Dr. Ralph L. DeFalco III, DLS, MSSI, MS is a historian, a writer, a lecturer, and a national security intelligence professional with experience during a career that spanned five decades and five continents. An engaging and dynamic speaker, his exceptional presentations are always lavishly illustrated with historical, unique and sometimes surprising visual content.

He is retired from a 25-year military career in the rank of Captain in the United States Navy. He also served as a civilian intelligence professional on the Pentagon staff of the Director of Naval Intelligence and retired after 18 years of federal service. He is a distinguished graduate and former faculty member of the National Intelligence University. He is also a graduate, with highest distinction, of the College of Naval Command and Staff of the United States Naval War College and later served as Fleet Professor on the college’s faculty. He earned his doctoral degree at Georgetown University.

Dr. DeFalco is widely published in several disciplines that include history, geo-politics, national security intelligence and intelligence operations, strategy and policy, foreign affairs, and applied ethics. He is a contributing author to the two-volume work The Central Intelligence Agency: An Encyclopedia of Covert Ops, Intelligence Gathering, and Spies and his numerous essays, articles, reviews, and commentaries have appeared in the pages of and on the web sites of Naval Institute Proceedings, Naval History Magazine, International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, The Epoch Time, RealClear Defense, The National Strategy Forum Review, and H-net. He is a regular contributor to the Liberty Fund and his most recent work can be found on-line at lawliberty.org.

Dr. DeFalco is highly experienced and deeply knowledgeable about topics that include maritime, military, naval, and general history. Deeply versed in maritime history he is also well-prepared to present destination lectures in that context. As a national security intelligence professional during five decades and across five continents, he is also singularly well-versed to present on topics including those about intelligence operations and espionage.

Here is a short sample of enrichment presentations he has offered in the past:

Lisbon in the Age of Exploration—a towering monument on the banks of the Tagus River estuary celebrates the remarkable achievements of seafarers who set sail from Lisbon to explore waters and lands unknown to Europe. The support of Prince Henry the Navigator attracted mariners from across Europe to serve the Portuguese crown. Their astonishing voyages in small wooden sailing ships created the Portuguese empire, Europe’s first modern nation with vast overseas colonies.

Menace: China’s Threat to the U.S. Homeland - China today is conducting a well-orchestrated campaign to destabilize the U.S. economy, attack key nodes of the U.S. infrastructure, engage in espionage on American soil, and direct hostile agents in propaganda and transnational repression operations. In this eye-opening presentation, Dr. Ralph L. DeFalco III will describe how Beijing has for years engaged in gray zone tactics, actions short of armed conflict, that threaten U.S. national security.

Bodyguard of Lies – the fascinating unknown story of deception and the shrewd counter-intelligence plan undertaken by the Allies to dupe the Germans before D-Day into thinking the Normandy landings were merely a feint to mask a huge invasion at Pas de Calais. Includes a discussion of Patton’s fake army group, signals deception, camouflage and turned agents.

For the Sake of Suffering Humanity —Switzerland and the Geneva Conventions—The well-known conventions have a less well-known story of the inspiration of a German, the American Civil War, and the tireless efforts and vision of a fervent Swiss national. Today the four Conventions and three additional Protocols form the basis of international humanitarian law and, along with the Hague Conventions, are internationally recognized rules for armed conflict.

Escape from Elba – Napoleon, the Emperor of France, is forced to abdicate this throne. For years, the scourge of European monarchies, he is sent into exile on the island of Elba. Restless, angry, embittered, Napoleon plots his revenge. His escape from Elba to Paris is the stuff of legend and launches the Hundred Days that end in his defeat at Waterloo.

The Pope’s Line - In the late 15th century Portugal and Spain were the great powers of the age. The untold riches of the newly discovered Americas beckoned and the fight for control of these new lands threatened a world-wide war. Then, the Pope drew a line on a map and created the boundaries of Portuguese Brazil and much of the western world as we know it today. The epic of two centuries of great voyages followed, including Magellan’s circumnavigation of the earth.

Sugar, Coffee, and the Emergence of Modern Brazil — The most important colony in Portugal’s far-flung empire, Brazil was once the world’s leading exporter of sugar. Labor-intensive, the production of sugar cane on great plantations was supported by slaves from Africa. Then, the demand for coffee changed Brazil’s economy and reshaped its society in ways that make modern Brazil.

Where the Sea Turns —Once the pivotal point in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and the first colonial holding in the tropics, the Cape Verde Archipelago enjoyed a robust economy in the 16th and 17th centuries. In the 20th century the people of the archipelago engineered a massive turn in their country and their economy making the now independent country one of the most developed and stable democratic countries in Africa.

The Canary Islands in the Age of Conquests – The 15th century European exploration of the west coast of Africa drew mariners far into the Atlantic to the Canaries, for the first time since 23 CE. The Castilian Conquest of the islands—the Aristocratic Conquest and the Royal Conquest—resulted in a 100-year war with the islands’ indigenous peoples. Conquest and colonization in the Canaries set the stage for conflict between Portugal and Spain that spilled over into the New World and war with rising colonial powers.

Tenerife, Empire and Emigration – Tenerife was bound to colonization since its founding. The Spanish Crown, anxious to avoid encroachment of foreign powers into its New World empire, actively encouraged emigration. People from Tenerife were recruited to move to Venezuela, Cuba, Santo Domingo, Puerto Rico and to what eventually became Texas and Louisiana. The island’s strategic position on the Atlantic trade routes also made it the target of empire builders.

Operation Torch–The Allied Landings in Morocco in 1942 were part of the larger campaign plan to invade French North Africa and wrest control of the region from the Axis powers. The landings at Safi, Fedala (Casablanca) and Mehdiya-Port Lyautey were contested but successful and gave American forces and commanding General George Patton their first experience with modern amphibious operations. Overshadowed by the D-Day landings on the continent, Torch was the first trans-oceanic amphibious assault in history.

A Short History of US Intelligence - From the Revolutionary War to the Cold War and into the 21st Century US national security intelligence has been marked by remarkable success and catastrophic failure. This is a no-holds barred exploration of US intelligence and the key events that shaped the Intelligence Community, including the overlooked events and controversies that shaped US intelligence and the nation it served.

The Lion of Lucerne—Monument, Controversy, and Switzerland’s Mercenaries—described by Mark Twain as “the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world,” the monument is a magnificent sculpture of a dying lion that commemorates the Swiss Guards who perished defending Louis XVI during the French Revolution. Controversial when it was unveiled in 1821, it sparked fears of both militarism and royalist leanings.

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