Joseph Fitsanakis

Professor, Intelligence and Security Studies

Contact Joseph Fitsanakis

Brittain Hall 231

Spring 2023 Office Hours
Tuesdays 1:30 - 3:00pm & 4:30 - 5:30pm
Thursdays 1:30 - 3:00pm
*Please email for an appointment.

Biography

Joseph Fitsanakis, Ph.D., is director of the Intelligence Operations Command Center and program manager of the Educational Partnership Agreement between Coastal Carolina University and the United States National Security Agency/Central Security Service. He specializes in intelligence collection (both signals and human intelligence), information security, cyber security, and sub-state political violence. He is the author Redesigning Wiretapping: The Digitization of Communications Interception (2020) and co-editor (with John Nomikos) of Intelligence Beyond the Anglosphere: Mediterranean and Balkan Regions (2017), among other books. Dr. Fitsanakis has published widely on intelligence agencies in the United States, southern Europe, Africa, and Asia, with particular focus on China and North Korea. Dr. Fitsanakis is 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. He also serves as regional vice president for the InfraGard Members Alliance, a Federal Bureau of Investigation-affiliated initiative dedicated to strengthening American national security. Since joining Coastal Carolina University in 2015, Dr. Fitsanakis has repeatedly received the University-wide Distinguished Professor of the Year Award, the Edward College John B. Durrell Award, and the Professor of the Year Apple Award for the Departments of Politics and Intelligence and Security Studies.

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 Security Studies

Women’s and Gender Studies

Intercultural Language Resource Center