A modern-day requirement for co-ordinated covert action

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 recent past. The UK has long used covert action, and h...

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Main Authors: Cormac, Rory, Goodman, Michael S., Tom, Holman
Format: Article
Published: Taylor & Francis 2016
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32687/
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author Cormac, Rory
Goodman, Michael S.
Tom, Holman
author_facet Cormac, Rory
Goodman, Michael S.
Tom, Holman
author_sort Cormac, Rory
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description 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 recent past. The UK has long used covert action, and how best to manage and co-ordinate such sensitive activity was for many decades a key preoccupation of its policy-makers and politicians. Given the secrecy involved, these lessons, and the machinery created, have been lost to history. Yet with covert action seemingly now back on the agenda, previous experience and hard-learnt lessons have assumed renewed importance.
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spelling nottingham-326872020-05-04T17:44:45Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32687/ A modern-day requirement for co-ordinated covert action Cormac, Rory Goodman, Michael S. Tom, Holman 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 recent past. The UK has long used covert action, and how best to manage and co-ordinate such sensitive activity was for many decades a key preoccupation of its policy-makers and politicians. Given the secrecy involved, these lessons, and the machinery created, have been lost to history. Yet with covert action seemingly now back on the agenda, previous experience and hard-learnt lessons have assumed renewed importance. Taylor & Francis 2016-04-27 Article PeerReviewed Cormac, Rory, Goodman, Michael S. and Tom, Holman (2016) A modern-day requirement for co-ordinated covert action. RUSI Journal, 161 (2). pp. 14-21. ISSN 0307-1847 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03071847.2016.1174478 doi:10.1080/03071847.2016.1174478 doi:10.1080/03071847.2016.1174478
spellingShingle Cormac, Rory
Goodman, Michael S.
Tom, Holman
A modern-day requirement for co-ordinated covert action
title A modern-day requirement for co-ordinated covert action
title_full A modern-day requirement for co-ordinated covert action
title_fullStr A modern-day requirement for co-ordinated covert action
title_full_unstemmed A modern-day requirement for co-ordinated covert action
title_short A modern-day requirement for co-ordinated covert action
title_sort modern-day requirement for co-ordinated covert action
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32687/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32687/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32687/