Rory Cormac

Professor: Secrecy; Subversion; Covert Actions | Author: Disrupt&Deny; How to Stage a Coup; Secret Royals | views own

[Rory Cormac @RoryCormac]

Paperbacks!!

@thetimes: “rich in anecdote & detail…A zippy read”

@IAJournal_CH: “an important public service…truly timeless”

@CIA Studies in Intell: “Valuable & thought provoking”

@IntelNatSecJnl: “A must read”

@diplocourier: “delightfully incisive”

@YahooNews: “dazzling”

[Rory Cormac @RoryCormac]

@OllieRyanTucker thanks. this is the article which i was sort of responding to: https://t.co/l1EwrwcZNf

[Rory Cormac @RoryCormac]

A deliberately provocative and slightly contrarian take in defence of the Information Research Department and unattributable propaganda 👇

[James Rogers @james_rogers]

This fascinating take from @RoryCormac for #BritainsWorld deserves a read from those interested in UK foreign policy. He explains why a new version of the @FCDOGovUK Information Research Department is now needed... https://t.co/tWXoBhfETW

[James Rogers @james_rogers]

This fascinating take from @RoryCormac for #BritainsWorld deserves a read from those interested in UK foreign policy. He explains why a new version of the @FCDOGovUK Information Research Department is now needed... https://t.co/tWXoBhfETW

[Rory Cormac @RoryCormac]

@james_rogers @FCDOGovUK thanks James. I enjoyed writing that

[Rory Cormac @RoryCormac]

@AnthonyGlees @Sandbagger_01 I've written nothing, but the plot thickens if today's Express and Mirror are anything to go by... It strikes me as targeting of an individual very vulnerable to such approaches.

[Rory Cormac @RoryCormac]

@mikeydmanc we've all been there... bulgarian intelligence shifted a bunch of sex workers out to the coast to prevent an outbreak!

[Rory Cormac @RoryCormac]

As I near the end of writing a new history of the Information Research Department - it's surprisingly sympathetic, watch this space - I would have answered "Yes. The UK does need a new IRD (or something similar, reimagined for the twenty-first century)."

https://t.co/l1EwrwcrXH

[Rory Cormac @RoryCormac]

@GaryDRawnsley but building on your pioneering work done!

[Rory Cormac @RoryCormac]

this is excellent. do keep your eyes open for it...

[Dr. Dan Lomas @Sandbagger_01]

⁉️ How are @ChiefMI6's picked, and how has the process changed over time?

👀 Article on past selection processes and the role of the FO/FCO accepted for @diplostatecraft. Coming soon.

[Rory Cormac @RoryCormac]

@AnthonyGlees Who knows, but I feel more of a weirdo and misfit than an innovator!

I've grown tired of the "impact agenda" in my old age though... so will just write my books and see what happens. There's certainly a lot to learn from history in this aea

[Rory Cormac @RoryCormac]

@mianchenhist 4 chapters on Indonesia. It follows the work of the "black productions" team and - indonesia aside - they were more focused on Egypt and sub-saharan africa

[Rory Cormac @RoryCormac]

@John_ForemanCBE ps not all IRD functions worked or are suitable - eg I'm no fan of domestic activity - but in a world where UK now publishes intelligence publicly to shape debate and inform policy (eg over Ukr) we should think about how else to get material into the public sphere

[Rory Cormac @RoryCormac]

@John_ForemanCBE UK facing a coordinated information onslaught from multiple directions, requiring coordinated a) analysis, b) guidance about when/how to expose and when to sit back, c) response thinking carefully about how to make the message as credible as possible to sceptical audiences.

[Rory Cormac @RoryCormac]

@josephdevanny i fudged my tweet saying UK needed it not specifically FCDO! You know far more about current structures than me and it's a really thorny one (as it was in 1948). FCDO and working with SIS/GCHQ might be least worst option though, esp as I'm less convinced by domestic activity

[Rory Cormac @RoryCormac]

Love this.

London to propagandist: “How clever of you to include poetry by Dylan Thomas” in your covert propaganda

Propagandist: “I wrote the poetry not Dylan Thomas”

[Rory Cormac @RoryCormac]

@HostileSpectrum @ELuttwak haha thanks, although I am hard pressed to seize a faculty lounge...

[Rory Cormac @RoryCormac]

Oh it gets better… some bureaucrat told the gang to take down their illegal bar - made out of trestle tables and pigeonhole shelves - the day before George Brown, the foreign secretary (who enjoyed a drink), was due to tour the office and visit the illegal bar!!

[Rory Cormac @RoryCormac]

you know you're in the weeds of archival research when going through files like these

The "Riverwalk House Luncheon Club" could be one of those quirkily titled crime novels... although the truth is more of a farce

[Rory Cormac @RoryCormac]

Involving an empty restaurant, a makeshift bar, bailiffs, and a dodgy loan… and even propagandists running the cash register

Riverwalk House was the hq of the Foreign Office's unattributable propaganda dept

There’s definitely a novel in there!!