London has been at the centre of a web of global espionage for over 100 years. The work of British officers and agents in every corner of the globe helped build the British Empire, and later supported the soldiers, sailors and airmen who fought in the World Wars. Throughout the last century the secret services struggled against terrorists at home, and international competitors abroad. This mission continues today.
Most of those who risked life and limb in the spying game did so in secret, but on this course we will cast a light on their activities. Driven by a variety of lectures, seminars, and exercises, students on this course will be immersed in the secret world.
Based a short walk alongside the river Thames from the iconic headquarters of MI6, King’s College is a world leader in the study of intelligence in war and peace. Its scholars have pushed the boundaries of the subject, writing ground-breaking books on British, US, and Chinese spy agencies, on intelligence and terror, on cyber-spying and cyber-war, and on privacy in the digital age.
Together, on this course, we will observe how intelligence and spying has developed globally over the past century and beyond; we will examine how it is used and abused by politicians, from Churchill to Obama; we will question how it is used in combating the terrorist threat; and we will discuss the implication of developments in spying and intelligence for each of us in the future.
We will open locked-doors, and gaze inside the top-secret world. Doing so, and asking the difficult questions, has never been more important; be part of the debate at King’s College London Summer School 2015.
Dr Huw Dylan