Assistant Professor, University of Nottingham. Writes on 🇬🇧 intelligence. Remains an opinionated Northerner & Mancunian. ✍ Vetting, 'Friends' & UK intelligence 📚 🇺🇦 Views my own. 🔗 https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/politics/people/daniel.lomas
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"Wilford’s book covers seemingly familiar ground, but with a twist ... the imperial line—even if readers may not agree—provides a new point for contention". My review of Hugh Wilford's, The CIA: An Imperial History in Diplomacy & Statecraft. www.tandfonline.com/eprint/RWYK6...
@lucatrenta.bsky.social and @avramovok.bsky.social's upcoming book, "Killing in the Name of the State," is available for pre-order on Amazon. This looks absolutely fascinating! www.amazon.com/Killing-Name...
⁉️ Earlier this year we saw Blaise Metreweli selected as the next "C". But how do you appoint an SIS/MI6 Chief? In this Diplomacy & Statecraft article, we use archival material to study the process and the role of officials in picking "C". The article is free to read: 🔗 t.co/PzFDdPcg2i
Personal pet peeve: the tendency to call anything and everything people read on the internet "OSINT". It's only "-INT" if it has requirements, a collection plan, and oversight. Otherwise, it's just sparkling gossip.
newsletter.insightthreatintel.com/p/state-secr...
Tensions rise between Gabbard and CIA chief after her disclosure of undercover officer's name, insiders say www.nbcnews.com/politics/nat...
"I am an advocate for [Traffic Analysis] being recognised as a discipline as important as cryptanalysis in Sigint; I want to see better informed works recounting British Sigint history ... There is a long way to go!" siginthistorian.blogspot.com/2025/08/reco...
"Israel was able to track the movements of key Iranian figures and assassinate them during the 12-day war this spring by following the cellphones carried by members of their security forces". www.nytimes.com/2025/08/30/u...
Going to throw out some big words, but: anyone knowledgeable about 4th party collection, parallel construction of criminal cases from sensitive intel, & (possibly) how liaison services play provide CIA requested info, will find a LOT interesting in the reporting. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/u...
Unfortunate choice of quote with that picture 😉
‘I’ve met some real weirdos for the government’: How spies let Britain talk to its fiercest foes share.google/tSHVFcPRuakS...
www.economist.com/britain/2025...
'The most ingenious stunt since the Trojan Horse': The Soviet artwork that spied on the US www.bbc.com/culture/arti...
Chinese hackers infiltrated critical British infrastructure www.thetimes.com/uk/technolog...
"Public broadcaster DR reported Wednesday that government and security sources ... believe that at least three Americans with connections to Trump have been carrying out covert influence operations in the territory". www.cnn.com/2025/08/27/e...
I'm going to have to update my intelligence in democracies lecture at this rate, because they're rapidly going North Korean at this rate 😉
Google says China-linked cyber operations targeted Southeast Asia diplomats | CNN Business share.google/4547kqJGgceM...
ASIO says Iran behind Australian antisemitic attacks, diplomatic ties cut www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08...
My new article on Substack! Part 2 of "11 Lithuanian #KGB Counterintelligence Operations against the West in 1955" Based on my research at Hoover Archives, Stanford University. @socintelhist.bsky.social The link: tinyurl.com/29m9jjxk
"The man, in his late thirties, worked between 2017 and early 2023 for a civilian contractor of the U.S. Defense Department, and worked at an unidentified U.S. military facility in Germany". www.cbsnews.com/news/us-mili...
"The Federal Prosecutor General announced Monday that Martin D., a former contractor for the U.S. Department of Defense, faces charges of acting as an agent for a foreign intelligence service". www.politico.eu/article/germ...
Josephine Baker’s secret war | @matthefler.bsky.social engelsbergideas.com/portraits/jo...
Spy Novels: A Starter Pack www.nytimes.com/2025/08/23/b...
Spy Novels: A Starter Pack www.nytimes.com/2025/08/23/b...
BBC News - How Russia is trying to win over the world beyond the West - BBC News www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
The UK’s former ambassador to China, Barbara Woodward, is expected to be named Keir Starmer’s new deputy national security adviser www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Possibly a talented young man, rich in counterterrorism experience, Francesco will be the least experienced Deputy Director of NSA ever. Predecessors have had decades of NSA experience complementing the more itinerant nature of the military Director. /1
With @jsaks.bsky.social: Joe Francescon, former DOD and NSC official under the first Trump administration, has been picked as the next deputy director of the NSA: www.politico.com/news/2025/08...
👀 Extracts from SIS/MI6 "CX" reporting from June 1944. This example was provided by a French network codenamed HK, covering the port of Bordeaux and includes a map of the docks, the position of shipping and drawings of vessels, smuggled out through courier networks.
"Prosecutors said that Mr. Wei, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in China, had betrayed his adopted country when he used his security clearance to obtain closely-held details". www.nytimes.com/2025/08/20/u...
FBI warns of Russian hacks targeting US critical infrastructure www.reuters.com/world/us/fbi...
Remarkable open letter from Bill Burns. "If intelligence analysts at the CIA saw our rivals engage in this kind of great-power suicide, we would break out the bourbon. Instead, the sound we hear is of champagne glasses clinking in the Kremlin and Zhongnanhai." theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
"No, this is not about reform. It is about retribution. It is about breaking people and breaking institutions by sowing fear and mistrust throughout our government". Former D/CIA Bill Burns. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...
BBC News - US Navy sailor convicted of spying for China www.bbc.com/news/article...
"Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, announced on Wednesday that she would reorganize her office, eliminating the National Defense University and shrinking the Foreign Malign Influence Center". www.nytimes.com/2025/08/20/u...
My understanding is that the list of people whose clearances have been revoked by Gabbard includes a career civil servant who was until recently the most senior Russia analyst in the CIA & remains senior there. (NYT previously reported it included a snr CIA analyst: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/u...)
IRA’s Stormont spy ring material included map detailing Castle Buildings zones, passwords and security info www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/politic...
Soldier with far-Right ties first person to be convicted of spying in New Zealand www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...
Espionage and ‘destructive ideologies’ are among main threats to State, says Garda report www.irishtimes.com/crime-law/20...
I don't work at Oxbridge and I spend one to one time with students discussing assessment, providing pastoral care and support, and talking about the subject.
Iran’s great ‘spy’ purge: arrest spree over Israeli infiltration fear www.thetimes.com/world/middle...
"Some of the searches included midlevel criminal cases in the New York City area and several other jurisdictions, with some cases involving people with Russian and Eastern European surnames". www.nytimes.com/2025/08/12/u...
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
BBC News - Putin gives Trump envoy award for CIA official's son killed fighting in Ukraine www.bbc.com/news/article...
✍️ "Sounds like the vague ramblings of a demented man". Naval intelligence clearly not impressed by this SIS/MI6 'CX' report from a casual source reporting on the bombing of Lorient in May 1943.
Scientist and spy Gray Chang was branded a traitor for helping the CIA shut down Taiwan’s covert nuclear weapons program in the 1980s. But as the world enters a dangerous new era of proliferation, many now view him as a hero. www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
William Webster, who led FBI and CIA through crises, dies at 101 - The Washington Post share.google/PlmPSQMPvQYI...
Trump Directs Military to Target Foreign Drug Cartels - The New York Times share.google/8hLsLlS0LZl1...
US intel agency reviewing Grok video filmed during man’s commute to secure NSA facility | CNN Politics share.google/ZgYcmel2ISpF...
How Russia caught two UK special forces soldiers and a spy - but it was all fake inews.co.uk/news/russia-...
Army soldier charged with attempting to share sensitive data on US tanks with Russia | CNN Politics share.google/ioi431gzT4Pt...
Gabbard overrode CIA officials’ concerns in push to release classified Russia report www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...
"Calls – which include calls made by Palestinians to international and Israeli numbers – are typically retained in the cloud for about one month, though storage can be scaled up ... when needed". www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
When States Go Mob: The Criminalization of Modern Statecraft www.thecipherbrief.com/gray-zone-cr...
Iran executes nuclear scientist for spying for Israel share.google/nw2DrAdXbpra...
Sorry to hear Stella Rimington has died: a trail blazer in every sense of the word, an impressive intelligence officer and a very nice person. Less formally, we had a blast lecturing together on an espionage-themed cruise in 2014 . . . .
First stock of my new book are already available at the Cambridge UP bookstore, looks great in the window display!
Late 1992: Stella Rimington was invited to lunch at Buckingham Palace. Uncertain of protocols re the first publicly named spy chief, the royals announced it in the Court Circular. Dozens of press turned up desperate for pics and so the royal household had to help her slink out a back exit.
I had a chance to spend a significant bit of time with Dame Stella Rimington in 2011 at Chautauqua, of all places, and occasionally saw her in the International Spy Museum context 2010-2013. She was absolutely charming and down to earth as well, of course, as being an amazing trailblazer. RIP.
Dame Stella Rimington, the first female director general of MI5, has died news.sky.com/story/dame-s...
UK academics studying topics sensitive to China face harassment, survey finds – The Guardian: ‘reported instances of harassment from colleagues and pressure from university administrators related to the financial consequences of damaging relations with China.’
Mossad launches first public recruitment drive for national service women www.ynetnews.com/article/b1jl...
IRA spy triggered security alert by hitting safe house panic alarm www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art...
BBC News - Chinese university students told to spy on classmates, report says www.bbc.com/news/article...
BBC News - Why an explosive fight erupted over the UK's new Chinese embassy - BBC News www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Annoyingly, the promotion criteria is flexible - except when it comes to research income. Career development is always being redesigned, but universities need to admit it. They're limiting promotion chances through making grant income mandatory, even though it's not a sign of academic excellence.
And grant success is necessary as part of the promotions process. Otherwise, you're junior despite having multiple books and articles 😉
Sandra Grimes, Who Helped Unmask a C.I.A. Traitor, Dies at 79 - The New York Times share.google/wGJKEtC69St8...
Brennan and Clapper: Let’s Set the Record Straight on Russia and 2016 www.nytimes.com/2025/07/30/o...
BBC News - North Korea sent me abroad to be a secret IT worker. My wages funded the regime www.bbc.com/news/article...
Left-wing ‘Angry Birds’ group claims responsibility for German train sabotage www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08...
Tom understands fairness. He went to private school 😉 It's pretty galling that a scheme to widen access into fast track gets a lot of hate, especially when 1/4 senior civil servants were privately educated in 2021. We're in 2025 and parts of HMG remain a club.
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
"We are united in our opposition to the attempts of Iranian intelligence services to kill, kidnap, and harass people in Europe and North America in clear violation of our sovereignty". www.gov.uk/government/n...
"You have a person, from outside of the government of no national security experience and with extreme views, having de facto hire and fire authority over some of the most senior and important positions in the United States government". www.nytimes.com/2025/07/30/u...
Sneaking Into the Spy Museum’s New Vault www.nytimes.com/2025/07/31/a...
"Elsewhere at Manchester Metropolitan University – which has not undergone any recent redundancies – staff have complained that career progression is being stalled through a rigid pathways route". And it's not just MMU 😉 www.timeshighereducation.com/news/staff-d...
"The book is a social history of how attitudes to sexuality and race have shaped Whitehall and have unintended consequences today" 📚 @sandbaggerone.bsky.social on his new publication 'The Secret History of UK Security Vetting from 1909 to the Present' ℹ️ tinyurl.com/ms3vn6b8
Poland says 32 people detained and suspected of coordinating with Russia for sabotage - The Washington Post www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...
Pleased to announce that my first book, British 'Spy Fever' in the First World War, will be published in September with @bloomsburyacad.bsky.social. Pre-order a copy here: www.bloomsbury.com/uk/british-s...
Top Lawyer for National Security Agency Is Fired www.nytimes.com/2025/07/29/u...
Veteran C.I.A. Official to Retire After Losing Out on London Job www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/u...
Despite vowing never to (co-)edit a book, I made an exception for this: A much needed attempt to free “covert action” or whatever the hell you want to call unacknowledged interference from its US-centric scholarly baggage Thanks to all involved. press.georgetown.edu/Book/Covert-...
Fantastic to see a Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy letter to the security minister and chair of the defending democracy taskforce cites evidence from @nottspolitics.bsky.social's @rorycormac.bsky.social Read the letter in full here ➡️ tinyurl.com/ynxs3txs
UKHE seeing Warwick's branding
They'll go for "New Party" and forget Oswald got there first 😉
"Students don’t just come to the University of Warwick to study; they come to be shaped and stretched” -- This guy gets paid ££££ for crap like this.
"Teli’s career path has been anything but conventional—shifting from the world of luxury marketing to higher education". Explains why academia is frigged. And there's me thinking that quality teaching and rigorous research mattered. Maybe not. vogue.sg/university-o...
Former US embassy guard in Norway accused of spying for Russia, Iran due to Gaza war | The Times of Israel www.timesofisrael.com/former-us-em...
Judge’s report provides rare insight into secretive Irish military intelligence unit – The Irish Times www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2025...
French military intelligence looks to La mètis for analytics tools www.intelligenceonline.com/surveillance...
BBC News - British man guilty of trying to spy for Russia www.bbc.com/news/article...
Putin is stepping up ‘aggressive’ hybrid attacks on Germany, spy chief warns www.politico.eu/article/vlad...
Mondays ...
Decoding Secrets Through Symbols: How Military Insignia Revealed Russia’s Hidden SIGINT Network by @checkfirst.network ↘️ checkfirst.network/decoding-sec...
There may have been when he gets his gong. But his career was always FCO.
cited - unnervingly prominently - in a Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy letter to the security minister & chair of the defending democracy taskforce: Subversion is about fear / eroding trust as much as it is about actually changing outcomes committees.parliament.uk/publications...
Snippet from an article on the appointment of Christopher Curwen as "C" in December 1985, with "features concealed". Curwen had actually chatted to the journalists beforehand, though his engagement was not official, and it was not until May 1992 that a Chief of SIS was officially named.
I'd be mortified going to a Coldplay concert ... www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/showbiz...