Biography
I am a senior research fellow in intelligence, war & strategy at the French Institute for Strategic Research (IRSEM).
I am also a visiting fellow at the King’s Center for the Study of Intelligence (KCSI) in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London
I am teaching intelligence and contemporary warfare at Sciences Po – Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA).
I also have over a decade of policy-making experience in international relations and national security matters. I began my career working in multilateral organizations, including the European Commission and the United Nations in West Africa. I subsequently joined government service in France, initially serving as an analyst and senior analyst, before being promoted to strategic advisor and senior advisor to the Secretary General of the French Ministry of Armed Forces.
I hold a PhD in War Studies from the University of Glasgow, a Master’s Degree in international security from the University of Kent and two Bachelor’s Degrees in modern literature from the Institut Catholique d’Études Supérieures (ICES) and in philosophy from University of Paris-X Nanterre.
Research Areas
My research sits at the intersection of intelligence studies and strategic studies, and is structured around three main lines of inquiry.
First, I examine the interaction between intelligence and policy-making, with particular attention to decision-making processes and to how intelligence informs foreign policy as well as strategic and military choices. More specifically, I study the conditions in which decisions are made and how uncertainty, competing assessments, cognitive biases, and perceptions of adversaries influence the way decision-makers interpret information and formulate their choices.
Second, I examine how intelligence organizations operate, produce knowledge, and adapt to changing strategic conditions. This line of research focuses both on the bureaucratic processes through which intelligence is collected, analyzed, and assessed, and on the ways services are reformed and reorganized in response to shifts in the international order
Third, I investigate the role of covert action and clandestine operations in the conduct of foreign policy, examining how states employ these instruments alongside the traditional tools of diplomacy and warfare.
