ACK3 at the XXXIII International Defence Course in Jaca

ACK3 has taken part as a sponsor in the XXXIII International Defence Course, held in Jaca from 28 September to 2 October 2026. Its CEO and founder, Jorge Quintana, delivered the talk “From Noise to Decision: Applied Intelligence in Environments of Uncertainty”.

Jaca, Spain — The Spanish Army’s General Military Academy and the University of Zaragoza have brought together the thirty-third edition of the International Defence Course (CID) at the Palacio de Congresos in Jaca, one of Spain’s leading forums for security and defence analysis. Under the title “The Power of Information: Media in Today’s Conflicts and Their Influence on Military Operations”, the five-day course examined media coverage of conflict, propaganda and disinformation, strategic communication, the impact of social media and digital technologies on operations, and the role of the reporter in conflict zones.

ACK3 at the XXXIII International Defence Course

The programme brought together officers from the Spanish Armed Forces and the Guardia Civil, university professors, journalists and war correspondents, and specialists in intelligence, strategic communication, OSINT, geopolitics and defence. The closing lecture was given by Lieutenant General (Ret.) Francisco José Gan Pampols. ACK3 supported this edition as a sponsor, in line with its commitment to the education of the future officers of the General Military Academy and to the culture of security and defence. Alongside the course, the Ibercaja Foundation hosted a related lecture series at the Patio de la Infanta in Zaragoza.

From noise to decision

Jorge Quintana‘s talk started from a simple observation: today the problem is no longer accessing information, but distinguishing what can wait, what matters and what actually changes a decision. From there, he walked through the sequence that separates a piece of data from a decision. Data are isolated facts; information is data with context; analysis explains what it means; intelligence is what is useful to the decision-maker; and the decision is timely action. Intelligence, he explained, only has value when it reduces uncertainty and helps someone decide or act.

This led to the question that ran through the entire talk: what do I need to know in order to decide? Quintana proposed reversing the usual process, which consists of accumulating sources and data and only afterwards asking what to do with them. The effective approach is to start with the decision that needs to be made, define what information is required, and only then turn to the sources.

Don’t start with the sources. Start with the decision.

Anticipating to preserve options

The second part of the talk focused on anticipation. An isolated signal may mean nothing; several signals pointing in the same direction become an indicator, and assessing it against thresholds defined in advance marks the moment to decide. Those thresholds, Quintana stressed, must be set in cold blood, before the crisis rather than during it. Anticipating is not guessing. Between normality and crisis lies a phase of change, the decision window, in which there is still room to choose, and detecting it early is what makes it possible to preserve options. Early indicators can come from very different domains, such as security incidents, regulatory changes, protests, disruptions to routes and supply chains, or movements of people. On their own they are rarely conclusive; what matters is the combination and the context.

Quintana illustrated this logic with a real, anonymised ACK3 case. After isolated incidents were detected near a client’s area of operation, calls for protests and possible closures of a main route followed. With two critical indicators active at the same time, the recommendation was to suspend travel and relocate the team before the peak of risk. The operation continued without incident and the return took place in an orderly manner.

Technology, intelligence and human judgement

The talk also addressed the role of technology. Artificial intelligence, automation and the processing of large volumes of data make it possible to detect, process and scale at a pace no human team could match. But technology does not replace judgement: it is people who contextualise, question, interpret and, ultimately, decide. The greater the capacity to produce and process information, the more important it becomes to know what to ask and how to interpret the answer. This is how ACK3’s Security Operations Centre (SOC) works, with analysts combining technology platforms and human analysis.

A meeting point for defence, academia and business

Every year, the International Defence Course brings together military personnel, academics, journalists, students and private-sector professionals around a shared subject of study. That convergence of perspectives is one of its greatest strengths. Intelligence applied to decision-making draws as much on the operational experience of the Armed Forces as on academic rigour and the day-to-day practice of organisations operating in complex environments. For ACK3, supporting and taking part in the course is a way of strengthening its ties with the General Military Academy and the university community, and of contributing to the exchange of knowledge in security, intelligence, communication and technology.

ACK3 at the XXXIII International Defence Course in Jaca.

See earlier. Understand better. Decide in time.

We bring applied intelligence to the decisions of companies and institutions, and we train the next generation of analysts.