"Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has named spy chief Kyrylo Budanov as his new chief of staff, just over a month after his previous top aide resigned amid a corruption row". www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

"U.S. national-security officials said Wednesday that Ukraine didn’t target Russian President Vladimir Putin or one of his residences in a recent drone strike, challenging Moscow’s assertion that Kyiv sought to kill the Russian leader". www.wsj.com/politics/nat...

More than 600 government files released under 20-year rule www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/news/m...

I'm going through Cabinet minutes from 2004 and 2005 that were published by the National Archives today. It feels a bit like watching history unfold in real time The 7/7 London bombings happened during a Cabinet meeting - this was the note made at the time

👀 Reporting from one of SIS's longest serving agents, Karl Krüger, codenamed T/16 or TR/16. Krüger was a walk-in and run from Rotterdam, initially by Richard Tinsley, giving vital naval intelligence up to 1939 when he failed to meet his controller and was "presumed dead".

CIA carried out drone strike on port facility on Venezuelan coast www.cnn.com/2025/12/29/p...

"BBC News Russian has been counting Russian war losses ... We keep a list of named individuals whose deaths we were able to confirm using official reports, newspapers, social media, and new memorials and graves" www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Spying for Russia: how British civilians are recruited as proxies www.thetimes.com/video/origin...

📚 New reading ...

"This very readable book discusses numerous pathologies that have afflicted the relationships between American intelligence agencies and the president, the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the American people." @markstout.bsky.social reviews "The Spy and the State" by Jeffrey P. Rogg.

Moscow sentences Russian diplomat to 12 years for passing secrets to U.S. intelligence - www.reuters.com/world/russia...

Here’s my holiday gift to my fellow intel nerds on this site: Working with the fine archivists at SUNY Albany, I’ve gotten Bill Casey‘s giant retrospective 1945 report on OSS ops in Germany digitized. Casey served as OSS ops chief in Europe during the war. archives.albany.edu/description/...

Well this is very generous and kind. Thanks @drichterova.bsky.social. So on trend it’s not even out yet! Thanks again for the advance read; I’m really looking forward to sharing it with everyone in the spring 😀

Me seeing battleships back on the agenda

👀 Brilliant temporary exhibition "Spies, Lies & Deception" at Imperial War Museum North, highlighting the history of SOE, MI5 and SIS. Really well curated and full of gadgets and spy paraphernalia.

Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov is the third senior defense official to have been killed in such an attack since last December.

"To be completely upfront and honest about it, I never completed my PhD". Erm, so why say you did? There must be plenty of walts out there www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Appeal to all MI5 staff for information in BBC spy case www.bbc.com/news/article...

👀 New SIS Instagram post featuring Mansfield Cumming's diary. Significant extracts of the diary appear in Alan Judd's excellent "Quest for C", published in 1999, and the service's authorised history by Keith Jeffery in 2010.

MI6 chief holds phone call with Russian spy boss www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/12...

"I hear you're a Special Operations Executive expert now, Father!"

A day after publication of the Intelligence & Security Committee’s latest report highlighting the worrying lack of oversight of parts of the intelligence community, the ISC chair issued the following statement about the lack of consultation or notification over recent reforms to defence intelligence

👀 Organisation of MI1(c)'s (MI6's) most productive train watching network in the First World War, La Dame Blanche (the White Lady), run via Rotterdam by Henry Landau. It was the "finest espionage organisation" offering material of "priceless value", Landau recalls.

High-tech spyware seized aboard ship in France www.politico.eu/article/fran...

End of term vibes ...

MI6 Chief gives speech. Speech may contain words that are interesting. But because MI6 Chief is a woman @telegraph.co.uk prints an article about her appearance, with no mention of the speech’s content.

Well, UK higher education might be in a sh*t place but at least there's free books 📚

The Intelligence & Security Committee's Annual Report 2023-2025 has just been released. isc.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/u...

"As we step into the future, the tools at our disposal will evolve. But what will always matter most is the human element". Full text of Blaise Metreweli's first speech as "C" www.gov.uk/government/s...

BBC News - MI6 'operating in a space between peace and war', new chief warns - BBC News www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/...

"Blaise Metreweli, giving her first speech in the job, is expected to say the UK faces a new “age of uncertainty” where the rules of conflict are being rewritten, particularly in light of wider Kremlin aggression". www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

France falters on oversight of its spy services www.lemonde.fr/en/opinion/a...

"As the declared MI6 head of station in the Zambian capital, Roger had to overcome initial suspicion and sometimes the outright hostility of the various nationalist groups ... Roger slowly won the trust of key elements of these groups". www.spectator.com.au/2025/12/my-l...

MoD to unify all intelligence units under single command www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

'From Theft to Labubu: The Evolution of Intellectual Property Protection in China' Great to see @nottspolitics.bsky.social's doctoral researcher @dominikaremzova.bsky.social's co-authored article in @thediplomat.com 🔗 ⬇️ thediplomat.com/2025/12/from...

👀 SIS/MI6 source in Nimes, France, providing an excellent illustration of a German Schwimmwagen in September 1943.

No need to 'break' with US over security policy, German spy chief says - www.reuters.com/world/no-nee...

The U.S. Gave Mexico a List of Russian Spies. Mexico Let Them Stay. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/08/w...

Danish Intelligence Report Raises Concerns About Shifts in US Policy Under Trump - The New York Times share.google/jkHIEKfnaKDm...

Me entering class like ...

'Disinformation exploits gaps in Western alliances and domestic politics, often making countermeasures difficult' Read @rorycormac.bsky.social and Dan Lomas @sandbaggerone.bsky.social's written evidence to the Foreign Affairs Committee on disinformation diplomacy ⬇️ tinyurl.com/eb3za49c

MI5 tried to cover up truth over 'Stakeknife' spy in IRA, report says - BBC News www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cv...

"Three more British MEPs from Nigel Farage’s bloc are alleged to have “followed the script” given to a colleague who was being bribed by an alleged Russian asset, according to prosecutors". www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Netanyahu taps his military secretary, Roman Gofman, as next Mossad director | The Times of Israel www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-ta...

Exclusive: Woman suspected by France of spying has ties to Kremlin proxies, social media posts show - www.reuters.com/world/europe...

Congratulations to @nottspolitics.bsky.social doctoral researcher David Stanton on being elected as a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to expedition medicine and field-based cartography ℹ️ More details here 🔗 tinyurl.com/m5z9baw8

"The Committee did not find evidence of a co-ordinated high-level effort to collapse the prosecution, nor of deliberate efforts to obstruct it, circumvent constitutional safeguards, or frustrate the Committee’s inquiry". committees.parliament.uk/committee/11...

Handling of China spying case was ‘shambolic’, security committee concludes www.theguardian.com/world/2025/d...

I spoke to @gordoncorera.bsky.social for #Radio4's "Currently", about #Russia's use of #criminal gangs in its #covert activities. It features the excellent @drichterova.bsky.social, Dominic Murphy and others. Worth a listen. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/... @cfs-rusi.bsky.social @soc-ace.bsky.social