Misinformation and Disinformation (16 NOV 2022)

In our online seminar, we discussed the phenomena of ‘Misinformation and Disinformation’ in general, and looked into their meaning for military activities. The seminar concluded with reflections on the strategic, operational and tactical use of misleading information.

The seminar featured presentations by well-known experts and a moderated Q&A session.

  • Ms Katarína Klingová, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Democracy & Resilience, GLOBSEC
  • Mr Jakub Kalenský, Senior Analyst, The European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats
  • Lieutenant Colonel Caspar Versteegden, Teacher of International Security Studies at the Royal Netherlands Defense Academy
  • Mr Doowan Lee, CEO and cofounder of VAST-OSINT, Senior Advisor in IST and adjunct professor of politics at the University of San Francisco

In this seminar we explored:

  • What characterises Misinformation and Disinformation, and what are the differences in their appearance in traditional and social media?
  • What is the risk of Misinformation and Disinformation to emerge in research, and what techniques to put in place to mitigate pitfalls?
  • How will Civil-Military Cooperation and Civil Affairs have to adapt to the consequences arriving from the strategic, operational and tactical use of Disinformation?

Dowan Lee

Mr. Doowan Lee holds a PhD in International Relations and National Security Studies at the University of Chicago. Mr. Lee initially started as Strategic Analyst in 2012 he worked as Independent Consultant in Washington DC for 11 years he worked as Principal Investigator at Naval Postgraduate School of Monterey, California. Being an Adjunct Professor at the University of San Francisco, contemporary Mr Lee worked as Senior Director of Research and Strategy, Senior Technical Advisor, Board Advisor and Social Media Task Force Member. A long-standing expert in International Politics of East Asia, currently Mr. Lee is co-CEO and co-founder of VAST-OSINT a software development that automates the detection of info-origins, manipulations and amplification.




Lieutenant Colonel Caspar Versteegden

Lieutenant Colonel Caspar Versteegden initially studied Tropical Animal Husbandry from1982 until 1988. He worked in tourism, and did research on wildlife in Africa. During his early career Lieutenant Colonel Versteegden was responsible for marketing and international sales in 40+ countries. He later became a professional soldier in 2010, working in CIMIC in several Brigades of the Royal Netherlands Army, in J9, the Ministry of Defence, and is responsible for STRATCOM in missions. His mission record refers to 2 deployments to Afghanistan, and 1 to Mali. Lieutenant Colonel Versteegden studied Military Strategic Studies and did a thesis on Disinformation. He’s currently working as a teacher of International Security Studies at Royal Netherlands Army Military Academy.




Mr. Jakub Kalenský

Mr. Jakub Kalenský joined the Centre’s Hybrid Influence Community of Interest as a senior analyst focusing on safeguarding democratic processes. Jakub has specialized in disinformation and Russian hybrid activities since 2015 when he joined the newly created East StratCom Task Force in the European Union’s diplomatic service. In the team, Jakub was responsible for raising awareness about Russia’s disinformation campaigns, and he and his colleagues founded the EU vs Disinfo campaign. In 2018, Jakub joined the Atlantic Council, where he worked in the Ukrainian Election Task Force, and in the Digital Forensic Research Laboratory, where he focused on Russian disinformation and the countermeasures against it. He testified in the European Parliament and in the US Congress on Russian disinformation attacks in Europe and the countermeasures against it. Before specializing in countering disinformation, Jakub worked as a journalist in the Czech Republic.




Ms. Katarina Klingová

Ms. Klingová holds a Master of Arts in European Studies at University in Bratislava in 2011 and, two years later a Master of Arts in Political Science at Central European University in Budapest. Ms. Klingová started working as a project assistant in the Slovak Atlantic Commission, then as an assistant researcher at the Central European Policy Institute to finally, in 2014 became a project coordinator, researcher and office manager. After a one year traineeship at the Directorate-general for regional and urban policy of the European Commission, since 2016 she’s currently employed as a senior research fellow democracy and resilience programme at the GLOBSEC policy institute.