Rory Cormac
@rorycormac.bsky.social
Professor: Subversion & Secret Statecraft | Author: Fakers (coming 2026); Disrupt & Deny; How to Stage a Coup; Crown, Cloak, & Dagger
Nerd that I am, I’ve been thinking about (theorising is too strong!!) covert action for 15 years.
And this in the new Oxford Handbook National Security Intelligence offers a neat distillation:
And this in the new Oxford Handbook National Security Intelligence offers a neat distillation:
October 15, 2025 at 1:48 PM
Nerd that I am, I’ve been thinking about (theorising is too strong!!) covert action for 15 years.
And this in the new Oxford Handbook National Security Intelligence offers a neat distillation:
And this in the new Oxford Handbook National Security Intelligence offers a neat distillation:
Anything missing?
September 12, 2025 at 9:17 AM
Anything missing?
Is this the nerdiest graphic ever?!
The Whitehall machinery coordinating British covert activities, 1945-65
Literally years of research to compile and exactly the kind of thing I got into academia for!!
The Whitehall machinery coordinating British covert activities, 1945-65
Literally years of research to compile and exactly the kind of thing I got into academia for!!
September 11, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Is this the nerdiest graphic ever?!
The Whitehall machinery coordinating British covert activities, 1945-65
Literally years of research to compile and exactly the kind of thing I got into academia for!!
The Whitehall machinery coordinating British covert activities, 1945-65
Literally years of research to compile and exactly the kind of thing I got into academia for!!
And with that the Cormac and Cormac bookshelf is full!
September 11, 2025 at 3:17 PM
And with that the Cormac and Cormac bookshelf is full!
Hooray, my copy finally arrived! It’s the first attempt to compare states’ approaches to what our US friends call covert action
My own personal conclusion is “covert action” is dumb and when talking about wider practice beyond US legal codes we should use “unacknowledged interference”
My own personal conclusion is “covert action” is dumb and when talking about wider practice beyond US legal codes we should use “unacknowledged interference”
September 11, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Hooray, my copy finally arrived! It’s the first attempt to compare states’ approaches to what our US friends call covert action
My own personal conclusion is “covert action” is dumb and when talking about wider practice beyond US legal codes we should use “unacknowledged interference”
My own personal conclusion is “covert action” is dumb and when talking about wider practice beyond US legal codes we should use “unacknowledged interference”
Article on sabotage accepted for publication in @ejisbisa.bsky.social authored with @lmaschmeyer.bsky.social and @jrovner.bsky.social
calls for a celebratory Dartmoor whisky
Sabotage weaponises friction to degrade; subversion actively generates change
2 distinct logics in “grey zone” statecraft
calls for a celebratory Dartmoor whisky
Sabotage weaponises friction to degrade; subversion actively generates change
2 distinct logics in “grey zone” statecraft
September 9, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Article on sabotage accepted for publication in @ejisbisa.bsky.social authored with @lmaschmeyer.bsky.social and @jrovner.bsky.social
calls for a celebratory Dartmoor whisky
Sabotage weaponises friction to degrade; subversion actively generates change
2 distinct logics in “grey zone” statecraft
calls for a celebratory Dartmoor whisky
Sabotage weaponises friction to degrade; subversion actively generates change
2 distinct logics in “grey zone” statecraft
Can we go back to a time when “old school charm” constituted a “research methodology” please?
(From this week’s LRB)
(From this week’s LRB)
September 4, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Can we go back to a time when “old school charm” constituted a “research methodology” please?
(From this week’s LRB)
(From this week’s LRB)
When your crappy work laptop does this for hours on end does it equate to officially sanctioned time off?
I would be working but “your organisation manages your update settings”
I would be working but “your organisation manages your update settings”
August 29, 2025 at 8:29 AM
When your crappy work laptop does this for hours on end does it equate to officially sanctioned time off?
I would be working but “your organisation manages your update settings”
I would be working but “your organisation manages your update settings”
Well I never knew that: the first American racially segregated prison was… Dartmoor!
Apparently white American prisoners of the 1812 war insisted on being segregated along racial rather than nationality / alliance lines
Apparently white American prisoners of the 1812 war insisted on being segregated along racial rather than nationality / alliance lines
August 19, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Well I never knew that: the first American racially segregated prison was… Dartmoor!
Apparently white American prisoners of the 1812 war insisted on being segregated along racial rather than nationality / alliance lines
Apparently white American prisoners of the 1812 war insisted on being segregated along racial rather than nationality / alliance lines
Just finished this. Fair play to @terrystiastny.bsky.social for imposing a highly readable narrative on total bureaucratic chaos!
July 21, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Just finished this. Fair play to @terrystiastny.bsky.social for imposing a highly readable narrative on total bureaucratic chaos!
Last year I filmed a tv show in a nuclear bunker with comedian Russell Kane. Today I’m off to film in a molecular biology research lab with Lucy Worsley.
Love academia and its random adventures sometimes!
Love academia and its random adventures sometimes!
July 16, 2025 at 9:21 AM
Last year I filmed a tv show in a nuclear bunker with comedian Russell Kane. Today I’m off to film in a molecular biology research lab with Lucy Worsley.
Love academia and its random adventures sometimes!
Love academia and its random adventures sometimes!
The latest in our @edinburghup.bsky.social series… and it’s another belter!
June 30, 2025 at 8:47 AM
The latest in our @edinburghup.bsky.social series… and it’s another belter!
loving that time the Joint Intelligence Committee rebranded itself to give off the vibes of a futuristic tech company... 1981
June 27, 2025 at 1:38 PM
loving that time the Joint Intelligence Committee rebranded itself to give off the vibes of a futuristic tech company... 1981
cool to read about a local Nottingham company developing gadgets for escape and evasion during the Cold War. This one involved miniature receivers concealed in ball point pens.
June 27, 2025 at 9:38 AM
cool to read about a local Nottingham company developing gadgets for escape and evasion during the Cold War. This one involved miniature receivers concealed in ball point pens.
This line about Russian disinformation stoking tension between generations in the National Security Strategy really wound me up.
It’s true of course. But lazy.
Maybe if we had some policies for young people there may be fewer divisions to stoke… it’s an internal issue
It’s true of course. But lazy.
Maybe if we had some policies for young people there may be fewer divisions to stoke… it’s an internal issue
June 26, 2025 at 3:48 PM
This line about Russian disinformation stoking tension between generations in the National Security Strategy really wound me up.
It’s true of course. But lazy.
Maybe if we had some policies for young people there may be fewer divisions to stoke… it’s an internal issue
It’s true of course. But lazy.
Maybe if we had some policies for young people there may be fewer divisions to stoke… it’s an internal issue
a particularly odd hallucination reported by a British operative undergoing "resistance to interrogation" training (1969)
"I thought I was a member of a Welsh Nationalist partisan group..."
"I thought I was a member of a Welsh Nationalist partisan group..."
June 26, 2025 at 1:43 PM
a particularly odd hallucination reported by a British operative undergoing "resistance to interrogation" training (1969)
"I thought I was a member of a Welsh Nationalist partisan group..."
"I thought I was a member of a Welsh Nationalist partisan group..."
Either Mr Shipp of MI5 was an unimaginative pseudonym for the intelligence officer covering maritime sabotage or we have serious case of nominative determinism!
June 25, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Either Mr Shipp of MI5 was an unimaginative pseudonym for the intelligence officer covering maritime sabotage or we have serious case of nominative determinism!
Unwinding after a a busy day talking in London with an appropriately titled book chapter
June 24, 2025 at 5:10 PM
Unwinding after a a busy day talking in London with an appropriately titled book chapter
Very proud to see @nottspolitics.bsky.social’s fantastic PhD researcher @ddolzikova.bsky.social on BBC News today. Great job!
June 20, 2025 at 3:29 PM
Very proud to see @nottspolitics.bsky.social’s fantastic PhD researcher @ddolzikova.bsky.social on BBC News today. Great job!
US Special Operations Forces:
Our core activities officially include enabling insurgencies to overthrow a gov
UK Special Forces:
No, we don't have a website and don't even think about writing about us
Our core activities officially include enabling insurgencies to overthrow a gov
UK Special Forces:
No, we don't have a website and don't even think about writing about us
June 19, 2025 at 8:24 AM
US Special Operations Forces:
Our core activities officially include enabling insurgencies to overthrow a gov
UK Special Forces:
No, we don't have a website and don't even think about writing about us
Our core activities officially include enabling insurgencies to overthrow a gov
UK Special Forces:
No, we don't have a website and don't even think about writing about us
"The suggestion of sabotage may be wishful thinking"...
am reading fascinating files about a series of fires in Hungary (1952) and the weaponisation or politicisation of allegations of sabotage by all sides.
am reading fascinating files about a series of fires in Hungary (1952) and the weaponisation or politicisation of allegations of sabotage by all sides.
June 12, 2025 at 9:34 AM
"The suggestion of sabotage may be wishful thinking"...
am reading fascinating files about a series of fires in Hungary (1952) and the weaponisation or politicisation of allegations of sabotage by all sides.
am reading fascinating files about a series of fires in Hungary (1952) and the weaponisation or politicisation of allegations of sabotage by all sides.
The other thing that struck me was the “new deal” for protecting critical national infrastructure
I’ve just finished going through 30ish years Cold War “key point” counter-sabotage files… and there was a lot of debate about what constitutes a key point, who protects it, when, and who pays!
I’ve just finished going through 30ish years Cold War “key point” counter-sabotage files… and there was a lot of debate about what constitutes a key point, who protects it, when, and who pays!
June 2, 2025 at 8:25 PM
The other thing that struck me was the “new deal” for protecting critical national infrastructure
I’ve just finished going through 30ish years Cold War “key point” counter-sabotage files… and there was a lot of debate about what constitutes a key point, who protects it, when, and who pays!
I’ve just finished going through 30ish years Cold War “key point” counter-sabotage files… and there was a lot of debate about what constitutes a key point, who protects it, when, and who pays!
Is this…is this me now?
May 30, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Is this…is this me now?
Every time I walk past I look up and wonder what the Information Research Department’s special productions (forgeries and fakes) team would’ve made of today’s propaganda landscape from their attic room up there
May 29, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Every time I walk past I look up and wonder what the Information Research Department’s special productions (forgeries and fakes) team would’ve made of today’s propaganda landscape from their attic room up there