Richard Dearlove

Richard Dearlove is Chair of Board of Trustees of University of London and a former head of the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6).

What Five Eyes does – and doesn’t – see

In the famous ‘Rainbow Portrait’ of Elizabeth I her gown is embroidered with eyes and ears, a reference to her efficient surveillance of the threats to the emerging nation state that was Tudor England. ‘Five Eyes’ is the modern equivalent of the concept but applied to the general security of the Anglosphere: the UK, the

How Cold War Czechoslovakia became a haven for terrorists

Cold War Prague hid its historic charms under a veil of grime and dilapidation. But, as we learn from this deeply researched and scholarly study, it was still a favoured destination for international terrorists, mostly Palestinians, after the 1968 Soviet invasion. They liked its hotels, its proximity to the West, its medical facilities, the tolerance

How our pro-Brexit group was hacked by Russia

Britain is not at war with Russia but in cyberspace Russian activity against Ukraine and its allies is unrestrained, as I have recently found. Indeed, it is flattering 18 years after my retirement as head of MI6 to be still considered a worthwhile target of a cyber-attack by the Kremlin. The story of how I