Joseph Fitsanakis

Contact Joseph Fitsanakis

843-349-6618 jfitsanak@coastal.edu

Brittain Hall 360

Fall 2021 Office Hours
Wednesdays/Fridays 1:00 - 2:45pm
*Email for an appointment. 

Biography

Joseph Fitsanakis, Ph.D., has written extensively on intelligence collection (SIGINT and HUMINT), information security, cyber-espionage and sub-state political violence. He is the co-editor (with Dr. John Nomikos) of Intelligence Beyond the Anglosphere: Mediterranean and Balkan Regions (2017), and author of Redesigning Wiretapping: The Digitization of Communications Interception (2020), among other books. Dr. Fitsanakis has published research on intelligence agencies in the United States, southern Europe, Africa and Southeast Asia, with particular focus on China and North Korea. His writings have been translated into several languages and referenced by media outlets such as The Washington Post, NPR, BBC, ABC and Newsweek. Since coming to Coastal in 2015, Dr. Fitsanakis has received the University-wide Distinguished Professor of the Year Award (2018, 2021), the Edward College John B. Durrell Award (2017), and the Department of Politics Professor of the Year Apple Award (2016, 2017, 2020). Dr. Fitsanakis is also deputy director of the European Intelligence Academy and senior editor at intelNews.org, an ACI-indexed scholarly blog that is cataloged through the United States Library of Congress.

Education 

Ph.D., The University of Edinburgh 
M.Sc., The University of Edinburgh
B.Soc.Sc., The University of Birmingham
G.E.C, Exeter College

Interesting Facts

Dr. Fitsanakis has worked as a comic book artist, was detained by border guards in the Soviet Union, taught the cousin of Britney Spears, shared a plate of French fries with Sylvester Stallone, joked about facial hair with Sir Sean Connery, and once had a few stiff drinks with a group of animal herders in the Arctic Circle.

Teaching Areas

Intelligence collection, intelligence operations, intelligence dissemination, intelligence in the Cold War, national security, terrorism and political violence, applied intelligence analysis, intelligence methods, inclusion and diversity in intelligence and national security

Research Areas

Intelligence collection, human intelligence, communications interception, information security, cyber-espionage, Southern European intelligence agencies, Southeast Asian intelligence agencies, African intelligence agencies, political violence, information operations, privacy

Program Affiliations

Intelligence and National Security Studies

Women’s and Gender Studies

Intercultural Language Resource Center