For the first time after three semesters, members of the Chanticleer Intelligence Brief (CIB) were able to meet face-to-face for the CIB Awards Ceremony, a longstanding CIB tradition that marks the culmination of the semester. The event takes place to recognize the hard work of CIB recruits, analysts, senior analysts and members, and to renew everyone’s pledge to make the organization even stronger in the coming year.

This semester’s celebration marked the 12th CIB Awards Ceremony, in the tradition of the group’s first-ever banquet, which was held in May of 2016. As in previous semesters, the coronavirus pandemic did not stop the CIB from doing its work, and the organization was still able to recognize several members who did outstanding work in the past months. This semester’s CIB Awards Ceremony was dedicated to the honor of the late CIB member Rachel “Rae” McArthur.

On behalf of the CIB Executive Team, CIB Executive Director Ana Maria Lankford recognized the longstanding work of our Special Initiatives Officer, Hannah Crumpton (pictured), who was presented with the CIB Achievement Award. This recognition is offered by the CIB Executive Team to an individual member of the organization who has gone above and beyond the call of duty in contributing to the CIB’s efforts. Hannah will be departing from the CIB Executive Team in the spring due to a career opportunity. She will be replaced with Scott Boster, who will serve as head of the CIB’s Latin America Desk. Scott was recognized at the meeting.

The organization recognized six members who have been selected to launch the CIB’s inaugural Applied Intelligence Internship, which will commence in the spring. These are: Amy Yeagley (Asia), Abigal McClean (North America), Kevin Joyce (Middle East), Ana Maria Lankford (CIB Director), Tate Few (North America), and Scott Boster (Latin America). These six Critical Mission Center Directors will be surrounded by 24 Critical Mission Center Support Officers, who will become eligible for completing this internship in a subsequent semester.

Another recognition concerned the CIB Senior Analysts whose intelligence products were selected for publication in The Intelligence Review, the CIB’s peer-review journal, which is published jointly with the European Intelligence Academy. These Senior Analysts are: Joshua Altman, Jake Viator, Jake Vaughan, Jared Gott, Hannah Clegg, Ana Maria Lankford, and Conrad Kodjanian.

Additionally, the editors of the CIB’s Weekly Intelligence Brief publication recognized one of the contributors this semester whose work for the publication represents the highest standards of content selection, analysis and written delivery. The award recipient was Clay Penegar (Europe).

During the ceremony, CIB members who achieved the status of Analyst were recognized. The CIB also recognized its most promising members based on the consistency of their work this semester. The head of each membership desk nominated a member for the Regional Expert Award, which is given for distinguished semester-long performance as a CIB member. The award winners were: Tate Few (North America); Scott Boster (Latin America), Sierra Mason (Europe); McKenzie Tsiantoulas (Russia); Kristian Nesheim (Africa); Conrad Kodjanian (Asia); Gabe Hoehn (Middle East); and Grey Thompson (Special Topics).

The final recognition of the evening went to the CIB North America, headed by CIB Officer Jake Viator. The desk won this semester’s CIB Weekly News Trivia Quiz for the first time, with 89 points, 2 points ahead of the Asia Desk and 13 points ahead of of the Europe Desk, which came in third. Russia came in fourth with 58 points.

The CIB wishes to thank all of its Executive Team officers, its senior analysts and analysts, as well as its members, for a highly successful semester, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Our organization looks forward to continuing to strengthen our work and output in the semesters to come. We also want to congratulate our graduating members and wish them our very best as they embark on their next steps in life.