Andrew Defty

My latest article on intelligence oversight in the U.K. out now in @IntelNatSecJnl focuses on the role of Ministers in providing accountability - ‘Familiar but not intimate’: Executive oversight of the UK intelligence and security agencies tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…

Extraordinary photo. Who’s overseeing who?

@adefty Well, waddya know..

I genuinely thought Mark Carney had a parrot on his shoulder.

Really pleased to be able to drop in on Nicolae Grigorescu’s The Spy, it’s a stunning piece of art and on #Oscars night hugely cinematic.

A few days teaching in Bucharest and a little bit of time for some of my favourite things - art, music, food, beer.

In Bucharest teaching on intelligence governance. Worth remembering the UK does not have a long history of democratic oversight of intelligence, the Romanian parliament set up an intel oversight committee a year before the UK Intelligence & Security Committee was established.

The #Mandelson papers released today included just one which had been reviewed by the Intelligence and Security Committee. This is not going to be a quick process.

First batch of #Mandelson papers are out. Parliament can do what it wants with its committees but I am far from convinced this is a worthwhile use of the Intelligence and Security Committee.

📢 New open-access volume: *Democratising Spywatching* by @DuncanJane launches 18 Mar 2026. It explores public oversight of intelligence-driven digital surveillance across eight Southern African countries. Published by @ScotUniPress | @UofGSPS #DigitalRights #Surveillance

Japan ruling party OKs bill to set up new body to boost intel capabilities - The Mainichi mainichi.jp/english/articl…

If anyone is surprised at why China may be interested in (allegedly) recruiting the partner of current/former MPs, see this I wrote ages ago - the same principles apply ⏬️ newstatesman.com/politics/uk-po…

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Doing some comparative work on parliaments but finding I can’t access a number of parliamentary websites I’ve used previously including Mexico, Romania, Israel. It could be routine maintenance but wondering if they’re increasing security settings to counter possible cyber attacks

Russia may interfere in Danish election, exploiting chaos sewn by US, spies warn theguardian.com/world/2026/feb…

*ONLINE TALK* Friday 27 February 2026 (5.30-7 pm) Join me tomorrow for an online talk to the Cambridge Intelligence Seminar (CIS) @CamGeopolitics about how I researched the women of Britain's secret services in my debut book, 'Her Secret Service: The Forgotten Women of British Intelligence'. In order to attend, please subscribe to the CIS mailing list by emailing J.C. Ellis at jce45@cam.ac.uk @NorthbankTalent @wnbooks

No 10 will have no say on which Mandelson papers are released from bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

Very significant clarification today from the ISC regarding handling of the Mandelson papers. After some discussion the government has agreed that the decision about whether material referred to the ISC should be published will be taken by the ISC alone.

Proud to take another group of @unilincoln politics and international relations students to participate in the excellent #BISAFCDOmodelNATO in the grandest of settings- the Locarno Suite at the Foreign Office.

More on Gapchinska’s remarkable painting here: kyivpost.com/post/36938

For the last two years I’ve been finding & sharing artworks relating to intelligence. Today I bring you “Budanov and the Magical Frog” (2024) by Ukrainian artist Yevgenia Gapchinska. It depicts Kyrylo Budanov then head of Ukrainian military intelligence #ArtofSpying #SlavaUkraini