About the Author
About
I was born in Parma (Italy), but (as my surname suggests) I am half Greek.
In June 2017, I completed a Master's degree in International Relations: Professional Focus Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution with magna cum laude / grande distinction at the Université Catholique de Louvain (Belgium) with a Master's thesis titled "Japan’s Maritime Security Strategy in Response to Chinese Military Power - The Protection of the SLOC'.
Previously, I graduated in Political Science and International Relations at the University of Parma (Italy) with a thesis (in Italian) on 'The Relations between the United States, Soviet Union and China (1964-1972)'.
I am an open-source intelligence analyst specialized in international security and defense with experience in writing strategic policy-oriented eports. I am interested in international affairs, geopolitics, strategy, military affairs and history (the great passion of my life); but also economics, international and public law, political philosophy, sociology, and more.
I specialized on the indo-Pacific region, which was the regional focus I choose during my Master's degree. However, I also have a relevant competence of other areas; namely Europe (including EU affairs) and the Middle East.
I am an Italian native speaker, but I am also proficient in English and French. I understand Spanish as well (although I rarely use it to speak or write). I have an intermediate knowledge of Greek (sadly, my level is not as good as I would like) and a good base in Japanese. I am gradually working to improve both. Hopefully I will learn more languages in the future!
I carried out multiple activities that prove my expertise in open-source intelligence analysis, policy-oriented research, consultancy, and drafting reports for decision-makers.
Between November 2021 and December 2022, I worked in Budapest as Intelligence Analyst at Everbridge, a US company specialized in Critical Events Management (CEM). I am part of a team responsible for monitoring and reporting business-disruptive security and safety events in real time. In October 2022, I was promoted to Intelligence Analyst II.
Previously, I was involved in open-source intelligence and research projects focused on security matters in North Africa. One entailed the delivery of an extensive report on terrorist activities in the region for a major institutional client, whereas the other was centered on delivering tactical reports on events in a specific city of interest to the customer.
I was part of The Counterterrorism Group (CTG), a US-based intelligence and security company. I joined CTG in September 2020 as Counterterrorism Analyst Intern, receiving a certificate upon completion of an initial three-weeks intensive training. In December 2020 I was promoted to PACOM (Indo-Pacific) Team Leader. I was responsible for supervising and coordinating my team to deliver open-source intelligence reports on multiple security issues (terrorism, insurgencies, conflicts, crime, geopolitical developments, and more) affecting the region. In recognition of their high quality, I succeeded in having more than 25 reports published to be displayed to potential customers. I also performed real-time shifts to report worldwide security-related events (WATCH Officer), as well as social-media intelligence activities to flag potential threats (Threat Hunter).
Between October 2019 and February 2020, I worked as a Blue Book Trainee at the European Commission, Directorate-General Migration and Home Affairs (DG HOME). I was assigned to the Counter-Terrorism Unit (D.2) and my main tasks revolved on policy-related activities aimed at countering the malicious use of drones. In particular, I completed two extensive reports (a mapping detailing the features of existing counter-drone systems and a catalogue of drone-related incidents) both of which were later shared with EU Member States and Institutions/Agencies.
From February 2018 until December 2020 (with a break during my Traineeshup at the European Commission), I was a contributor to Geopolitical Monitor. My analyses were often featured among the website's Top Stories and have been quoted by other outlets or even academic books (see below).
Between October 2018 and September 2019 I also collaborated with KJ Reports (formerly KJ Vids), a media company that creates short documentaries on international affairs that are uploaded on YouTube. I wrote the background analysis (script) for multiple videos, as well as some reports that were posted on their website. I ended my collaboration with KJ Reports when I started my Traineeship at the European Commission.
As mentioned above, my achievements include being quoted by outlets and by academic scholars:
- My report titled The Strategic Implications of Hypersonic Missiles was among the sources of an academic article by the Royal Norwegian Naval Academy (link, see page 85).
- My article on drone swarms was quoted in a study titled (translated from German) Partially Automated Combat Units: Impact on Combat Technology and Tactics of Land Forces published on Armis et Litteris, a publication of the Theresian Military Academy of the Austrian Armed Forces (link).
- The same article was quoted in the 2023 Security Megatrends report by the Security Industry Association (link).
- My article on the geopolitics of the Eastern Mediterranean was quoted in an academic book titled Aspects of the Energy Union: Application and Effects of European Energy Policies in SE Europe and Eastern Mediterranean edited by Michalis Mathioulakis, Academic Director of the Greek Energy Forum.
- The same article was also quoted by the radio programme France Culture (link) and in an article (in Greek) published on Foreign Affairs - The Hellenic Edition (link, see pages 3-4, note 11).
- My article on the coverage of the European elections in English-written Russian media was mentioned the Czech media outlet EuroZprávy (link)
- I also appeared as a speaker in several AL24 News broadcasts covering the War in Ukraine.
I also completed several courses to enhance my expertise:
- Intelligence Training, delivered by Intelligence Fusion;
- Open-source Intelligence, by the Basel Institute on Governance;
- Geospatial Information Technology (GIT) in Fragile Contexts, delivered by the United Nations Institute for Training ans Research (UNITAR);
- Political Risk Analysis, delivered by the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI);
- Various courses on physical/cyber/information security, counterintelligence, OSINT techniques and analysis that were required as part of the CTG training.
In my free time, I enjoy reading, playing videogames, watching movies, travelling, photography, and jogging.
I mainly read History and IR-related essays. Coming to films and TV series, I particularly like sci-fi, fantasy, war and espionage, and mistery. As far as gaming is concerned, I focus on strategy, shooters, RPGs, and flight simulators. I have traveled to various European countries as well as to the US and other places; and I have lived in Italy, Belgium, Poland, and Hungary. Finally, I practice photography as a hobby, especially when I travel. I even used some of my pictures on this website!
If you want to reach out to me, feel free to use this contact form.