DIRECTOR, J.D. LEASURE

J.D. LeaSure, CCISM, was active within the counterespionage, counterterrorism and counterintelligence fields for 27 years prior to founding ComSec LLC a global provider of Cyber TSCM and counterespionage advisory services.

J.D. has an extensive career as a consultant to the DoD, U.S. Special Projects Support Activities, allied U.S. Support Activities and the Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA).

J.D. has conducted counterespionage investigations and Technical Surveillance Counter Measures (TSCM) in the United States, and throughout the world.

He attained the prestigious Certified Counterespionage Information Security Management Certification (CCISM), awarded by the Institute For Countermeasure Studies (Technical Services Agency) which was developed by the late Glenn H. Whidden, 28 year veteran of The Central Intelligence Agency, Founder and Director of The Espionage Research Institute (ERI)

J.D. is now the Director of The Espionage Research Institute International (ERII), and a full member of the Technical Surveillance Counter Measures Institute (TSCMi). He is also an active contributor to the world of counterintelligence, technical surveillance countermeasures (TSCM) and cyber TSCM. J.D. is affiliated with many other industry organizations in order to continually remain on the leading edge of the industry.

DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR, LISA LEASURE

Lisa LeaSure has served as ERII’s Development Director since 2015. Lisa is an accomplished professional who brings more than twenty-five (25) years of private sector training, marketing, business development, infrastructure planning, operations efficiency, and growth progression management to ERII.

Utilizing her organizational, marketing, management, interpersonal and business development skills, Lisa will support ERII’s Director and Advisory Board as they seek to address the changing needs of the TSCM community.

Lisa will also assist with development of the CCISM program and other services that serve ERII’s membership and address the emerging cyber TSCM field. Lisa’s knowledge of, and experience in, the healthcare, manufacturing, quality, consulting, electronics, defense and intellectual property sectors provides a unique perspective to addressing the concerns of the corporate, government and private sector markets. 

ERII Advisor, Jason Miles Dibley. dip eng (hons)  FmTSCMi, CCO MSyI,

Jason Miles Dibley is a founding Director of QCC Interscan. Specialising in the field of technical surveillance/counter surveillance, working for many years in covert operations.  He has a thorough knowledge of the field of TSCM, Counter Surveillance, Physical Security, CCTV, microwave, radio transmission, audio acquisition and processing, tracking, telecommunications networks, and computing. QCC is a UK based global TSCM Supplier specialises in counter surveillance/espionage against business and government interests around the world.

Since 1998 Jason has been involved in hundreds of complex and sizable technical operations spanning over 35 countries on 5 continents. Leading to the successful discovery of active espionage attacks. Jason has a long and established career in the Technical Surveillance counter/surveillance field having spent over 21 years as a covert deployment engineer with the Metropolitan Police in London, supporting all technical operational requirements of the MPS, commanded from Scotland Yard’s Specialist Crime Directive.

During his career Jason has worked in support of Special Branch, Anti-terrorist Branch, major crime, UK Special Forces and UK Security Services. Jason is a founding member of the TSCMi and has been involved on the advisory board of the ERiI since its re-launch in 2011.

ERII ADVISOR, Jarrett Kolthoff

Jarrett Kolthoff, CISSP and president/CEO of SpearTip, has more than 20 years of experience in the information security field.  As a former special agent for the U.S. Army Counterintelligence, he has experience in cyber investigations, counterintelligence, and fusion cell analysis that assist SpearTip’s clients to identify, assess, neutralize, and exploit the threats leveled against their corporation. His civil case work has included investigations in anti-trust lawsuits, embezzlement, collusion, theft of intellectual property and corporate espionage.

He has testified in civil cases as an expert computer forensic witness in depositions and in the U.S. Federal Court – Eastern District of Missouri and has acted as a liaison between companies and law enforcement agencies. He has led assignments throughout the United States with both national and international corporations.

He continues to serve his community as an Adjunct Professor at Webster University, and through membership with the Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO), Espionage Research Institute International (ERII), and board membership as past-President of the St. Louis InfraGard Chapter and the St. Louis Chapter of the International High Technology Crime Investigation Association (HTCIA).

ERII ADVISOR, David Major

David Major, Retired Senior FBI Supervisory Special Agent. First Director of Counterintelligence, Intelligence and Security Programs at the National Security Council at the White House. Retired after 24 years with the FBI in the discipline of counterintelligence and counterterrorism. For over 43 years, Mr. Major has been a student, practitioner and lecturer on counterintelligence, counterterrorism, security, and the full range of investigative skills to perform these missions. Founder and President, CI Centre

A 1965 graduate of Syracuse University with a degree in the life sciences, after graduation Mr. Major served in the US Army as a Captain in Armor Branch for 5 years before being appointed an FBI Special Agent. He served in Sarasota Florida, Newark New Jersey, Washington DC, and Baltimore FBI as Field Offices as well as three assignments at FBI Headquarters (the FBI SCI Security Office, the Counterintelligence Division and the Inspection Division).

Mr. Major has made a life-long commitment to the practice and study of counterintelligence and its subset, counterterrorism, making him one of the nation’s top experts on the subject. His views and advice are sought after by the government; private companies; and the national and international media. David is a leading authority, expert and teacher on counterintelligence and counterterrorism.

ERII ADVISOR, John B. Minor

John B. Minor is an Independent Researcher / Author / Inventor / Analyst who served in Corporate and Government leadership roles. He has over 40 years of experience in the communications field that began with the founding of a Technology and Communications company in 1981. His company designed and constructed Optical, Wireless, Satellite, Microwave, and Cellular Network segments in 24 states of the United States & Internationally, which became part of The Internet. In 1993, John formed RadlinQ Corporation, designing and manufacturing an early industrial WiFi router used primarily to link and exfiltrate data from international locations.

John is trained by Department of Defense (DoD) instructors and certified by the Cyber Security Forum Initiative (CSFl.us), Cyber Warfare Division, as a Defensive Cyber Operations Engineer (DCOE), serving as an expert team member. He served as lead interdiction expert in cyber-attacks and cyber warfare skirmishes and served as liaison between Mobile Network Operators and covert operators to perform real-time tracking in undisclosed countries.

In the 2000s, John worked internationally for over 10 years tracking otherwise untouchable targets including difficult to locate terrorists and foreign agents, achieving success in many of the pursuits.

John has testified many times in State and Federal Court venues as a subject matter, infringement, and damages expert in patent infringement, civil, and criminal cases.

ERII Advisor, Charles Patterson

Charles Patterson is the director and principal consultant of Exec Security TSCM. Charles has been a security professional since 1978. He spent 17 years working in executive protection and technical security services, traveling throughout the United States and over forty different countries.  He formed his own company in 1995 specializing in Technical Surveillance Countermeasures services for corporations and high profile clientele.

One of Charles’ goals is to help professional TSCM be recognized and respected as an essential part of all corporate security programs.

Charles has been active in ERII and its predecessor, ERI since it began in 1996 under the leadership of Glenn Whidden.

ERII Advisor, Paul Turner, TSS, TSI

Paul Turner is a retired professional investigator with a quarter century of experience, including six (6) years asteam leader in providing high risk VIP protection and operational intelligence support for high profile corporate and government level clients. Paul is the President of Professional Development TSCM Group Inc., and Technical Security Director (TSD) of the company’s Technical Security Branch (TSB) and is a TSB certified Technical Security Specialist (TSS) and is an experienced Technical Security Instructor (TSI). Paul has thirty‐four (34+) years of experience and upward of 10,000 hours of actual working experience inthe field providing TSCM, ECM, COMSEC and CI related services.

In Memoriam

ERII Advisor, John “Jack” C. Platt III. “Cowboy”, Feb. 18, 1936 – Jan. 04, 2017

John C. Platt is one of the founders and senior Vice President of Hamilton Trading Group, Inc. (HTG), located in McLean, Virginia. Until he retired, honorably in 2013, he completed a four-year tour of duty in the US Marine Corps; and spent a quarter century as a trained assets recruiter –or a trainer of other field case officers in the CIA Clandestine Service; then retired after 26 years working for HTG.

Mr. Platt was hired by the CIA in 1963. He was an operations officer with an extensive information collection and counter-intelligence background.  In the course of various assignments overseas, he lived and worked in Austria, Germany, France and Laos. He also traveled extensively in Latin America, the Caribbean and to a lesser extent in Eastern Europe. For five years he directed a CIA training program which was awarded a Unit Citation for excellence.  This program was successful in preparing U.S. personnel and their families to live and work productively in hostile countries.  Upon retirement, Mr. Platt was awarded the CIA’s Career Intelligence Medal for exceptional performance and commended by the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for his professionalism, zeal and vital assistance to the FBI.

Mr. Platt and several like-minded Americans took steps to open a window on the “new  Russian Federation” in the early 1990s. He contacted former Soviet adversaries and pushed for mutual agreements on conducting commercial inquiries and personal security and safety –in Russia.  The joint business efforts of the company and the Russians were favorably described in news stories (LA Times, Palm Beach Post, Forbes Magazine and the NYT). Platt’s unusual but interesting relationships with “former KGB enemies” have been cited in TV programs about the CIA and KGB (Discovery Channel in 1997 and CBS 60 Minutes II in 2001).

Regrettably, the results of “regime change” in Russia (i.e., Putin’s Kremlin) rendered bilateral business cooperation with Russian contacts as damaged efforts best observed in the rear-view mirror. In 2005, the prime business partner in Russia, retired KGB officer Gennadiy Vasilenko, was arrested in Moscow on trumped up charges and sentenced to a long prison term. After serving 5 ½  years of a 3-year sentence in the Russian prison system, Mr. Vasilenko was granted free passage to be resettled with his family in the USA  — being part of a historic “Russian- USA spy swap” of July 2010.

ERII Advisor, Steve Whitehead, April 23, 2019

Steve Whitehead was the Managing Executive of CBIA. Corporate Business Insight & Awareness (CBIA) is a small boutique firm that was founded during March 1994 by likeminded professionals with diverse inter-disciplinary competencies to provide insight and awareness solutions through the use of CI and counterintelligence as risk management tools to corporations in South Africa.  CBIA has its own TSCM division, Eavesdropping Detection Solutions®. Steve has played a major role in the development and promotion of the use of competitive intelligence (CI) and counterintelligence as a risk management tool. He is one of the most experienced consultants in this unique field in the World.

Steve was a member of Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP) (USA), a founding and former executive member of the South African Association of Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SAACIP). He was the chairperson of Business Espionage Countermeasures South Africa (BECSA), a counterespionage association. He served as the ASIS International, Johannesburg (chapter 155) chairman from 2004 – 2007. He was a nominee for the 2005 SCIP Board of Directors and the recipient of two SAACIP awards; the SAACIP ‘Meritorious Award’  (1^st Recipient) and the SAACIP ‘Certificate of Merit’ for his contributions to the development of competitive intelligence and business counterintelligence as risk management tools in South Africa.

Steve was recently appointed as a consultant to the BRICS Expert Advisory Group on Cybersecurity to the South African government. Steve is considered to be the “father” of TSCM (technical surveillance countermeasures) in South Africa. He founded TSCM Services® in 1996. TSCM Services through its approach, various offerings and training courses brought respectability to the private TSCM industry in South Africa. He founded the Countermeasures Association of South Africa (CASA) in 2000.

Steve was a former senior Government intelligence specialist and held the rank of Manager (Director) in the South African National Intelligence Agency (NIA) when he resigned in March 1994. In his early career, he served for a short while in the South African Police where he held the rank of Lieutenant.