Academia Hernando

Spies, Lies, Betrayal: The Secret World of Espionage.  We will also look at members of the U.S. military, CIA and the FBI who betrayed our country…their motives, the damage caused, and why so many remained undetected for so long.

Presenter Bio:

Col. Mike Pheneger, USA (Ret) 

Colonel Pheneger served 30 years on active duty as a US Army Intelligence Officer retiring
in 1993. He had overseas assignments in Germany, Vietnam, Korea, Panama, and the
Middle East. Key assignments include: Commander, US Army Intelligence School (Fort
Devens – then part of the National Security Agency’s Cryptologic Training System);
Director of Intelligence, US Special Operations Command (MacDill AFB); Deputy Director
of Intelligence, US Central Command (MacDill AFB); Commander, 470th MI Group
(Panama); G2, Second Infantry Division (Korea), and Director of Operations, 66th MI
Brigade (Germany).

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As USSOCOM’s first Director of Intelligence, he led the development of the world-wide intelligence architecture for US special operations to ensure the command could receive, rapidly integrate all-source information, and exploit all available intelligence. As J2, Colonel Pheneger campaigned to end the Intelligence Community’s duplicative intelligence production to provide the resources to expand our focus to relatively neglected third-world and low intensity conflict situations that were more likely to require the deployment of US forces. In 1995, he received the Open Source Solutions Golden Candle Award for his ground-breaking efforts in that regard and for expanding efforts to obtain and integrate information from “open sources.” As commander of the USA Intelligence School at Fort Devens, he led the planning and execution of the movement of the Army’s cryptologic training to Fort Huachuca. He was G2 of the Second ID during a critical period when the division’s intelligence capabilities were actively deployed to monitor North Korean military activity near the DMZ. For three years, he led the development and presentation of the US Army Intelligence School’s MI basic and advanced intelligence courses and participated in the development of Intelligence Doctrine. He received the USAIS’s Distinguished Instructor Award. He holds an M.P.A. from Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania and a B.S from Bowling Green State University. He is a graduate of the US Army War College; the Command & Staff Course, US Naval War College; and was the Distinguished Graduate of the Military Intelligence Officer’s Advanced Course. After military retirement, he created UFS’s Professional and Workforce Development Division and developed specialized training programs for adult professionals. He regularly teaches courses on the Bill of Rights, The Constitution, Terrorism and Geo-Politics for USF’s OSHER learning-in-retirement programs.

Colonel Pheneger is a Civil Libertarian and past President of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida. He previously served on the ACLU’s National Board of Directors and its National Executive Committee. He speaks frequently on issues involving Civil Liberties and National Security and the ethical and constitutional aspects of intelligence collection and military operations. He spoke widely on the USA Patriot Act, torture, Guantanamo, and unconstitutional aspects of NSA surveillance. He submitted successful declarations in federal court proceedings as an expert witness in support of ACLU Freedom of Information Act requests for the release of documents pertaining to US actions during the “War on Terror.”