OAIN 2150 - Covert Action and Disruption: the Politics and Processes of Secret Statecraft

***UPDATED for 2025/26***

This course is concerned with how states utilize their intelligence services to influence and impact their adversaries – a process frequently referred to as ‘covert action’. These operations, the covert actions, are a staple of the public’s understanding of intelligence work. This is driven by media portrayals, particularly the James Bond franchise. But there is more to covert action than the violence depicted on screen. This course traced the lineage of convert actions as practices by major global intelligence powers, including, but not only, the United States and Russia. It examines why governments chose to utilize covert actions, and it considers the range of operations that states implement when they aim to influence their enemies (or allies). This takes us beyond the explosions and assassinations, and delves into operations that are concerned with politics, economics, and culture. It illustrates that the tools of the Twentieth Century are still very much in use today in the digital age.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

• Students will have gained deep, and systematic understanding of the various approaches, concepts and doctrines that guide different states’ approaches to covert actions.
• Students will display a critical appreciation of the ethical and political dimensions of covert actions.
• Students will have developed the skills to analyse and assess the different elements of covert statecraft, and to consider the cultural and organizational legacy of different states’ approach to the practice.
• Students will have developed a critical perspective on the impact of technology on the practice of covert action.

PROFESSIONAL SKILLS

• Critical thinking
• Presentation skills
• Debate and persuasion skills
• Teamworking
• Threat analysis and contextualisation

N/A

Feedback and feed-forward will be a consistent element of this course. The classes will by hybrid lecture and discussions, with consistent interactivity and feedback. The mid-term essay will be an opportunity to provide direct feedback that will support students in preparing for their second piece of assessed work.

Mid-term individual essay & End of semester group research project

The mid-term essay will be worth 50% of the grade. The group project will be a critique of a covert action, it will be worth 50% of the grade

• In Class Presence: 2 hours a week / 24 hours a semester
• Online learning activities:
• Reading and Preparation for Class: 60 hrs a semester
• Research and Preparation for Group Work: 31 hrs a semester
• Research and Writing for Individual Assessments: 35 hrs a semester