Schedule

March 25th | PUC-RS

The activities will be in person, with simultaneous transmission at: https://www.youtube.com/@INCT-IAS , except for the working group activities, which will have hybrid participation via Zoom, but without transmission.

08:30 - 09:00 — Opening — The urgency of a Latin American hub for intelligence studies

[ In Spanish ]

• José Manuel Ugarte | UBA

  Jurist and law professor at the University of Buenos Aires. Leading figure in defense, security, and intelligence. He was a co-drafter of Argentine laws on national defense and internal security, and a member of the drafting committee for national intelligence. He also served as an advisor in the Argentine parliament.

09:00 - 10:30 — Panel 1 — Control Systems, Rule of Law, and New Technologies

The structural dimensions of intelligence control in the face of new technologies, with a focus on institutional architecture and accountability.

[ In English ]

• André Ramiro | UHH (Moderator)

  Fellow at the Digital Civil Society Lab (Stanford) and PhD candidate in Public Law at the University of Hamburg, researching spyware accountability and democratic control of intelligence. He holds a law degree and a master's degree in computer science, and was a researcher at the Weizenbaum Institute and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. He co-founded IP.rec and is a member of LAVITS.

  
  

• Alcides Peron | Unicamp/FCA

  Professor at Unicamp/FCA, PhD in Science and Technology Policy from Unicamp, visiting researcher at Lancaster University and the Department of War Studies at King's College London. Research interests include surveillance, AI and new technologies, security/counterinsurgency and cyber warfare; previous experience at Amazul and the Escola Superior de Guerra.

  
  

• Anna Cruz | Abin

  Director of the Intelligence School at ABIN (Brazilian Intelligence Agency) and intelligence officer since 2008. Master's degree in human rights from UFPA (Federal University of Pará) and member of the Strategic Intelligence Research Network.

  
  

• Marion Albers | UHH

  Professor of Public Law at the University of Hamburg and director of the Hamburg Center for Bio-Governance . Her research involves information law, policing, and intelligence services, with an emphasis on data protection and fundamental rights. She is a leading authority in debates on security legislation and the impacts of AI.

  
  

• Thorsten Wetzling | interface

  A PhD in political science, he directs the Digital Rights, Surveillance and Democracy unit at the think tank interface . Founder of the European Intelligence Oversight Network and co-founder of about:intel, he researches accountability mechanisms. He has served as an expert for the European Parliament and the Bundestag, and has collaborated with the OECD, the Council of Europe, and the UNDP.

10:50 - 12:20 — Panel 2 — The future of intelligence control in Brazil

The challenges, priorities, and paths to reforming the system for controlling intelligence activities in Brazil.

[ In Portuguese ]

• Conrado Klöckner | Legiscraft (Moderator)

  Founder and director of Legiscraft and researcher in the area of intelligence oversight, he serves as legislative director at the parliamentary group in the Legislative Assembly of Rio Grande do Sul. A lawyer with a master's degree in public administration, he specializes in the oversight of hard-to-reach and highly complex areas, such as the prison system, public security, intelligence activities, and digital sovereignty.

  
  

• Fernanda Melchionna | National Congress

  Congresswoman, proponent of a draft to reform the Joint Committee for Intelligence Oversight (CCAI), which includes the creation of an authority for specialized control, a national system, and regulations for accountability.

  
  

• Fernanda Vilares | Abin

  Chief legal advisor to the Brazilian Intelligence Agency and Attorney for the National Treasury. Professor and researcher at FGV Direito de SP, she holds a doctorate in Criminal Procedure from USP.

  
  

• José Fernando Chuy | Abin

  Inspector General of the Brazilian Intelligence Agency and Federal Police Commissioner. He holds a PhD in Law and Security (Nova University of Lisbon), was head of the Disinformation Countering Advisory Unit at the Superior Electoral Court (TSE), and worked in the Federal Police's counterterrorism coordination.

  
  

• Natalia Viana | Public Agency

  Co-founder and director of Agência Pública; Nieman Fellow (2022) at Harvard; author of books such as The Leak, which recounts the behind-the-scenes story of WikiLeaks, and Collateral Damage, about civilians killed by the army. She leads investigations into human rights and abuse of power.

  
  

• Jeferson Dias Barbosa | ANPD

  Project Manager for the Board of Directors and Advisor to the President of the National Data Protection Agency. An officer in the Brazilian Army, he holds a degree in Data Processing and has extensive experience in cybersecurity and information security.

2:00 PM - 3:00 PM — Panel — The architecture of an effective system

Presentation of the Legiscraft white paper proposing a new external control architecture for intelligence activities in Brazil, improving parliamentary oversight and creating judicial, specialized, and social control systems.

[ In Portuguese ]

• Conrado Klöckner | Legiscraft — Project Leader

  Founder and director of Legiscraft and researcher in the area of intelligence oversight, he serves as legislative director at the parliamentary group in the Legislative Assembly of Rio Grande do Sul. A lawyer with a master's degree in public administration, he specializes in the oversight of hard-to-reach and highly complex areas, such as the prison system, public security, intelligence activities, and digital sovereignty.

15:20 - 17:20 — Working Groups — How to reconcile intelligence and democracy?

The working groups will be dedicated to debate among inteLA participants. Each working group will be guided to answer: "What needs to be done to ensure democratic control of intelligence activities?"

[ In Portuguese, without transmission, hybrid ]

The working groups will examine the same question from different perspectives:

• Protection of national sovereignty | Coordination by Alcides Peron (Unicamp/FCA)

  
  

• Limits of intelligence activities | Coordination by Augusto Jobim (PUCRS) and Nythamar Fernandes (PUCRS)

  
  

• Regulation of emerging techs & data protection | Coordination by André Ramiro (UHH)

  
  

• Required institutional architecture | Coordination of the Lelia Laboratory (UFRGS)

  
  

The choice of working group (GT) must be made at the time of registration. Depending on the number of registrants, there may be a selection process (if this is the case, you will be notified of the procedure by email).

The sum of the debates will be compiled and published after the event.

March 26 | Online

The activities will be broadcast online only at: https://www.youtube.com/@INCT-IAS

11:00 - 12:30 — Panel 3 — Global trends in control: gaps and benchmarks

The panel brings together researchers from various countries to map global trends in intelligence control, highlighting recurring gaps and benchmarks from the jurisdictions under study. The debate goes beyond isolated cases to highlight common challenges and transferable lessons between different legal systems.

[ In English ]

• Moderation - Maísa Edwards | King's College London

  
  

• Argentina - Jose Manuel Ugarte

  
  

• Brazil - Conrado Klöckner; Christiano Ambros

  
  

• India - Archishman Ray Goswami

  
  

• Israel - Amir Cahane

  
  

• Japan - Satoshi Yoda

  
  

• Malaysia - Munira Mustaffa

  
  

• United Kingdom - Paul McGarr

The forum

The Latin American Forum for Intelligence Studies — inteLA — is an initiative created to address a practical gap: the need to establish a regional hub in Latin America that continuously brings together emerging and ongoing debates on a wide range of academic and critical issues concerning intelligence and democracy.

As a way to accumulate and advance capabilities regarding risk analysis, priorities, and institutional options in the region—avoiding a fragmented and geopolitically isolated scenario—it is proposed to advance best practices for formulating proposals anchored in Latin American institutional, technological, and socioeconomic realities . Dialogue with other regions is equally important, both because of the international nature of the topic and through multilateral strategies.

inteLA, therefore, brings together researchers, public agents, and civil society actors to build a point of reference for the region: a forum capable of supporting quality research while maintaining a link with institutional practice.

In doing so, inteLA paves the way for Latin American production and perspectives to engage more directly with international debates . Instead of treating the region as a marginal case, the Forum seeks to ensure that its experiences—from democratic transitions to institutional constraints and governance dilemmas—are taken seriously in how intelligence is studied and understood.

The first edition of inteLA brings together the co-organizing institutions UFRGS , PUCRS , University of Hamburg , Unicamp/FCA , Lavits and Legiscraft.

The theme of the edition

The first edition of inteLA is dedicated to the control of intelligence in democracy .

On one hand, technological change is rapidly expanding the intrusive capabilities of the State. On the other hand, traditional control mechanisms remain limited, creating an environment in which serious abuses can flourish and democratic safeguards can deteriorate over time.

Institutional, multi-sectoral, and multilateral dialogues are, in this scenario, central to the democratic development of the area. With this concern in mind, inteLA 2026 will bring together participants from academia, the public sector, and civil society to deepen the diagnosis and map out paths for reform .

The work developed at Legiscraft, among other initiatives, helps to show why this discussion is urgent: the region needs spaces where ideas can be presented, tested, and strengthened through rigorous exchange.