Mark Jacobson
Dr. Mark Jacobson is the Historian at the International Spy Museum and a scholar-practitioner with more than thirty years of experience working on and teaching about complex and politically sensitive national security issues. A former senior U.S. government civilian, retired U.S. Navy intelligence officer and former Army psychological operations specialist, Jacobson brings audiences inside the worlds of espionage, influence, propaganda, disinformation, and national security decision-making.
Jacobson’s career spans the battlefield, the classroom, Capitol Hill, NATO, and the Pentagon. His government service includes roles as Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Defense, Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Navy, Deputy NATO Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan, and Professional Staff Member on the Senate Armed Services Committee. As a reservist he deployed as a naval intelligence officer in Afghanistan and served with U.S. and foreign special operations units and worked with the Defense Intelligence Agency. Earlier in his uniformed career he deployed as psychological operations non-commissioned officer with NATO forces in Bosnia.
A historian, educator, and public communicator, Jacobson is a Senior Fellow at Salve Regina University’s Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy, where he co-hosts the Active Measures Newsletter Podcast, a weekly discussion of disinformation, political warfare, and democratic resilience. Previously Jacobson held academic roles as the Assistant Dean for Washington Programs at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, the John J. McCloy ’16 Visiting Professor of American Institutions and International Diplomacy at Amherst College and continues to teach courses in Georgetown University’s Department of Government.
The Spy’s Historian: What Intelligence History Teaches Us Today
Intelligence is often portrayed as a world of gadgets, secrets, and shadowy operations. But the real story is more complex—and often more consequential. Jacobson explores how intelligence has shaped American decision-making, wartime strategy, alliances, and public trust. From World War II and the Cold War to Afghanistan and the post-9/11 era, this talk gives audiences a historically grounded look at what intelligence can do, what it cannot do, and why it matters.
Spies, Lies, and the Battle for Reality: Political Warfare from PSYOP to Active Measures
Wars are not fought with arms but with ideas, including carefully constructed battlefield messaging, covert influence, subversion, social media manipulation, and disinformation – that is, calculated untruths. Drawing on his experiences as a former Army psychological operations specialist, historian, and host of the Active Measures Newsletter Podcast, Jacobson takes audiences inside the hidden history of political warfare — from psychological operations and Cold War active measures to today’s disinformation campaigns and AI-enabled influence operations – and explains how governments and adversaries compete to shape perception, fracture trust, weaken alliances, and influence decision-making before a shot is fired.
NATO, Afghanistan, and the Politics of Coalition Warfare
Having served in uniform as a Naval intelligence officer in Afghanistan and later as the first Deputy NATO Senior Civilian Representative — Afghanistan, Jacobson offers a firsthand perspective on alliance politics, coalition warfare, and the challenges of coordinating military, diplomatic, and political strategy in a complex conflict. This talk takes audiences behind the scenes of multinational operations and explores how intelligence, diplomacy, leadership, and local politics shape what happens on the ground.
Leadership in Secret Worlds and Public Institutions
High-stakes leadership often happens under conditions of uncertainty, ambiguity, and incomplete information. Drawing on his civilian experiences in the Pentagon, NATO, Congress, higher education, the non-profit sector, and in two branches of the military, Jacobson discusses leadership lessons from intelligence and national security: how to make decisions when facts are contested, anticipating and coping with uncertainty, how to build trust across institutions, and how to communicate clearly when the stakes are high.
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