. The fourth CIB Symposium will be held in April of next year.

For photographs of the event, please visit the CIB’s Facebook page, here.