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Rory Cormac

@rorycormac.bsky.social
4.8K followers 383 following 417 posts

Professor: Subversion & Secret Statecraft | Author: Fakers (coming 2026); Disrupt & Deny; How to Stage a Coup; Crown, Cloak, & Dagger

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James Crossland @jamescrossland.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
historysdevils.buzzsprout.com/2591267/epis... This week on HISTORY'S DEVILS, @rorycormac.bsky.social and myself look at the life and lies of the conman, bigamist and would-be killer of Vladimir Lenin, the so-called "Ace of Spies", Sidney Reilly #history #podcast
historysdevils.buzzsprout.com
"Ace of Spies" or Ultimate Grifter? Sidney Reilly and the World of British Intelligence - History's Devils
This episode of HISTORY’S DEVILS delves into the life of Sidney Reilly, a dashing, semi-mythical MI6 officer who has often been referred to – without much reason – as the “Ace of Spies”. James Crossla...
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James Crossland @jamescrossland.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
📢 Happy to say that my new podcast, HISTORY'S DEVILS, will be starting on 12 Feb with an episode on the origins of British Fascism. For now, here's the season 1 trailer @philmcraig.bsky.social @ww2tv.bsky.social @mikkibrock.bsky.social @rorycormac.bsky.social #history #podcast 🗃 🎬 🔽🔽
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Rory Cormac @rorycormac.bsky.social · 13/01/2026
I’ve never been one to watch in a good way before
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Jack Murphy @jackmurphyrgr.bsky.social · 02/01/2026
The Name of the Game is Death by Dan Marlowe The Chaos Agent Mark Greaney Elric Vol. 2 Michael Morecock The Anointed HP Lovecraft Covert Action by @magslong.bsky.social and @rorycormac.bsky.social The Present Age by Soren Kierkegaard Those Who Face Death Mark Grdovic
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Magda Long @magslong.bsky.social · 28/12/2025
@rorycormac.bsky.social and I had a fantastic time with @jackmurphyrgr.bsky.social on @theteamhouse.bsky.social - we talked #CovertAction; how and why states use it; and what we might miss if we apply the US approach too narrowly elsewhere. Watch it on #YouTube or listen on your fave #podcast app
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Jack Murphy @jackmurphyrgr.bsky.social · 27/12/2025
Not going to leave you hanging during the holidays. Tonight we have a @theteamhouse.bsky.social episode with @magslong.bsky.social and @rorycormac.bsky.social about how various Intel agencies approach covert action. youtu.be/j5cCGxOpR8w?...
youtu.be
How Different Countries Execute Covert Action
YouTube video by The Team House
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Rory Cormac @rorycormac.bsky.social · 23/12/2025
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 😀
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Luca Trenta @lucatrenta.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
My @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social podcast with @markstout.bsky.social, @magslong.bsky.social, and @rorycormac.bsky.social is now available. Learn more about covert action here: newbooksnetwork.com/covert-action
newbooksnetwork.com
Magda Long et. al., "Covert Action: National Approaches to Unacknowledged Intervention (Georgetown UP, 2025) - New Books Network
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nottspolitics.bsky.social @nottspolitics.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
'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
Excerpt from report
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Rory Cormac @rorycormac.bsky.social · 29/11/2025
£48 royalties! Don’t worry kids, Christmas is saved!
media.tenor.com
a woman pushing a shopping cart in a grocery store with the words who 's on my list .
ALT: a woman pushing a shopping cart in a grocery store with the words who 's on my list .
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Rory Cormac @rorycormac.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
Today I learnt our uni has a “barrier committee” to determine when to open a recently installed (and much hated) barrier which prevents staff from driving from one side of campus to the other. And I just can’t stop laughing
media.tenor.com
a man wearing glasses and a lanyard is looking at the camera .
ALT: a man wearing glasses and a lanyard is looking at the camera .
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Rory Cormac @rorycormac.bsky.social · 27/11/2025
Why, when the country is broke, is the DWP writing to advise me I’m entitled to my dead father’s winter fuel allowance??
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Rory Cormac @rorycormac.bsky.social · 25/11/2025
Few things more depressing than a door locked that is usually open, a staircase roped off which is usually clear, and three security guards standing outside - as, hidden away from staff and students, council votes on whether to close music and languages. Terribly terribly sad day.
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Rory Cormac @rorycormac.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
So proud! Another Cambridge UP book to add to the multiple “world leading” articles, £1.1m UKRI bid, fantastic community work, an app aimed at school kids etc etc etc. An absolute superstar!
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Rory Cormac @rorycormac.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
It was quite something to hear a passionate call to protect music and languages during a Catholic Mass in Clifton estate yesterday. I worry about the reputational impact in our own great city, let alone beyond www.theguardian.com/education/20...
theguardian.com
University of Nottingham considers axing language and music degrees
Total of 48 degrees could disappear from Russell Group institution, with falling revenues and rising costs blamed
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Rory Cormac @rorycormac.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
Personal experience of this one, sadly. I watched my dad die of a brain tumour over the past 6 months. The final couple of weeks were cruel, unnecessary, undignified, and neither in his wishes nor interests He begged me to let him die. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Peers suggest over 900 changes to assisted dying bill
Experts say the volume is a record, and backers of the bill fear opponents are using delaying tactics.
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Joanne Cormac @jcormac.bsky.social · 06/11/2025
Heartbroken to share the news that recruitment to Undergraduate Music courses at the University of Nottingham has been suspended. Please do contact us on protectuonmusic@gmail.com if you would like to support us.
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Phil Tinline @philtinline.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
This quotes a university employee emailing about: "Attempting to retain the business in China". The university says this doesn't reflect policy, but if it sees itself as a business, there's the issue. Universities, like councils & the BBC, are *not businesses*. www.theguardian.com/education/20...
theguardian.com
UK university halted human rights research after pressure from China
Exclusive: Leading professor at Sheffield Hallam was told to cease research on supply chains and forced labour in China after demands from authorities
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nottspolitics.bsky.social @nottspolitics.bsky.social · 29/10/2025
“Propaganda operations in the Cold War were designed to undermine authority, chip away at orthodox ideas, and encourage questioning" @rorycormac.bsky.social reveals to @telegraphnews.bsky.social how the CIA once tried to recruit Sir Winston Churchill 🔗➡️ tinyurl.com/mvp47n4h Image cc: The Telegraph
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The Society for Intelligence History @socintelhist.bsky.social · 23/10/2025
@jrovner.bsky.social, @rorycormac.bsky.social, and @lmaschmeyer.bsky.social's new article is a super read on an important but neglected area of covert action: www.cambridge.org/core/service...
cambridge.org
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Rory Cormac @rorycormac.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
Publishers: we have a strict word limit Also publishers: all dates in the endnotes must be written out in full
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Lennart Maschmeyer @lmaschmeyer.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
New article out with @rorycormac.bsky.social & @jrovner.bsky.social on Sabotage in World Politics: how does it work, what is it good for, and how is it different from subversion?
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European Journal of International Security @ejisbisa.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
🔥 "Sand in the gears: Sabotage in world politics" from @jrovner.bsky.social, @rorycormac.bsky.social, & @lmaschmeyer.bsky.social is a must-read. 👉 Read this timely article here: cambridge.org/core/journal... cambridge.org/core/journal...
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Joshua Rovner @jrovner.bsky.social · 20/10/2025
What is sabotage? How does it work as a tool of statecraft? And what are its limits? Check out my new article with @rorycormac.bsky.social and @lmaschmeyer.bsky.social. Open access
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Rory Cormac @rorycormac.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
When the MI5 chief warns that AI and hostile states are reshaping espionage in real time, it’s not a thriller plot - it’s just Thursday. (Ps interesting reference to “threat” in the context of China given the spy trial fiasco) www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
MI5 operating in new era of terror and state threats, says chief
In an annual speech, Sir Ken McCallum says the security service is operating in
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Rory Cormac @rorycormac.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
The UK’s China spy trial collapsed because, legally, China wasn’t an “enemy” at the time. Apparently, you can’t spy for a country unless the government has officially decided it dislikes them enough 🤷‍♂️ www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Government will publish evidence in collapsed China case, PM says
The Tories and Lib Dems had called for witness statements provided to prosecutors to be released.
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Rory Cormac @rorycormac.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
University inefficiency 101: - Arrive on campus at 11 after an off-campus meeting  - No parking anywhere  - Security won’t lift the stupid cross-campus barrier - Exit & drive around in heavy traffic to other entrance: also full - Drive home - Cycle back in - Miss 2 meetings 👏 Perfect 👏 system 👏
media.tenor.com
a man in a suit and tie is standing in front of a window with his hands on his head .
ALT: a man in a suit and tie is standing in front of a window with his hands on his head .
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Rory Cormac @rorycormac.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
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:
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Rory Cormac @rorycormac.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
I’ve got 6 excitable 8 year olds running around my house. I’ve just made a tactical switch from man marking to zonal marking. Wish me luck!
media.tenor.com
a man in a jeep jersey is standing next to two other men
ALT: a man in a jeep jersey is standing next to two other men
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nottspolitics.bsky.social @nottspolitics.bsky.social · 10/10/2025
Dr Dan Lomas @sandbaggerone.bsky.social recently contributed to this @thetimes.com piece on the priorities of the new MI6 chief Blaise Metreweli Read it here 🔗 tinyurl.com/4puhmcud Find out more about Dan and his research on intelligence services 🔗 nottingham.ac.uk/politics/people/daniel.lomas
tinyurl.com
MI6’s new chief aims to restore British influence in Middle East
Blaise Metreweli, 48, is the youngest ever boss of the Secret Intelligence Service
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nottspolitics.bsky.social @nottspolitics.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
📚 Congratulations to @rorycormac.bsky.social on the publication of his new co-edited book 'Covert Action: National Approaches to Unacknowledged Intervention' 📖 Read more here🔗 tinyurl.com/3cdbynaa ℹ️ Find out more about Rory and his research 🔗 nottingham.ac.uk/politics/people/rory.cormac
Book cover for 'Covert Action'
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Rory Cormac @rorycormac.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
My copy editor has (correctly) put loads of em dashes into the book but now it looks like it’s been written by chat gpt!! Grammatical errors are now a weird sign of authenticity. We are artisanal writers
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Rory Cormac @rorycormac.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
Me writing: I’ll fact check that at the revisions stage At revisions: I’ll check it at copy edit At copy edit: I’ll check it at proofs At proofs: if it’s still here by now I must’ve fact checked it already 🤷‍♂️ 🤷‍♂️ 🤷‍♂️
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Rory Cormac @rorycormac.bsky.social · 05/10/2025
@lucatrenta.bsky.social I got a message saying you DM’d me but I don’t have direct messenger on here anymore since they did that age verification thing so can’t read it. Sorry
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Rory Cormac @rorycormac.bsky.social · 04/10/2025
“The geographies of the information research department” Enjoyed this “critical geographical analysis” of British covert operations And there’s me thinking that geography was just oxbow lakes and erosion! rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1...
rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Area | RGS Geography Journal | Wiley Online Library
This paper develops a historical and political geographical analysis of the UK Foreign Office's Information Research Department (IRD). To date, there has been no geographical study of IRD and through...
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Rory Cormac @rorycormac.bsky.social · 03/10/2025
Oh turns out it’s on preorder. Loving the blurbs from early readers: “Often laugh out loud”; “Monty Python meets le Carré”; Fun, fascinating and absurd; “Spy thrillers have nothing on Fakers” Can’t wait to share it! www.amazon.co.uk/Fakers-Top-S...
amazon.co.uk
Fakers: A Top-Secret Tale of Phantoms and Forgeries on the Disinformation Front Line: Amazon.co.uk: Cormac, Rory: 9780198917007: Books
Buy Fakers: A Top-Secret Tale of Phantoms and Forgeries on the Disinformation Front Line by Cormac, Rory (ISBN: 9780198917007) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligib...
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Rory Cormac @rorycormac.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
Enjoyed this study on anglocentrism in covert action scholarship. It says I’m wrong merely to point to an evidence bias. Shame it didn’t come out before we did the below 👇 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
tandfonline.com
Overcoming Anglocentrism in covert action scholarship
This study argues that Anglocentrism in the study of covert action is driven by factors unique to the discipline, requiring novel mitigations which differ from those already recommended for wider i...
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Daniela Richterova @drichterova.bsky.social · 30/09/2025
1/3 📕 #CovertAction: National Approaches to Unacknowledged Intervention is now out! I am delighted to have co-authored the chapter “Czechoslovakia: Covert Measures in Peace and War.”
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Jon Lindsay @jonrlindsay.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
Good news! You can now download the open access (free) ebook of Age of Decption from @CornellPress ! (You can also buy a paperback, which makes a fine decoration for your bookshelf) www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...
cornellpress.cornell.edu
Age of Deception by Jon R. Lindsay | eBook | Cornell University Press
At the heart of cybersecurity lies a paradox: Cooperation makes conflict possible. In Age of Deception, Jon R. Lindsay shows that widespread trust in cyberspace enables espionage and subversion. While...
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James Crossland @jamescrossland.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
Strong recommend. 👊
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Rory Cormac @rorycormac.bsky.social · 19/09/2025
@terrystiastny.bsky.social what’s the best way of contacting you please? I no longer have DM on here
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Rory Cormac @rorycormac.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
🫣🤫🫣
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Rory Cormac @rorycormac.bsky.social · 13/09/2025
🤷‍♂️ my dad grew up in a Nottingham housing scheme “but” developed a passion for Latin AND football … growing up poor ≠ uncultured
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Mindy Haas @mindyhaas.bsky.social · 13/09/2025
Excited to see Covert Action: National Approaches to Unacknowledged Intervention, in the wild at #APSA2025. My contribution: Israel's Mossad and Covert Action: Immigration, Counter-Proliferation, and Assassination. Edited by @rorycormac.bsky.social @magslong.bsky.social @markstout.bsky.social
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Rory Cormac @rorycormac.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
Anything missing?
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Rory Cormac @rorycormac.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
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!!
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Rory Cormac @rorycormac.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
And with that the Cormac and Cormac bookshelf is full!
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Rory Cormac @rorycormac.bsky.social · 11/09/2025
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”
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The Society for Intelligence History @socintelhist.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
It's out! Truly a wonderful book, full of useful new insights. A groundbreaking contribution to the field of Intelligence Studies by so many of our favorite scholars. www.amazon.com/Covert-Actio...
amazon.com
Covert Action: National Approaches to Unacknowledged Intervention
Covert Action: National Approaches to Unacknowledged Intervention - Kindle edition by Long, Magda, Cormac, Rory, Lester, Genevieve, Stout, Mark, Van Puyvelde, Damien, Cormac, Rory, Van Puyvelde, Damien, Rogg, Jeffrey P., Long, Magda, Stout, Mark, Munier, Marco, Stoltz, William A., Wegener, Jens, Wagner, Steven, Haas, Melinda, McGarr, Paul M., Nader, Philippe B., Goncalves, Joanisval B., Ozcan, Nihat A., Bezci, Egemen, O'Brien, Kevin A., Aina, Folahanmi, Mathers, Jennifer, Avramov, Kiril, Richterova, Daniela, Rendek, Peter, Schovanek, Radek, Blancke, Stephan, Castro, Sara B.. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading Covert Action: National Approaches to Unacknowledged Intervention.
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Diana Bolsinger @dianabolsinger.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
Every word I said back then is true. I'm so glad that this came out in time for my spring class in "Comparative Intelligence Services." Congratulations @markstout.bsky.social @magslong.bsky.social @rorycormac.bsky.social Genevieve Lester, @markstout.bsky.social, @dvanp.bsky.social, & all involved.
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