UT-Austin Announces 2024 “Inman Award” Recipients
Published by The Lawfare Institute
in Cooperation With
The Strauss-Clements Intelligence Studies Project at The University of Texas at Austin is pleased to announce the winner and two semifinalists in the tenth-annual competition recognizing outstanding student research and writing on topics related to intelligence and national security.
The recipient of this year’s “Inman Award” is Jemima Baar, a recent Master of International Affairs graduate of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. Her paper, Cold War Confrontations: US Intelligence Insights and Policy Responses to the Sino-Soviet Split and the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis (1956-1961), contrasts the responses by policymakers in the second Eisenhower administration to sound intelligence assessments of these notable Cold War security challenges.
The graduate semifinalist is Daniel Atherton, a Foreign Service Officer who earned an MA in Security Studies from the Naval Postgraduate School. His thesis, From Trust to Treachery: Unraveling Soviet Intelligence Tactics in the 1920s and 1930s, examines why the Soviet security services relied primarily on strategic deception to neutralize the White Russians in the 20s but transitioned to political violence to counter the opposition movement in the following decade.
The undergraduate semifinalist is Caroline Heffern, a recent graduate of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In her paper, Online Gaming Communities: The New Frontier of Intelligence Leaking, the author uses case studies to illustrate the serious – and likely growing – threat that national defense information will be compromised by cleared U.S. government personnel participating in online gaming communities.
The winning papers were selected from dozens of high-quality submissions from students at a wide range of U.S. colleges and universities. Papers were evaluated on their academic rigor, presentation, creativity, and the potential to contribute positively to the U.S. Intelligence Community. The author of the winning paper received a $5,000 cash award and the authors of the semifinalist papers were awarded $2,500.
The Inman Award recognizes more than six decades of distinguished public service by Bobby R. Inman, Admiral, U.S. Navy (Ret.). Admiral Inman served in multiple leadership positions in the U.S. military, intelligence community, private industry, and the University of Texas. His previous intelligence posts include Director of Naval Intelligence, Vice-Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Director of the National Security Agency, and Deputy Director of Central Intelligence.
You can find all three papers below.