The pinprick approach: Whitehall’s top-secret anti-communist committee and the evolution of British covert action strategy

Cormac, Rory

doi:10.1162/JCWS_a_00469

Friends Disunited: Explaining US-UK Covert Action in Albania (2024)
Journal Article
Long, S., & Cormac, R. (2024). Friends Disunited: Explaining US-UK Covert Action in Albania. International History Review, https://doi.org/10.1080/07075332.2024.2303981

States have long engaged in covert action, often in conjunction with partners and/or formal allies. Yet existing histories often take a single-state approach, neglecting how dynamics between co-instigators shaped the case studies. This article draws... Read More about Friends Disunited: Explaining US-UK Covert Action in Albania.

British “Black” Productions: Forgeries, Front Groups, and Propaganda, 1951–1977 (2022)
Journal Article
Cormac, R. (2022). British “Black” Productions: Forgeries, Front Groups, and Propaganda, 1951–1977. Journal of Cold War Studies, 24(3), 4-42. https://doi.org/10.1162/jcws_a_01087

Recently declassified files reveal a sustained black propaganda campaign conducted by the United Kingdom at the height of the Cold War. This article examines around 350 operations in which the UK spread propaganda through forgeries and notional group... Read More about British “Black” Productions: Forgeries, Front Groups, and Propaganda, 1951–1977.

The Secret Royals: Spying and the Crown, from Victoria to Diana (2021)
Book
Aldrich, R., & Cormac, R. (2021). The Secret Royals: Spying and the Crown, from Victoria to Diana. Atlantic Books

For the first time, The Secret Royals uncovers the remarkable relationship between the Royal Family and the intelligence community, from the reign of Queen Victoria to the death of Princess Diana. In an enthralling narrative, Richard J. Aldrich an... Read More about The Secret Royals: Spying and the Crown, from Victoria to Diana.

What constitutes successful covert action? Evaluating unacknowledged interventionism in foreign affairs (2021)
Journal Article
Cormac, R., Walton, C., & Puyvelde, D. V. (2021). What constitutes successful covert action? Evaluating unacknowledged interventionism in foreign affairs. Review of International Studies, 48(1), 111-128. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0260210521000231

Covert action has long been a controversial tool of international relations. However, there is remarkably little public understanding about whether it works and, more fundamentally, about what constitutes success in this shadowy arena of state activi... Read More about What constitutes successful covert action? Evaluating unacknowledged interventionism in foreign affairs.

Techniques of covert propaganda: the British approach in the mid-1960s (2019)
Journal Article
Cormac, R. (2019). Techniques of covert propaganda: the British approach in the mid-1960s. Intelligence and National Security, 34(7), 1064-1069. https://doi.org/10.1080/02684527.2019.1645434

In early 2019, the British government declassified a tranche of Information Research Department files. Among them is a candid and concise overview of British thinking about covert propaganda, complete with a list of examples of British forgery operat... Read More about Techniques of covert propaganda: the British approach in the mid-1960s.

Disrupt and Deny (2018)
Book
Cormac, R. (2018). Disrupt and Deny. Oxford University Press

Grey is the new black: covert action and implausible deniability (2018)
Journal Article
Cormac, R., & Aldrich, R. J. (2018). Grey is the new black: covert action and implausible deniability. International Affairs, 94(3), 477–494. https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiy067

For generations scholars have defined covert action as plausibly deniable interventions in the affairs of others; the sponsor’s hand is neither apparent nor acknowledged. We challenge this orthodoxy. Turning the spotlight away from covert action and... Read More about Grey is the new black: covert action and implausible deniability.

Covert action failure and fiasco construction: William Hague’s 2011 Libyan venture (2017)
Journal Article
Cormac, R., & Daddow, O. J. (2018). Covert action failure and fiasco construction: William Hague’s 2011 Libyan venture. Journal of European Public Policy, 25(5), 690-707. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2017.1291709

In 2011 William Hague, then British Foreign Secretary, authorized a Special Forces team to enter Libya and attempt to contact rebels opposed to Muammar Gaddafi in the unfolding civil war. However, its members were detained by the rebels, questioned a... Read More about Covert action failure and fiasco construction: William Hague’s 2011 Libyan venture.

The Information Research Department, Unattributable Propaganda, and Northern Ireland, 1971–1973: Promising Salvation but Ending in Failure? (2016)
Journal Article
Cormac, R. (2016). The Information Research Department, Unattributable Propaganda, and Northern Ireland, 1971–1973: Promising Salvation but Ending in Failure?. English Historical Review, 131(552), 1074-1104. https://doi.org/10.1093/ehr/cew342

This article examines the role of the IRD (Information Research Department) in Northern Ireland during the first half of the 1970s. After discussing British conceptualisations of propaganda, it offers a detailed account of IRD activity, including how... Read More about The Information Research Department, Unattributable Propaganda, and Northern Ireland, 1971–1973: Promising Salvation but Ending in Failure?.

Disruption and deniable interventionism: explaining the appeal of covert action and special forces in contemporary British policy (2016)
Journal Article
Cormac, R. (2017). Disruption and deniable interventionism: explaining the appeal of covert action and special forces in contemporary British policy. International Relations, 31(2), https://doi.org/10.1177/0047117816659532

The United Kingdom has long engaged in covert action. It continues to do so today. Owing to the secrecy involved, however, such activity has consistently been excluded from debates about Britain’s global role, foreign and security policy, and militar... Read More about Disruption and deniable interventionism: explaining the appeal of covert action and special forces in contemporary British policy.

A modern-day requirement for co-ordinated covert action (2016)
Journal Article
Cormac, R., Goodman, M. S., & Tom, H. (in press). A modern-day requirement for co-ordinated covert action. RUSI Journal, 161(2), https://doi.org/10.1080/03071847.2016.1174478

Covert action can be an important weapon in a state’s arsenal. It is, however, inherently controversial and risky. Rory Cormac, Michael S Goodman and Tom Holman argue that when considering covert action, Whitehall should look to lessons from the rece... Read More about A modern-day requirement for co-ordinated covert action.

The black door: spies, secret intelligence, and British Prime Ministers (2016)
Book
Aldrich, R. J., & Cormac, R. (2016). The black door: spies, secret intelligence, and British Prime Ministers. William Collins

The pinprick approach: Whitehall’s top-secret anti-communist committee and the evolution of British covert action strategy (2014)
Journal Article
Cormac, R. (in press). The pinprick approach: Whitehall’s top-secret anti-communist committee and the evolution of British covert action strategy. Journal of Cold War Studies, 16(3), https://doi.org/10.1162/JCWS_a_00469

This article examines Great Britain’s approach to covert action during the formative years of British Cold War intelligence operations, 1950–1951. Rather than shy away from such activity in the wake of the failure in Albania in the late 1940s, the Br... Read More about The pinprick approach: Whitehall’s top-secret anti-communist committee and the evolution of British covert action strategy.

All Outputs (13)