[WEBINAR] The Open Source Intel Revolution: The Democratization of Imagery Analysis of North Korea
Asia Society Korea invited two experts on North Korea - Melissa Hanham, Deputy Director of Open Nuclear Network (ONN) and Director of Datayo Project at One Earth Future, and David Schmerler, Senior Research Associate at Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) of Middlebury Institute of International Studies - to talk about the open source intelligence on North Korea. The two distinguished guests have provided presentations of how the open sources are collected, analyzed, and utilized in security policy, especially in nonproliferation engagement. The discussion was moderated by Asia Society Korea's Senior Contributor Mason Richey.
About the Guest Speakers
Melissa Hanham
Melissa Hanham is the Deputy Director of Open Nuclear Network (ONN), a programme of One Earth Future, and also directs its Datayo Project. She is an expert on weapons of mass destruction (WMD), which include nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and their delivery devices such as missiles and bombers. She has studied North Korea and China’s WMD programs for over a decade.
Melissa is an expert on open source intelligence, incorporating satellite and aerial imagery and other remote sensing data, large data sets, social media, 3D modeling and GIS mapping. She is particularly focused on the monitoring and verification of international arms control agreements using open source evidence. Melissa also uses open source information to study export-control systems and proliferation finance activities.
Melissa is an affiliate of Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation. She is a regular contributor to Arms Control Wonk, the leading blog and podcast on disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation. In 2018, she was awarded the Paul Olum Grant Fund for being one of the most inventive scientific and technical minds working to reduce the threat of nuclear weapons. She previously worked at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, CA and the International Crisis Group in Seoul and Beijing.
David Schmerler
David Schmerler is a senior research associate at Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS). David specializes in open-source research and satellite imagery interpretation of WMD programs, specifically focusing on North Korea. He holds a MA in Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies from the Monterey Institute of International Studies, and a BA in Political Science from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
About the Moderator
Mason Richey
Mason Richey is a senior contributing writer to Asia Society Korea and an associate professor of international politics at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (Seoul, South Korea). Dr. Richey has also held positions as a POSCO Visiting Research Fellow at the East-West Center (Honolulu, HI) and a DAAD Scholar at the University of Potsdam. His research focuses on U.S. and European foreign and security policy as applied to the Asia-Pacific. Recent scholarly articles have appeared (inter alia) in Pacific Review, Asian Security, Global Governance, and Foreign Policy Analysis. Shorter analyses and opinion pieces have been published in War on the Rocks, Le Monde, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, and Forbes, among other venues.
Dr. Richey received his Ph.D. from Binghamton University, New York.