Institute for Statecraft

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"Charity"
Group.png Institute for Statecraft   Powerbase WebsiteRdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png 5
Institute for Statecraft HQ 2.jpg
The registered HQ of the group, a semi-derilict abandoned mill in Fife, Scotland.
UK Column
Institute for Statecraft logo.png
Formation24 September 2009
FounderChris Donnelly.jpg Christopher Nigel Donnelly
HeadquartersGateside Mills, Fife, Scotland, London
Subgroups Integrity Initiative
Interest ofKit Klarenberg, Rogue Media Labs, Chris Williamson, Working Group on Syria Propaganda and Media
Founder ofIntegrity Initiative
Sponsored byAnswering Russia's Strategic Narratives, WhistleblowersUK
SubpageInstitute for Statecraft/Activities
Institute for Statecraft/Control
Institute for Statecraft/Cover up
Institute for Statecraft/Director
Institute for Statecraft/Exposure
Institute for Statecraft/Projection
Institute for Statecraft/Purposes
Institute for Statecraft/Secrecy
Institute for Statecraft/Tor team
Membership• Kevin Abraham.jpg Kevin Abraham
• Eduard Abrahamyan.jpg Eduard Abrahamyan
•  Jack Agazarian
• Kamal Alam.jpg Kamal Alam
• Diane Allen2.jpg Diane Allen
• No image available (photo).jpg Jamal Al-Tahat
• David Allfrey tattoo.jpg David Allfrey
• No image available (photo).jpg Jamal Al Tahat
• Josh Arnold-Foster.jpg Josh Arnold-Foster
• Barrie Axford.jpg Barrie Axford
• Anne Bader.jpg Anne Bader
• Quique Badia-Masoni.jpg Qique Badia-Masoni
• No image available (photo).jpg Elaine Birch Ruffell
• William Bortrick.jpg William Bortrick
• Simon Bracey-Lane.jpg Simon Bracey-Lane
• Robin Brims.jpg Robin Brims
•  Ken Brower
• Robin Brims.jpg Robin Brims
•  Ken Brower
• Audrius Butkevicius.jpg Audrius Butkevičius
• Samantha de Bendern.jpg Samantha de Bendern
•  Jonathan Chetwynd
• David Clark.jpg David Clark
• No image available (photo).jpg Sean Cronin
• Constance Cunningham.jpg Constance Cunningham
• Oleksandr Danylyuk.jpg Oleksandr Danylyuk
• Maria D.jpg Maria de Goeij
•  Nicolas de Pedro
• Yusuf Desai.jpg Yusuf Desai
• Kingsley Donaldson.jpg Kingsley Donaldson
• Robert Dover.jpg Rob Dover
• Martin Dubbey.jpg Martin Dubbey
• 40px Martin Edmonds
• Stewart Eldon.jpg Stewart Eldon
• Harold Elletson.jpg Harold Elletson
• No image available (photo).jpg Dair Farrar-Hockley
• Perry Fawcett.jpg Perry Fawcett
•  Maria Luisa Fichera
• Alexander Finnen.jpg Alex Finnen
• Anthony Fitzherbert.jpg Anthony Fitzherbert
• Mark galeotti.jpeg Mark Galeotti
•  Babak Ganji
• Francis Ghilès.jpg Francis Ghiles
•  David Gilbertson
• Keir Giles.jpg Keir Giles
• Roger Golland.png Roger Golland
•  David Gordon-Macleod
• Euan Grant.jpg Euan Grant
• Glen Grant.png Glen Grant
•  Jim Greene
•  Rafael Gude
•  Tom Hardie Forsyth
• Amalyah Hart.png Amalyah Hart
•  Charles Hart
•  Charlie Hatton
• No image available (photo).jpg Jon Hazel
• Chris Hernon.jpg Chris Hernon
• Henry Hogger.jpg Henry Hogger
• Henry Hornyold-Strickland.jpg Henry Hornyold-Strickland
•  Howard Inman
• Graham Jeal.png Graham Jeal
•  Steve Johnson
• Phil Jolley.jpg Phil Jolley
• Stephen Jolly.jpg Stephen Jolly
• Ren Kapur.png Ren Kapur
• Dan Kaszeta.jpg Dan Kaszeta
•  Shima Keene
• Dmytro Kolomoiets.jpg Dmytro Kolomoiets
• Karel Kullamaa.jpg Karel Kullamaa
• Hector Lafayeedney.jpg Hector Lafayeedney
• Fatima Lahnait.jpg Fatima Lahnait
• Julian Lindley-French.png Julian Lindley-French
• Tom Lloyd.jpg Tom Lloyd
• Birgy Lorenz.jpg Birgy Lorenz
• John Lough.png John Lough
• Jeff McCausland.jpg Jeff McCausland
• Rob McCusker.jpg Rob McCusker
• Victor Madeira.png Victor Madeira
• Jahan Mahmood.jpg Jahan Mahmood
•  Peter Mason
•  Phil Matthews
• Mungo Melvin.jpg Mungo Melvin
• Johanna Moehring.jpg Johanna Moehring
• Chris Nel.jpg Chris Nel
• Malik Niazi.jpg Malik Niazi
• Ben Nimmo.jpg Ben Nimmo
•  Mike Packer
•  Chris Prebensen
• Mark Pyman.jpg Mark Pyman
• Hanif Qadir.jpg Hanif Qadir
• Tim Reilly.jpg Tim Reilly
• Alan Riley.jpg Alan Riley
•  Ben Robinson
•  Murray Robinson
• Greg Rowett.jpg Greg Rowett
•  Malcolm Russell
• Enrique Sacau.jpg Enrique Sacau
• Keith Sargent.jpg Keith Sargent
•  Jon Searle
•  Andy Settle
•  Sebastian Seymour
• No image available (photo).jpg Raheem Shapi
•  Jonathan Shaw
• James Sherr.jpg James Sherr
•  Louise Sherwood
•  Andrew Shortland
•  Lesley Simm
• Picture-150.png Luis Simon
• Guy Spindler.jpg Guy Spindler
•  Lucy Stafford
• Ignas Stankovičius.jpg Ignas Stankovicius
• Henry Hornyold-Strickland.jpg Henry Strickland
• Celia Szusterman.jpg Celia Szusterman
•  Yusuf Tai
• Tomas Tauginas.jpg Tomas Tauginas
• No image available (photo).jpg Richard Titley
• Martin Tomaszewski.jpg Martin Tomaszewski
• 6243658668 097073038a c.jpg Alan Waldron
• Dan Ward.jpg Dan Ward
•  Angela White
•  James Wilson
•  Mark Winlow
• Jason wiseman.jpg Jason Wiseman
• Andy Wood.jpg Andrew Wood
The UK MoD/FCO funded group that ran the ironically named Integrity Initiative, exposed in 2018 by 'Anonymous'.

The Institute for Statecraft is a UK deep state disinformation outfit that was disguised as a charity based in a disused mill in Fife, Scotland. It was exposed by the 2018 Integrity Initiative leak, as a multi-million pounds UK/FCO disinformation operation run out of an HQ in London just down the road from the UK Ministry of defence.[1] It has been involved in disinformation operations and promoting Russophobia. David Miller stated that it "appears to be a military-directed push."[2] After the leak, the group "temporarily" removed all content from its website, which was still removed as of 14 May 2019.

Official Narrative

The group's about page stated in January 2019 that "The Institute for Statecraft is an independent body dedicated to refreshing the practice of statecraft, to improving governance and to enhancing national security."[3] Its registration at the Scottish Charity Register stated that its objects were: "(1) To advance education in the fields of governance and statecraft, and in particular focussing on the leadership, direction, management and administration of public and private institutions, major organisations and other bodies (whether incorporated or otherwise), and the skills needed by those in authority within such institutions, organisations or bodies to enable them to deal effectively with current and future challenges particularly in respect of security (2) To advance human rights, conflict resolution and/or reconciliation and religious/racial/ethnic harmony, to promote equality and diversity, citizenship and community development, and to advance national and international security; and in particular through assisting governments (including emerging democracies and countries in transition) and other institutions, organisations or bodies (whether in the UK or abroad) to respond to the challenges posed by new developments in the world (whether social, political, economic or technological) and to develop and embed structures and institutions that reflect principles of best practice in governance and statecraft."[4]

Headquarters

The registered HQ, a mill in Scotland
The operational HQ, "possibly the most expensive basement in London."[5]

Craig Murray notes that it didn't take much detective work to locate the operational HQ. This seems to be the basement of the rather more stately 2 Temple Place, the former London mansion of William Waldorf Astor. Murray reports that "the rent is paid by the Ministry of Defence".[5]

Staff

Chris Donnelly deep state operative.jpg

The founder of the II, Chris Donnelly, a former adviser to figures including Margaret Thatcher and four secretaries general of NATO, appears to be a UK deep state operative.[6] Many IfS members have connections to muliple deep state milieux[7] or have held senior positions in the UK government,[8], UK Army[9], NATO[10] and the Atlantic Council[11]. At least one has been convicted of fraud.[12]

Activities

The group manages the Integrity Initiative, which Dan Kaszeta described as “Not just a “think tank” offering yet another discussion forum but also a “do tank”.” [13]

Members of the IfS have set up private businesses together, including Samantha de Bendern and Alan Riley who co-directed Temple Strategic Advisory Ltd.

Exposure

The Institute for Statecraft attracted a lot of interest in late 2018 after documents from the Integrity Initiative‎‎ were leaked online by 'Anonymous'.[14] The first set of documents was published on 5 November 2018.[15] It was subsequently the subjects of questions in the UK parliament and widely reported by independent media.

Cover up

On 22 January 2019, the Integrity Initiative "temporarily" deleted the entire contents of their website.[16] The Institute for Statecraft followed suit shortly afterwards. By 5 February 2019, the site content had been replaced by a coverpage which stated that "The website will be relaunched shortly. In the meantime, we expect to be able to publish an analysis of the hack and its significance in the near future." It also opened up the way to plausible deniability by claiming that some (unspecified) parts of the leaked data had been falsified.[17]

Media reporting

In March 2019 Sky News carried a brief article headlined What is the Institute for Statecraft thought to have been hacked by Russia? reported that "[t]he organisation, which describes itself as a think-tank and a do-tank, employs a small staff of about a dozen people. It also has about 90 Fellows, including a handful of individuals who have a background in British intelligence or the military so are experts in security and defence." It made no mention of the Integrity Initiative's member Simon Bracey-Lane working for the Bernie Sanders campaign or the smears against Jeremy Corbyn. It MENTIONED THAT THE ii "established a network in countries across Europe" but did not mention how it used that network to mount of a secretly coordinated social media campaign to prevent the appointment of Pedro Baños as Director of the Spanish Department of Homeland Security.[18]

 

Related Quotations

PageQuoteAuthorDate
Integrity Initiative“We've temporarily removed all content from our website, pending an investigation into the theft of data from the Institute for Statecraft and the Integrity Initiative. The website will be relaunched shortly. https://bit.ly/2sES9wM”22 January 2019
Greg Rowett“spoke well and hit all the IfS points: peacetime mentality during war/Russian vocab all based on warfare/rate of change in society dramatic/need for universal glossary. Algorithms key – we need to start gaming these algorithms and put pressure onto the companies hosting these disinformation campaigns. Deliver message that we're willing and able to push back.”Simon Bracey-Lane
Greg Rowett
December 2017
University of Leicester““Following discussions in Leicester and London, the School of History, Politics and International Relations has concluded a Memorandum of Understanding with the Institute for Statecraft, an independent body dedicated to refreshing the practice of statecraft, improving governance and enhancing national security. Head of School, Dr George Lewis, said “This development is yet another example of the skill and standing of colleagues involved in our Distance Learning programmes, and is further recognition of the School's strengths in teaching, research and research-led teaching in the field of international politics and security.” In warmly welcoming the collaboration, Chris Donnelly and Dan Lafayeedney, the founding (sic)<a href="#cite_note-4">[4]</a> co-Directors of the Institute for Statecraft, stated that “it recognises the significant standing in which the Institute is held internationally by policy makers and decision takers of governments, development and security agencies, and private sector clients, and it reflects the unique blend of practice and authoritative research that the Institute’s Fellows and Associates are able to contribute”. Building upon the University’s links with UNITAR and both party’s links with NATO, this Memorandum of Understanding demonstrates the potential for the University of Leicester and the Institute for Statecraft to collaborate, share experience and develop opportunities that will have a direct impact on national and international policy-making.”UnknownDecember 2018
Zinc Network“Bringing together organisations including Zinc Network, the Institute for Statecraft, Aktis Strategy, Bellingcat, DFR Lab, the Media Diversity Institute, Toro Risk Solutions and Ecorys, our Consortium combines recognised market leaders in understanding, monitoring, and countering Kremlin-backed disinformation... This ecosystem of credible voices will continue to grow, exposing the actors and networks behind Kremlin-backed disinformation, reducing unwitting multipliers of disinformation, and building resilience amongst key target audiences across Europe.

We will mobilise a Network Hub based in London, led by an experienced Project Director, consisting of an agile team with core competencies augmented by a wider pool of vetted experts. Our approach is highly localised, based around regional clusters of actors who can collaborate to effectively undermine the disinformation

ecosystem in their respective areas and engage audiences most vulnerable to disinformation... It is a highly complex project involving coordination of many independent actors, and thus risk must be carefully managed and risk profiles constantly adapted, serving as the basis for all activity. The approach we propose is based on the identification, monitoring and management of risks as they materialise, allowing members to continue taking smart risks as they increase the scale and impact of their activities.”

 

Group

GroupStartDescription
Integrity Initiative2015"Military-directed" "extremely shady covert disinformation and anti-democratic deep state outfit" that promotes Russophobic propaganda. Exposed by a set of 7 caches of documents, posted online. Later deleted its website.

 

Employees on Wikispooks

EmployeeJobAppointedEndDescription
Eduard AbrahamyanSenior Associate FellowApril 2019
James AustinResearch FellowMarch 2017November 2017
James AustinProject Support officerJuly 2018July 2019
Francis GhilèsAs of February 2020
Maria de GoeijAcademicApril 2018Deleted this piece of history from her LinkedIn. Now called "thinktank" and having no resignation date.
Tom LloydHead of Security20072010
John LoughSenior Research Fellow2008
Johanna MöhringAcademicNovember 2013Also programme director
Ben Nimmo2015
Chris ScheurweghsSenior fellowJanuary 2016

 

Known members

109 of the 137 of the members already have pages here:

MemberDescription
Kevin AbrahamInstitute for Statecraft businessman
Eduard AbrahamyanInstitute for Statecraft, whose PhD supervisor was also a Institute for Statecraft member.
Jack AgazarianInstitute for Statecraft businessman whose name was gone by 10 January 2019.
Jamal Al-TahatSenior fellow of the Institute for Statecraft who was paid £1000 for setting up Integrity Jordan.
Kamal AlamFellow of the Institute for Statecraft,
Diane AllenOne of the first women in the Sandhurst, an Institute for Statecraft senior spook with DV (developed vetting)
David AllfreyFormer head of the UK Army's head of recruitment strategy, Institute for Statecraft
Josh Arnold-FosterMember of the Institute for Statecraft. Posts include "special adviser" to the UK defence secretary.
Barrie AxfordUK Academic specialist "linking universities into the [Institute for Statecraft] network"
Anne BaderSenior Associate Fellow of the Institute for Statecraft
Quique Badia-MasoniSpanish journalist member of the Integrity Initiative and the Institute for Statecraft.
Samantha de BendernUK deep state-connected polyglot "international civil servant" with a masters degree in Wealth Management, fellow of the Institute for Statecraft, associate fellow of Chatham House
William BortrickInstitute for Statecraft senior fellow whose name was removed from their website before 10 January 2019. Drafted a letter which claimed that Charles Windsor was "100% behind" a cash for citizenship and CBE case.
Simon Bracey-LaneA "highly improbable left wing firebrand" who worked for the Institute for Statecraft and whom they denied was a spook.
Robin BrimsMajor General, fellow of the Institute for Statecraft
Audrius ButkevičiusLithuanian politician and fellow of the Institute for Statecraft
Nicholas ChanceOn the advisory Board of the Institute of Statecraft, an affiliation he continued to display in January 2020
David ClarkSenior fellow and project director at the Institute for Statecraft. UK MP.
Sean CroninA little known spook and member of the Institute for Statecraft
Constance CunninghamInstitute for Statecraft, Active Change Foundation
Oleksandr DanylyukUkrainian member of the Institute for Statecraft
Kingsley Donaldson"Senior Associate Fellow" of the Institute for Statecraft. His specialism was listed as "Security Sector Reform, Conflict Resolution".
Robert DoverUK academic with a special interest in UK/Western intelligence agencies. Institute for Statecraft, as is at least one of his graduate students. His name had been removed from the IfS website by 10 January 2019.
Martin DubbeyA member of the Institute for Statecraft with years of experience involving "corruption enquiries at the highest level".
Martin EdmondsSenior Associate Fellow of the Institute for Statecraft whose name was removed after the Integrity Initiative Leak
Stewart EldonUK DSO interested in "counter-corruption" and "National Security". Former UK/Permanent Representative to the North Atlantic Council, Institute for Statecraft
Harold ElletsonMI6, MP, Integrity Initiative, New Society Foundation
Dair Farrar-HockleyA retired Major General who joined the Institute for Statecraft.
Perry FawcettUK businessman, ex-policeman, and member of the Institute for Statecraft
Irene Martínez FernándezJoined the Institute for Statecraft as an associate researcher in July 2019
Maria Luisa FicheraFormer member of the Institute for Statecraft, worked at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology
Alexander FinnenSpooky UK deep state operative, Chris Donnelly's "right hand man"
Anthony FitzherbertInstitute for Statecraft member and former FAO Programme manager in Afghanistan who co-authored research on crop yields.
Mark GaleottiInstitute for Statecraft propagandist
Babak Ganji"Strategic analysis education, with the job description as "Russia-MENA influence and infowar strategy and tactics" at the Institute for Statecraft
Francis GhilèsTrilingual journalist who has been published since the 1990s on topics including "terrorism". He wrote in 2016 that "we are nowhere close to the end of the War on Terror". A member of the Institute for Statecraft.
David GilbertsonUK policeman who joined the Institute for Statecraft in his returement. Director of the Active Change Foundation from 2015-2017
Keir GilesRussophobic UK deep state operative, member of Integrity Initiative.
Maria de GoeijIntegrity Initiative/Institute for Statecraft polyglot
Roger GollandUK Diplomat and IfS member
David Gordon-MacleodUK deep state connected diplomat
Euan GrantSpooky journalist/propagandist who worked for the Integrity Initiative interested in financial fraud. "His main forte is thinking strategically and has experience working in many countries around the world."
Glen Grant37 year military career. Institute for Statecraft senior fellow. "His key work in the last twenty years has been delivering reform and change for defence and security organisations in Europe."
Rafael GudeLittle known member of the Institute for Statecraft.
Tom Hardie-ForsythA member of the Institute for Statecraft who worked through Chatham House as a senior advisor to the Kurdistan Regional Government
Amalyah HartA fellow of the Institute for Statecraft whose speciality was listed as "Hybrid Warfare, Indo-Pacific Region" when the group took down their website
Harry HartInstitute for Statecraft director who resigned after the Integrity Initiative leak. Serial company director, son of a spooky adviser to Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s.
Charlie Hatton"Brand Development Consultant", was Senior Programme Manager of the Integrity Initiative
Jon HazelLittle known SGMI, Institute for Statecraft operative
Chris HernonIntegrity Initiative
... further results

 

Events Planned

EventStartEndLocation(s)Description
Reframing Russia1 June 201731 May 2020University of ManchesterAn IfS/II discussed project about "The RT Challenge" which was publicly launched in 2019, not under the II/IfS name.
Russia’s Strategy on NATO'S Eastern and Southern Flanks27 January 2017 09:30:0027 January 2017 16:30:00Barcelona Centre for International AffairsA CIDOB/The Institute for Statecraft/NATO meeting
Strengthening Europe's 'soft' and 'hard' defence25 March 2019 13:00:0025 March 2019 17:00:00Netherlands
The Hague
Clingendael Institute
Chatham House rule meeting with organised by the Institute for Statecraft and the Clingendael Institute.

 

Sponsors

EventDescription
Answering Russia's Strategic NarrativesInvitation only one day event organised by The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies, sponsored by The Institute for Statecraft, about "Russian propaganda"
WhistleblowersUKUK group chaired since November 2015 by the former Institute for Statecraft head of security, Tom Lloyd.

 

Related Documents

TitleTypePublication dateAuthor(s)Description
Document:Britain didn’t vote Labour just to get a new iron chancellorArticle4 August 2024William KeeganThe economic damage wrought by Brexit continues. Our investment and growth prospects would benefit enormously if Starmer and Reeves abandoned this policy of “no return to the customs union, single market or freedom of movement”. I repeat what I have said before: the Labour manifesto commits it to removing unnecessary barriers to trade. But Brexit is the most formidable barrier of all!
Document:Speaking notes for meetings in Israelspeaking notesJune 2018Dan KaszetaInstitute for Statecraft wants to build a relationship with the Israeli government
Document:The Institute for Statecraft Expert Team v 3name list13 December 2018Chris Donnellybiographies of core team members with lots of obscure but interesting former and present employers


Rating

5star.png 20 April 2019 Robin  An overview of this organ of the UK Deep state
A good start for understanding this group which appears to be a UK Deep state effort to promote Russophobia and attempting to kick of a New Cold War.
Many thanks to our Patrons who cover ~2/3 of our hosting bill. Please join them if you can.



References

  1. https://www.ukcolumn.org/article/integrity-initiative-look-deep-state
  2. https://www.mintpressnews.com/the-integrity-initiative-and-the-uks-scandalous-information-war/253014/
  3. https://anoniem.org?https://www.statecraft.org.uk/about-us
  4. https://www.oscr.org.uk/search/charity-details?number=SC040870
  5. a b https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/12/british-security-service-infiltration-the-integrity-initiative-and-the-institute-for-statecraft/
  6. https://www.ukcolumn.org/article/integrity-initiative-look-deep-state
  7. Keir Giles is a member of Chatham House and the Brookings Institute
  8. David Clark was Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
  9. Major General Jonathan Shaw
  10. Ben Nimmo was NATO Press officer
  11. Stewart Eldon was the UK Permanent Representative to the North Atlantic Council and UK Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN
  12. Audrius Butkevičius
  13. Integrity Initiative/Leak/5 Dan%27s%20notes%20for%20Israel%20(003).pdf
  14. http://themillenniumreport.com/2018/12/britains-institute-for-statecraft-finally-exposed-top-secret-integrity-initiative-blown-wide-open/
  15. http://syriapropagandamedia.org/working-papers/briefing-note-on-the-integrity-initiative#third-tranche-released-13-december-2018
  16. https://www.rt.com/news/449451-integrity-initiative-deletes-content/
  17. http://web.archive.org/web/20190205061422/https://www.statecraft.org.uk/
  18. https://news.sky.com/story/what-is-the-institute-for-statecraft-thought-to-have-been-hacked-by-russia-11657071