Events

Disrupt and deny: Spies, special Forces, and the secret pursuit of British Foreign Policy

  • 14 May 2018

    17:30-19:15, SCR, Nuffield College

  • Oxford Intelligence Group   Add to Calendar
Speaker: Rory Cormac

University of Nottingham

This event is part of the Oxford Intelligence Group Seminar Series.

Cormac explores the UK's approach to covert action since 1945. This particularly secretive and sensitive form of statecraft, more associated with the CIA, has, in fact, been a staple of British foreign policy. His talk unpacks when, why, and how British leaders have chosen to intervene in the affairs of others in an unacknowledged manner. From Eastern Europe to Southeast Asia, Cormac reveals how the UK used covert action to mask decline as a global power - with varying degrees of success.

Dr Rory Cormac is an Associate Professor of International Relations at the University of Nottingham. A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a leading expert among a new generation of intelligence historians, he specialises in British covert operations and the secret pursuit of foreign policy. He has published widely on intelligence and security issues and regularly appears on radio and television. He is the co-author of The Black Door: Spies, Secret Intelligence and British Prime Ministers (2016), and a lead contributor to Channel 4’s Spying on the Royals.

Rory Cormac will have copies of his book - of the same title and published by OUP - available for purchase.