Simon Bracey-Lane

Simon Bracey-Lane  (propagandist, spook?, deep state operative)
Credit: AFP
Nationality	UK
Alma mater	University of Leicester
Member of	Institute for Statecraft, Institute for Statecraft/Tor team, Integrity Initiative
Interests	• Cold war • Cold war 2.0
A "highly improbable left wing firebrand" who worked for the Institute for Statecraft and whom they denied was a spook.

Simon Bracey-Lane's name was added to the Institute for Statecraft's list of fellows between March and November 2018.. Craig Murray described him in December 2018 as a "highly improbable left wing firebrand". He described his "Personal area of expertise" as follows:

• "Understanding of American politics, from President to Local Party.
• Shaping public opinion and movement building.
• Network development.
• Political instincts."

Background

Simon Bracey-Lane attended Saint Cecilia's in Wandsworth from 2004-2011 and studied History and American Studies at the University of Leicester from 2011-2014. His skills are listed as "Customer Service, Research, Management, PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, Teaching, Public Speaking, Strategic Planning, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Excel"

Activities

Simon Bracey-Lane was a volunteer field organiser for Bernie Sanders. He wrote^[When?] "I had two weeks left and some money left, so I thought, Fuck it, I’ll make some calls for Bernie Sanders. I just sort of knew Des Moines was the place, so I just turned up at their HQ, started making phone calls, and then became a fully fledged field organiser.”

Skills

“Currently runs the IfS “Integrity Initiative” network communications and network development process; deep experience in democratic election campaign processes in UK and especially in USA, viz: Regional Campaign Organiser: John Wisniewski for Governor of New Jersey, USA. January - May 2017; Statewide Campaign Organiser: Bernie Sanders for President 2016, USA. Sept 2015 – May 2016; special study of Russian interference in the US electoral process.”
Simon Bracey-Lane (2018)  The Institute for Statecraft Expert Team v 3.pdf

Reporting

Bracey-Lane's actions appear to have attracted a remarkable degree of press attention. Both Reuters and BuzzFeed news wrote about Simon Bracey-Lane's work for the Bernie Sanders campaign. He was also interviewed by AFP.

As an Integrity Initiative employee, Bracey-Lane went to the Balkans and attended a National Endowment for Democracy event in Bosnia (17th -19th May) and a 2BS Event in Montenegro. (21st –23rd May)

Comment

Craig Murray comments that "It is, to say the least, very interesting indeed that just a year later the left wing, “Corbyn and Sanders supporting” Bracey-Lane is hosting a very right wing event, Cold War Then and Now, for the shadowy neo-con Institute for Statecraft, at which an entirely unbalanced panel of British military, NATO and Ukrainian nationalists extolled the virtues of re-arming against Russia...

I am not alleging Mr Bracey-Lane is an intelligence service operative who previously infiltrated the Labour Party and the Sanders campaign. He may just be a young man of unusually heterodox and vacillating political opinions. He may be an undercover reporter for the Canary infiltrating the Institute for Statecraft. All these things are possible, and I have no firm information."

Official denial

The Institute for Statecraft posted a denial in late 2018 that Bracey-Lane was an intelligence agency operative on the website which they subsequently removed.

 

Documents by Simon Bracey-Lane

Title	Document type	Publication date	Subject(s)	Description
Document:Balkans Trip Report	cluster meeting	28 November 2018		Workshop in Montenegro. "'Story telling' difficult if journalists are branded fake news"
Document:Cluster Meeting Schedule Thessanoliki	cluster meeting	28 November 2018		Meeting with focus on Balkan countries and Greece
Document:II Network Skripal	report	21 March 2018	Skripal Affair	media feedback from II members in smaller countries to HQ in London in Skripal affair
Document:Simon Bracey – Lane Role Trajectory and Targets	report	26 December 2018		II--member Simon Bracey–Lane tells of his large role in developing cells ('clusters') in several countries, including USA. Lithuania, Greece. and Western Balkans (this is the guy who infiltrated the Bernie Sanders campaign)

 

Quotes by Simon Bracey-Lane

Page	Quote	Date	Source
Cover	“What might prevent us from achieving our aims?: Lack of clear messaging, are we IFS or are we II.”	2018	Integrity Initiative/Leak/4
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.”	December 2017	Integrity Initiative/Leak/2

 

Events Planned

Event	Start	End	Location(s)	Description
Cold War Then and Now?	13 October 2018 09:30:00	13 October 2018 16:30:00	London City of London School UK	A free conference that appears to have been part of a broader campaign by the Institute for Statecraft to promote Cold War 2.0.
Workshop on Identifying and Combating Disinformation in Big Data	13 December 2018 08:00:00	13 December 2018 12:00:00	US Seattle

 

Event Participated in

Event	Start	End	Location(s)
Workshop on Identifying and Combating Disinformation in Big Data	13 December 2018 08:00:00	13 December 2018 12:00:00	US Seattle

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