Chris Donnelly

Chris Donnelly       (soldier, spook, deep politician)
Born	10 November 1946 Rochdale, UK
Nationality	UK
Alma mater	Manchester University
Spouse	Jill Norris
Founder of	Advanced Research and Assessment Group, Institute for Statecraft, Integrity Initiative
Member of	Active Change Foundation, Conflict Studies Research Centre, EXPOSE Network, Forward Thinking, Institute for Statecraft/Tor team, Integrity Initiative, UK/Council on Foreign Relations
Victim of	permanent war mentality
A UK Deep politician who set up the Institute for Statecraft (amongst other groups).  Director of the Institute for Statecraft In office 23 Nov 2006 - Present Co-founder  Private Adviser to Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania In office 2015 - 2017  Member of the External Scrutiny Team reporting on the current reform of the UK’s Reserve Forces for the Defence Secretary In office 2015 - 2017  Specialist Adviser to House of Commons Public Administration (and Constitutional Affairs) and Defence Select Committees In office 2010 - 2017  Active Change Foundation/Director In office 2 June 2008 - 6 October 2017  Specialist Adviser to the UK Defence Secretary In office 2005 - 2006 J. Reid  Defence Academy of the UK/Advanced Research and Assessment Group/Head In office 2003 - 2010  Specialist Adviser to the UK/Defence Secretary In office 1992 - 1997 First Malcolm Rifkind then Michael Portillo  Special Adviser to NATO Secretary General In office 1989 - 2003 Employer NATO "Special Advisor for Central and Eastern European Affairs"  Soviet Adviser In office 1983 - 1989 Member of PM Thatcher's Soviet advisory team  Soviet Studies Research Centre/Head In office 1979 - 1989 Employer Soviet Studies Research Centre  Senior Lecturer In office 1973 - 1979 Employer Soviet Studies Research Centre  Lecturer In office 1969 - 1973 Employer RMAS Succeeded by Abraham Rotstein

Christopher Nigel Donnelly is a UK deep politician who was a "special adviser" to four NATO secretaries general for 13 years, as well as to UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. He also co-founded the Institute for Statecraft (which he directs) and its offshoot Integrity Initiative. Until the Integrity Initiative Leak on 5 November 2018, he was little known outside of deep political circles. A NATO biography from 2003 stated that "His current major interest is in the reform of defence and security establishments in Central and Eastern European countries following the end of the Cold War".

From 1970 to 1993, Chris Donnelly served as a reserve officer in Britain's Territorial Army.

As of 2023, he still lacked an English Wikipedia page.

Mental health

In 2018, 'b' suggested for the Moon of Alabama that "Donnelly seems to be obsessed with the 'Russian threat' and is determined to fight it by all means." Donnelly wrote several of the documents in the Integrity Initiative Leak, which suggest he is suffering from a severe permanent war mentality and sees the world in one-dimensional "for us or against us" terms.

Activities

"Donnelly was at one time adviser to Margaret Thatcher. From 1989-2003, he was a Special Adviser for central and eastern Europe to the secretary general of NATO. In fact, he served four secretaries general, including Lord Robertson."

In 2003, Donnelly founded the Advanced Research and Assessment Group, which Wikipedia reported in 2020 "brought together experts from the military, academia and other fields in "research clusters" dedicated to specific areas of concern, in order to provide policy-makers with focussed analysis of international security issues."

In 2010, Donnelly took part in Security and Defence Learning/2010, with at least one fellow IfS member Jeffrey McCausland. The discussions were chaired by another member of the IfS, politician/spook Harold Elletson. Donnelly was a director of the Active Change Foundation for over 9 years.

Donnelly's claim that "Russia is happy to accept bribery, using organized crime as a tool" was reported by the BBC in Russian in 2014.

Opinions

Skripal Affair

Full article: Skripal Affair

Chris Donnelly told @BBCJLandale at #TMSRussia that the poisoning of Sergei Skripal was an "act of war".

Crimean Bridge

In October 2022, a secret British intelligence plot to intervene in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine was revealed in internal documents and correspondence obtained exclusively by The Grayzone. The April 2022 plan, drawn up at the request of Chris Donnelly, was an elaborate scheme to blow up the Crimean Bridge with the involvement of specially trained Ukrainian soldiers.

Almost six months after the plan was circulated, Kerch Bridge was attacked in an October 8th suicide bombing apparently overseen by Ukraine’s SBU intelligence services.

The truck bombing of the Kerch Bridge differed operationally from the plot sketched for Chris Donnelly. Yet, Britain’s evident interest in planning such an attack underscores the deep involvement of NATO powers in the Ukraine proxy war.

Exposure

Chris Donnelly recorded a video about his work for the IfS after the leak, claiming the site was hacked by people that were against Ifs their alleged goals.

Donnelly was exposed as a deep state operative in 2018 when internal documents of the Integrity Initiative were published online. These included a PDF of his passport and his CV. In his role as director of The Institute for Statecraft, he stated that:

“It is essential for a PM to recognise that, whatever they might claim, governmental institutions which have failed over the past decade to foresee, identify and deal with emerging crises and maintain national sovereignty, are today totally incapable of providing a solution to the crisis which is now upon the country.”
Chris Donnelly (10 May 2018) 

Publications

• Heirs of Clausewitz: Change and Continuity in the Soviet War Machine London Alliance Publishers, for the Institute for European Defence & Strategic Studies, 1985 Occasional paper (Institute for European Defence & Strategic Studies), No 16.
• Red Banner Soviet Military System in Peace and War 1988
• Gorbachev's Revolution: Economic Pressures and Defence Realities Coulsdon, Surrey, Jane’s Information Group 1989
• Nations, Alliances and Security: A Collection of Writings Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó 2004
• War in Peacetime and Ambiguous Warfare and the Resurgence of the Russian Military COMEC OCCASIONAL PAPER No 9, November 2017 online edition

 

Documents by Chris Donnelly

Title	Document type	Publication date	Subject(s)	Description
Document:An Open Letter On Defence	open letter		UK/Ministry of Defence UK/Army	An open letter the BBC published from a group of academics and military men written to the UK Prime Minister highlighting "global threats", warning that "security is threatened in almost every corner of the globe" and that decreased military expenditure would "damage our international credibility". Authors included at least three members of the Institute for Statecraft.
Document:Background to the Simulation Seminars	report	28 February 2018	Center for the Study of New Generation Warfare	Background to and observation of two war Simulation Seminars
Document:China’s Strategy towards Europe: Implications and Policy Recommendations for EU Security	analysis, policy recommendations	26 December 2018	China 21st century Hypercompetition
Document:Chris Donnelly CV Short	CV	13 December 2018	Chris Donnelly	Chris Donnelly short CV
Document:Chris Donnelly Paris Brussels May 2016 v2	report	13 December 2018	Propaganda Belgium France Integrity Initiative II/C	Chris Donnelly talks to his French II connections. "They think our main target needs to be the parts of the political class and the security structures 'where the rot is'"... "As an independent NGO we can do things they can’t do and national governments can’t do"
Document:Chris Donnelly proposal to FCO	document	24 May 2018	Balkans Eastern Europe Market research Edelman	The local partner then needs to do or commission an assessment of the agents or promoters of corruption and influence, eg key businessmen or politicians, as well as opposition politicians and clean businessmen, journalists etc who can be allies. These we bring out on trips to London, HQ NATO etc.
Document:Discernment: Why information statecraft matters	strategy document	26 December 2018	Censorship Brainwashing "Radicalisation" Information health	Musings on how to keep media dominance and control young minds
Document:Draft agenda for the conference Tackling Tools of Malign Influence	conference plan		Tackling Tools of Malign Influence	Draft conference plan for the Tackling Tools of Malign Influence event
Document:Establishing a modern perspective - Nation-State vs Network State	article	26 February 2016	Perpetual war Cold War II Hypercompetition	"The...requirement is for the organisation to be able to get its message across, to ensure that the Government and the people understand that they are actually engaged in one (or more) instability, like it or not." Chris Donnelly believes “we are at war, but with peacetime attitudes."
Document:II Twitter performance January 2018	success analysis	14 March 2017	Integrity Initiative	Our total number of Twitter followers was 328 as of 18th January.
Document:Institute for Statecraft project on Russian influence - Impact as at 19 04 2016	report	19 April 2016	Propaganda	A list of stories II has planted in media per April 2016, some openly, some secretly, like "Trolls on the Kremlin Payroll"; plus a number of youtube lectures with a lacklustre number of unique views.
Document:Integrity initiative: Notes on discussions in Greece	report	2017	Greece	II looking hard for Russian influence. It "is insidious but everywhere, so it is difficult to pinpoint..Their funding is difficult to identify."
Document:Invoice to MoD for Ukrainian Visit	success analysis	22 November 2017	Ukraine Integrity Initiative Vidmantas Eitutis Land Intelligence Fusion Centre	Invoice from Institute of Statecraft to the Ministry of Defence for Ukrainian visit to London
Document:Military measures	report	3 January 2014	War Ukraine	A list of suggested military measures to Ukraine in 2014, including "Mine Sevastopol harbour/bay"
Document:Monthly Accounts	accounts	22 November 2017	Integrity Initiative	The Monthly Accounts for the Integrity Initiative, somewhat in the startup phase
Document:Notes from David Leask meeting 27 March 2018	strategy document	27 March 2018	Russia Today Scotland Scottish National Party Integrity Initiative Scottish independence	Integrity Initiative convinced Scottish 'fringe' nationalism is a Kremlin plot caused by RT and Sputnik; intends to influence to tie Scotland to NATO, England wants to keep media and political dominance
Document:Pitch for a long-Form TV series about Russia in the 1990s	media strategy planning	26 December 2018	Russia Media strategy TV-series	Pitch for creating a long-Form TV series about Russia in the 1990s
Document:Private List for Chris. (Possible Funders in Swittzerland)	name list	26 December 2018	List of cutouts	This is a list of cutouts, seemingly 'independent' 'philanthropic' foundations financing intelligence work
Document:Private discussion with Gen Sir Richard Barrons	report	26 December 2018	Former leader of British forces Richard Barrons telling of his worries for Britain and the British forces	Former leader of British forces Richard Barrons sketching out military needs. "The 1st offset in the 1950s was through nuclear weapons. The 2nd was precision munitions in the 1980s. The 3rd offset today is to use information technologies to build new capabilities".."The Army understands the importance of information warfare and 77 Brigade is right" ..So we should them [our allies], especially the US, to tell us what is expected of us."
Document:Project Proposal Integrity Initiative 2017-18	budget application and plan	27 April 2017	Integrity Initiative II/C	Budget proposal for a secret influence network that will protect "the Western system of democratic values"..."against attack by those powers who would seek to overturn our system and all it stands for," no less.
Document:Project Title INTEGRITY INITIATIVE Phase II	budget application and plan	27 April 2017	Integrity Initiative II/C	Project application for phase II of Integrity Initiative
Document:Russian Lies and the Skripal Case	strategy document	10 March 2018	Propaganda Skripal Affair	II document describing the backstory to the British narrative of the Sergei Skripal incident
Document:Sergei Skripal Affair: What if Russia is Responsible?	strategy document	11 March 2018	Skripal Affair	Donnelly creates an overarching narrative, and then makes a list of British punitive measures and a PR-campaign against Russia for the the Skripal Affair
Document:The Challenge of Brexit to the UK	strategy document	2 January 2018	Foreign and Commonwealth Office Brexit Militarisation UK Integrity Initiative	"So, if we consider what qualities and characteristics we need in those whom we select for leadership today, in a period of rapid and profound change, in all sorts of institutions – government departments, big companies, the NHS - the conclusion is that we need to look for people who have abilities that suit a wartime environment"... Leadership understands that in a period of tumultuous change you cannot control, you have to command..."
Document:The Institute for Statecraft Expert Team v 3	name list	13 December 2018	Integrity Initiative Institute for Statecraft	biographies of core team members with lots of obscure but interesting former and present employers
Document:The Network of Networks	analysis	30 May 18 JL	Propaganda Integrity Initiative II/C Information Operation	A handbook for Integrity Initiative activities, including starting clusters
Document:Think Piece: Current Russian Strategic Thinking	strategic analysis	19 January 2018	War Russia	Chris Donnelly gives his view on Current Russian Strategic Thinking

 

Quotes by Chris Donnelly

Page	Quote	Date	Source
"Anti-corruption"	“In Slovakia in the 1990s I used UK companies wanting to do business to engage with local businesses. We set up the Klub 500 of companies with more than 500 employees. We got UK MPs via the NATO Parliamentary Assembly to teach them how business relates to, and can fund and lobby, political parties legitimately in a democracy, instead of their then model of cash in brown envelopes.”	24 May 2018	Document:Chris Donnelly proposal to FCO
Institute for Statecraft/Purposes	“We cannot deter this current attack, only fight it. It is a pre-condition which is the baseline of a conflict. Denial, i.e. pretending that it is not happening or denying its significance, is not a sensible response... A fundamental, universally-held Russian belief is that Russia can only be secure at the expense of their neighbours’ security. All the Russian leadership and military consider that other countries' security is secondary to, and must be subordinated to, Russia's.”	19 January 2018	Integrity Initiative/Leak/5
Institute for Statecraft/Purposes	“We go to war with Russia as a whole, not just with the Russian military. They have been developing everything as a weapon, Cyber, energy, money, investment, dirty tricks, disinformation and other sorts of malign influence.”	19 January 2018	Integrity Initiative/Leak/5
Institute for Statecraft/Purposes	“Moreover, the “war” mindset is being pumped into the Russian population. It is one of the great successes of Putin’s propaganda offensive”	19 January 2018	Integrity Initiative/Leak/5
Institute for Statecraft/Purposes	“How might war be deterred? Russia is not on a wartime ‘ready to launch’ setting, but they are developing and implementing concepts of conflict very different from those being thought about in Western countries. We cannot deter this hybrid war, it is upon us and we can only fight it.”	19 January 2018	Integrity Initiative/Leak/5
Institute for Statecraft/Purposes	“We cannot deter this hybrid war, it is upon us and we can only fight it.”	19 January 2018	Integrity Initiative/Leak/5
Institute for Statecraft/Purposes	“the crisis which is now upon the country.”	10 May 2018	Integrity Initiative/Leak
Permanent war/Mentality	“But because this is not a shooting war like 1939-45, we in “Western” countries have not adopted the “wartime mentality” essential if we are to cope with the instability which drastic change inevitably brings. We are now trying to cope in a wartime situation but with a peacetime mentality, peacetime institutions and peacetime procedures shaped by the last 70 years of living in a stable, secure, rules-based environment. ... The qualities we now need in our public servants So, if we consider what qualities and characteristics we need in those whom we select for leadership today, in a period of rapid and profound change, in all sorts of institutions – government departments, big companies, the NHS - the conclusion is that we need to look for people who have abilities that suit a wartime environment rather than a peacetime one.”	2 February 2018	Integrity Initiative/Leak/3#general pdf/Brexit FCO update 02 02 2018.pdf
Boris Tadić	“In Serbia, for example, we used the Club de Madrid to get the former Spanish MOD, Narcis Serra, to act as mentor to the then MOD Boris Tadic. I brought Tadic to London via the Atlantic Treaty Association (of which IfS is now the UK Rep) to expand his horizons and link him to MPs. He eventually became President.”	15 October 2018	Document:Chris Donnelly proposal to FCO

 

Related Quotations

Page	Quote	Author	Date
Institute for Statecraft/Secrecy	“* Chris Donnelly makes initial country introduction with nominated trusted 'coordinator' & relevant II team member/s (normally 2 members minimum per country) II team member/s coordinate foundation workshop to connect members, formally introduce them to II aims, establish target programme for research, dissemination and events. Members to sign code of conduct & non-disclosure Greg Rowett to start code of conduct doc to include basic info on passwords and etiquette with social media etc – final ok should be sought from James Wilson. Debate and decide preferred methods of communication.”		30 May 2018
Institute for Statecraft/Secrecy	“Code of Conduct (Greg to commence with internet etiquette) Anonymity of the team remains paramount. As our activity increases we will, no doubt, attract unwanted attention.”		30 May 2018
Edward Lucas	“Chris Donelly [sic.] is one of the most admirable people I know.”	Edward Lucas	23 February 2019

 

Events Participated in

Event	Start	End	Location(s)	Description
Herzliya Conference/2007	21 January 2007	24 January 2007	Israel Tel Aviv Reichman University	"The conference examined the array of dangers, threats and difficulties Israel has faced since early 2006, identified a broad web of problems in all of the fundamental strata upon which national security is based, and proposed strategies for action."
Russia’s Strategy on NATO'S Eastern and Southern Flanks	27 January 2017 09:30:00	27 January 2017 16:30:00	Barcelona Centre for International Affairs	A CIDOB/The Institute for Statecraft/NATO meeting
Security and Defence Learning/2010	1 December 2010	1 December 2010	Berlin Hotel InterContinental	A conference about training people for "defence" and "security" that featured at least 3 members of the Institute for Statecraft
Strengthening Europe's 'soft' and 'hard' defence	25 March 2019 13:00:00	25 March 2019 17:00:00	Netherlands The Hague Clingendael Institute	Chatham House rule meeting with organised by the Institute for Statecraft and the Clingendael Institute.

 

Related Documents

Title	Type	Publication date	Author(s)	Description
Document:Chris Donnelly CV Short	CV	13 December 2018	Chris Donnelly	Chris Donnelly short CV
Document:Chris Donnelly Recommendation for the Appointment or Extension of Tenure of an Honorary Colonel of a T/A Reserve Regional Unit	Recommendation for Extension of Tenure of an Honorary Colonel	26 December 2018	Integrity Initiative	Recommendation for Extension of Tenure of an Honorary Colonel for Chris Donnelly working in Specialist Group Military Intelligence

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