Amil Khan

Amil Khan  (journalist, “terror expert”, propagandist?, deep state operative?)
Born	Great Britain
Nationality	British
Alma mater	Durham University
Founder of	Valent Projects
Member of	Aktis Strategy, Chatham House, EXPOSE Network, Foreign Policy Centre, Valent Projects
Interests	“Violent extremism”
Associate Fellow In office January 2018 - Present Employer Chatham House  Behavioural Communications Expert In office July 2017 - Present Employer Aktis Strategy  Expert Advisor In office July 2017 - Present Employer UK/Prime Minister's Office,  UK/Cabinet Office,  UK/MoD  Syria Armed Opposition Support Project Director In office July 2017 - Present Employer UK/MoD  Political communications consultant In office May 2014 - May 2015 Employer UK/Prime Minister's Office,  Amnesty International Also worked for "Private sector companies"  Advisor to the Syrian Opposition Coalition In office February 2013 - May 2014 Employer UK/FCO  Project Manager In office April 2011 - December 2012 Employer Pakistan Counter Violent Extremism  Strategic Communications Lead in Pakistan In office November 2010 - April 2011 Employer Oxfam "Drafted in to help Oxfam GB manage its response to the 2010 Pakistan floods. Led a team of media, advocacy and policy advisors engaging Pakistani decision makers to affect strategic change in policy"  Project Manager In office April 2011 - December 2012 Employer Pakistan Counter Violent Extremism  Subject Specialist (Counter Violent Extremism) In office September 2009 - November 2010 Employer Pakistan Counter Violent Extremism  Producer,  presenter In office November 2007 - August 2009 Employer Channel 4 Dispatches,  BBC Panorama

Amil Khan is a security cleared Chatham House fellow who was proposed to be one of the 3 directors of the EXPOSE Network (together with Chris Donnelly (Institute for Statecraft) and Louis Brooke (Zinc Network). He has been frequently employed by UK commercially-controlled media.

Career

Amil Khan has worked in media and explaining about "violent extremism", increasingly also the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and UK Ministry of Defence. "In early 2013, Amil was appointed as an advisor to the Syrian political opposition, supporting them during conflict and negotiations."

In 2017 he became a "Behavioural Communications Expert" for the now defunct Aktis Strategy.

He founded Valent Projects “to help good causes navigate the new information landscape.”

Exposure

His CV is described on the proposal to head the EXPOSE Network (exposed by Integrity Initiative Leak 7) as

“Political and communications advisor. Experienced at providing strategic advice to political movements and established leadership at senior levels. Chatham House fellow. Former award-winning documentary maker and Reuters Middle East correspondent. Regular contributor to UK and international news media.”
Amil Khan

Grayzone

In June 2022, the US blog, Grayzone, published what it claims are leaked emails showing British journalist and ex-left Paul Mason discussing plans to involve the state to silence anti-war, anti-NATO media outlets. The leaks show exchanges of emails between Mason and Amil Khan, the head of intelligence contractor Valent Projects, which discuss financially and legally targeting Grayzone. The exchange then appears to show Khan suggesting a “brain storm session” at his agency’s office, and inviting state agents to join them, but that his friends in the state suggested another course of action:

“[S]poke to a friend at National Security Council comms directorate... He says govt wouldn't want to send someone to a meeting as it could jeopardise outcomes later. But he says a plan of action could include a bunch of us who have been targeted putting evidence together for OFCOM and/or DCMS as part of a formal complaint, which would then kick off an investigation into GZ's funding and activities - at which point govt can get properly involved."

The Grayzone has previously revealed Khan’s extensive involvement in the Syrian dirty war, during which he provided public relations guidance to jihadist groups, trained anti-government activists in communication strategies, and secretly oversaw supposed citizen journalist collectives backed by foreign governments. His goal was to flood international media with pro-opposition propaganda, destabilise the government of Bashar al-Assad, and ready the ground for Western regime change.

This ethically dubious work was conducted for a variety of intelligence-adjacent British Foreign Office contractors, such as ARK, a firm founded by probable MI6 operative Alistair Harris, and InCoStrat, which has been plausibly accused of producing propaganda for the blood-stained UK and Saudi-backed insurgents. After leaving the Middle East, Khan reinvented himself as an expert in countering “disinformation”, and has since charged a number of blue chip clients a premium for his dubious services. As this outlet reported, the same techniques of manipulation and information warfare that Khan honed in Syria were turned against Western citizens when he oversaw a British quasi-state funded astroturf YouTube project designed to counter public skepticism of Covid-related restrictions.

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