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Huw  Dylan

Dr Huw Dylan

Reader in Intelligence Studies and International Security

  • Deputy Director of Education, Department of War Studies

Research interests

  • Conflict
  • History
  • Security

Biography

Huw Dylan is a Reader in Intelligence and International Security at the Department of War Studies, King’s College London. He is also an Associated Researcher at the Centre for Intelligence Studies in the Norwegian Intelligence School. His work is focused on intelligence in the Cold War and beyond, with a specific focus on deception operations, intelligence in diplomacy, and covert action. He has published widely on these fields in academic journals and in the press. His first monograph, Defence Intelligence and the Cold War, was published with Oxford University Press. His latest published book was The CIA and the Pursuit of Security, with Edinburgh University Press. He is currently working on an AHRC funded project on ‘Writers in Intelligence: The Secret State and the Public Sphere.’  

 

Research Interests

  • Intelligence Studies
  • Cold War History
  • Deception Operations
  • Covert Action
  • Secret Diplomacy
  • Intelligence Culture

Teaching

Huw Dylan leads and contributes to many academic and executive education courses focused on intelligence and security. These include the core of the MA Intelligence and International Security, Intelligence in Peace and War. His teaching at the MA level is concentrated on The Past and Present of British Intelligence, which traces the origins and operations of the UK’s intelligence machinery; Espionage; A Global History, which offers an international perspective on the development and evolution of intelligence; and Influence: Covert Action, Active Measures, and Deception, which examines the manner in which states seek to use secret power to pursue their goals.

 

He has supervised a number of PhD students to completion, and is happy to offer PhD supervision in the following broad areas:

 

  • Intelligence history
  • Contemporary intelligence and security issues
  • Warning, deception, and surprise
  • British Cold War history
  • US Cold War history

 

Publications

Books

  • Defence Intelligence and the Cold War (Oxford University Press, 2014)
  • The CIA and the Pursuit of Security (Edinburgh University Press, 2020)
  • The Palgrave Handbook of Security, Risk, and Intelligence (Palgrave, 2017) 

Research articles

  • ‘SIS, Grigori Tokaev, and the London Controlling Section : New perspectives on a Cold War defector and Cold War deception’ in War in History, Vol. 26, No. 4.
  • ‘Operation TIGRESS : deception for counterintelligence and Britain’s 1952 atomic test’ in Journal of Intelligence History, Vol. 14, No. 1.
  • ‘Super-weapons and Subversion: British Deterrence by Deception Operations in the Early Cold War’ in Journal of Strategic Studies, Vol. 38, No. 5.

For a full list of publications see his pure profile.

 

Research

SMHC newlogo 780x440
Sir Michael Howard Centre for the History of War

The centre promotes the scholarly history of war in all it's dimensions, trains research students and hosts research projects and conferences

KISGhero
King's Centre for the Study of Intelligence

King's Centre for the Study of Intelligence provides a platform for sharing research and ideas in the field of intelligence.

it-security-cyber
Cyber Security Research Group

CSRG promotes research into cyber security bringing together experts from diverse disciplines.

Events

24Mardoors-1767563_1920

Conversations with Strategy featuring Keith Beaven on terrorism and extremism

Keith Beaven is a former Foreign Office employee, specialising in counter-terrorism across the world

Please note: this event has passed.

03JunSSSResConNatIntSec

Warning, risk, and resilience

National & International Security panel event for the School of Security Studies Research Conference.

Please note: this event has passed.

Features

Why are governments sharing intelligence on the Ukraine war with the public and what are the risks?

HUW DYLAN & THOMAS MAGUIRE: the risks and rewards that come with a more open approach to communicating secrets

Top secret

How has public intelligence transformed the way this war has been reported?

HUW DYLAN: The use of public intelligence in the war has been unprecedented in its scale.

Network of Individuals

Research

SMHC newlogo 780x440
Sir Michael Howard Centre for the History of War

The centre promotes the scholarly history of war in all it's dimensions, trains research students and hosts research projects and conferences

KISGhero
King's Centre for the Study of Intelligence

King's Centre for the Study of Intelligence provides a platform for sharing research and ideas in the field of intelligence.

it-security-cyber
Cyber Security Research Group

CSRG promotes research into cyber security bringing together experts from diverse disciplines.

Events

24Mardoors-1767563_1920

Conversations with Strategy featuring Keith Beaven on terrorism and extremism

Keith Beaven is a former Foreign Office employee, specialising in counter-terrorism across the world

Please note: this event has passed.

03JunSSSResConNatIntSec

Warning, risk, and resilience

National & International Security panel event for the School of Security Studies Research Conference.

Please note: this event has passed.

Features

Why are governments sharing intelligence on the Ukraine war with the public and what are the risks?

HUW DYLAN & THOMAS MAGUIRE: the risks and rewards that come with a more open approach to communicating secrets

Top secret

How has public intelligence transformed the way this war has been reported?

HUW DYLAN: The use of public intelligence in the war has been unprecedented in its scale.

Network of Individuals