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Rory Cormac

Professor of International Relations, Faculty of Social Sciences

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Biography

Rory Cormac is a Professor of International Relations specialising in the study of Covert Action and Secret Statecraft.

His most recent book is . The CIA's in-house journal described it as "a valuable and thought-provoking work, the most thorough treatment of the topic to date." International Affairs called it "an important public service".

Alongside Richard J. Aldrich, he has researched and fronted three documentaries for Channel 4: Spying on the Royals (2017), D-Day: The King who Fooled Hitler (2019) and The Queen and the Coup (2020).

He has appeared at the Hay, Cheltenham and Edinburgh Literary Festivals, and regularly features in national and international media outlets. Most recently he has been a semi-regular columnist on secret statecraft for the Spectator.

Rory has provided oral evidence to parliamentary inquiries on foreign interference in both the UK and Australia. He has spoken at the UK Cabinet Office Foreign Office, Home Office, Number 10 and Ministry of Defence, as well as at the US State Department and Pentagon, NATO and the Italian Foreign Ministry.

Rory is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and has held Leverhulme and AHRC fellowships. Before joining Nottingham, Rory worked at the University of Warwick and King's College London.

Expertise Summary

  • Covert Action
  • Disinformation
  • Coups, Sabotage, Assassination, Electoral Interference
  • Secret Intelligence

Teaching Summary

Rory currently teaches:

  • Secret Intelligence and International Security (BA3)
  • Covert Action and Unacknowledged Interventionism (MA)

He is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Research Summary

Rory is currently researching:

  • Covert Action and Unacknowledged Interventions
  • Subversion
  • Sabotage
  • Propaganda, Disinformation and Influence Operations

Recent Publications

  • RORY CORMAC, 2026. FAKERS: A Top-Secret Tale of Phantoms and Forgeries on the Disinformation Front Line Oxford University Press. (In Press.)
  • MAGDA LONG, RORY CORMAC, GENEVIEVE LESTER, MARK STOUT and DAMIEN VAN PUYVELDE, eds., 2025. Covert Action: Different National Approaches to Practicing Unacknowledged Intervention Georgetown University Press.
  • RORY CORMAC, LENNART MASCHMEYER and JOSHUA ROVNER, 2025. Sand in the Gears: Sabotage in World Politics European Journal of International Security. (In Press.)
  • STEPHEN LONG and RORY CORMAC, 2024. The International History Review. 1-19

PhD Supervision

I am interested in supervising students who want to work in the following areas:

  • Intelligence
  • Covert operations (propaganda, political influence, sabotage, subversion etc)

Past Research

  • Secret Intelligence and the Royal Family
  • Secret Intelligence and Prime Ministers
  • RORY CORMAC, 2026. FAKERS: A Top-Secret Tale of Phantoms and Forgeries on the Disinformation Front Line Oxford University Press. (In Press.)
  • MAGDA LONG, RORY CORMAC, GENEVIEVE LESTER, MARK STOUT and DAMIEN VAN PUYVELDE, eds., 2025. Covert Action: Different National Approaches to Practicing Unacknowledged Intervention Georgetown University Press.
  • RORY CORMAC, LENNART MASCHMEYER and JOSHUA ROVNER, 2025. Sand in the Gears: Sabotage in World Politics European Journal of International Security. (In Press.)
  • STEPHEN LONG and RORY CORMAC, 2024. The International History Review. 1-19
  • RORY CORMAC and RICHARD J. ALDRICH, 2023. On The Implausibility of Covert Action Denial. In: Intelligence: The Secret World of Spies 6. Oxford University Press.
  • RORY CORMAC and DAN LOMAS, 2023. Intelligence and National Security.
  • RORY CORMAC, 2022. Journal of Strategic Studies. 45(6-7), 893-917
  • RORY CORMAC, 2022. How to Stage a Coup: and 10 other Lessons from the World of Secret Statecraft Statecraft Atlantic.
  • RORY CORMAC, 2022. Cold War Studies. 24(3), 4-42
  • RORY CORMAC, CALDER WALTON and DAMIEN VAN PUYVELDE, 2021. Review of International Studies. 48(1), 111-128
  • RICHARD J ALDRICH and RORY CORMAC, 2021. Atlantic.
  • RICHARD J ALDRICH and RORY CORMAC, 2020. Journal of Intelligence History.
  • THOMAS EASON, OLIVER DADDOW and RORY CORMAC, 2020. British Journal of Politics and International Relations. 22(3), 542-560
  • 2019. D-Day: The King Who Fooled Hitler Paul Elston. Channel 4. 05/05/2019 00:00:00
  • RORY CORMAC, 2019. Intelligence and National Security.
  • RORY CORMAC and OLIVER DADDOW, 2018. Journal of European Public Policy. 28(5), 690-707
  • RORY CORMAC, 2018. "C" and Covert Action: The Impact and Agency of Stewart Menzies in Britain鈥檚 Secret Foreign Policy. In: CHRISTOPHER MORAN, MARK STOUT, IOANNA IORDANOU and PAUL MADDRELL, eds., Spy Chiefs: Volume 1: Intelligence Leaders in the United States and United Kingdom Georgetown University Press.
  • RORY CORMAC, 2018. Disrupt and Deny: Spies, Special Forces, and the Secret Pursuit of British Foreign Policy Oxford University Press.
  • RORY CORMAC and RICHARD J ALDRICH, 2018. International Affairs. 94(3), 477-494
  • 2017. Spying on the Royals Paul Elston. Channel 4. 04/23/2017 00:00:00
  • 2017. Document: MI6's Secret Slush Fund Phil Tinline. BBC Radio 4. 11/20/2017 00:00:00
  • RORY CORMAC, MICHAEL S GOODMAN and TOM HOLMAN, 2016. The RUSI Journal. 161(2), 14-21
  • RICHARD J ALDRICH and RORY CORMAC, 2016. William Collins.
  • RORY CORMAC, 2016. International Relations. 1-23
  • RORY CORMAC, 2016. English Historical Review. 131(552), 1074-1104
  • RORY CORMAC, 2014. Intelligence and National Security. 29(1), 99-121
  • RORY CORMAC, 2014. Journal of Cold War Studies. 16(3), 5-28
  • RORY CORMAC, 2014. Confronting the Colonies: British Intelligence and Counterinsurgency Oxford University Press (USA) / Hurst.
  • RICHARD J ALDRICH, RORY CORMAC and MICHAEL S GOODMAN, 2014. Spying on the World: The Joint Intelligence Committee and Events which Shaped History Edinburgh University Press.
  • RORY CORMAC, 2013. Terrorism and Political Violence. 25(3), 476-493
  • HUW BENNETT and RORY CORMAC, 2013. Low Intensity Operations in Theory and Practice: General Sir Frank Kitson as Warrior-Scholar. In: ANDREW MUMFORD and BRUNO REIS, eds., The Theory and Practice of Irregular Warfare: Warrior-scholarship in counter-insurgency Routledge.
  • RORY CORMAC, 2012. Journal of Strategic Studies. 36(5), 692-717
  • RORY CORMAC, 2011. Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History. 39(2), 249-267
  • RORY CORMAC, 2010. Intelligence and National Security. 25(6), 800-822
  • RORY CORMAC, UK 鈥淏lack鈥� Productions: Forgeries, Fake Groups, and Propaganda, 1951-1975. Journal of Cold War Studies. (In Press.)

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