Disrupt and deny: spies, special forces, and the secret pursuit of British foreign policy

Abstract

The history of covert action is—as Rory Cormac notes in this book—difficult to research and write. Governments of all political hues conceal their involvement in clandestine operations, official papers are heavily weeded before they are released to public scrutiny and the fragmentary evidence on covert operations encourages conspiracy theorizing (p. 242). In Disrupt and deny, Cormac has produced an enthralling, well-written and authoritative history of Britain's role in covert operations from the Second World War to the present day, relating it to the UK's conduct of foreign policy during this era. Cormac's core argument is that covert action has been utilized by Britain to maintain its position on the international stage in spite of the end of empire, economic retrenchment and military overstretch. Successful covert operations (such as those conducted against Sukarno's Indonesia during the Borneo ‘confrontation’ of 1963–6) and failed ones (most notably the botched efforts to overthrow Gamal Abdel Nasser in Egypt prior to the 1956 Suez Crisis) have been instigated by successive governments to preserve what is left of the UK's status as a world power (pp. 57–8, 242–3). In this respect, intelligence and special operations conducted by the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), the Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) and the Special Boat Service (SBS) are as much a means of maintaining British power as the UK's permanent seat in the UN Security Council and its nuclear deterrent. At times, covert action has been conducted in conjunction with allies, most notably of course the United States. On other occasions, they have been carried out unilaterally. While much of the popular and media attention focuses on paramilitary operations, the deniable use of propaganda and other means of influencing opinion (notably the bribery of foreign politicians) have also been frequently employed as part of a process of secret diplomacy.