Paul McGarr

It’s early in the academic year, but I may have peaked. Yesterday, I led on the delivery of a new @warstudieskcl.bsky.social course, Strategic Intelligence for Senior Executives, alongside Emergent Risk International. Engaging F2F with global business leaders was informative & huge fun.
@kcsi.uk

Learned a lot yesterday evening talking about challenges facing intelligence practitioners (state & private) to the @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social Business School Executive MBA class. Great to engage with highly impressive and vastly experienced business leaders. @kcsi.uk @warstudieskcl.bsky.social

It’s early in the academic year, but I may have peaked. Yesterday, I led on the delivery of a new @warstudieskcl.bsky.social course, Strategic Intelligence for Senior Executives, alongside Emergent Risk International. Engaging F2F with global business leaders was informative & huge fun.
@kcsi.uk

Received a nice surprise in the post today, the amazing new @georgetownup.bsky.social volume on Covert Action edited by the dream team of @magslong.bsky.social, Genevive Lester, @markstout.bsky.social, @dvanp.bsky.social & @rorycormac.bsky.social. Stellar contributors, though Chp 9 seems suspect😉

Privileged today to be invited to address the current senior leadership cadre at India’s National Defence College on intel in South Asia & as a determinant in foreign policymaking. Thks Maj Gen Samath Nagar & Air Marshal Hardeep Bains (Commandant) for asking me to engage with the latest NDC cohort.

India-US relationship has survived darker times. Intelligence ties bind us together India-US intelligence ties flourished even in the shadow of the Cold War, as New Delhi resolutely proclaimed its commitment to non-alignment.

Thks to praveenswami.bsky.social for noting my work on intelligence ties between India & the US in his excellent article in The Print. Agree that India-US intel ties will weather the latest squall btwn Delhi and Washington. theprint-in.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/theprint...
@warstudieskcl.bsky.social

Honored to see my review of @paulmcgarr.bsky.social's Spying in South Asia on this week's #ScholarSunday thread.

@americanstudier.bsky.social every week I love seeing you highlight scholars and sharing word about their work. Thank you and please keep it up!

contingentmagazine.org/2025/08/12/t...

The Search for Intelligence the intelligence individuals are less James Bond and George Smiley than bureaucrats

ICYMI: I wrote a review of @paulmcgarr.bsky.social's excellent @universitypress.cambridge.org book Spying in South Asia for @contingent-mag.bsky.social

Here's a 🧵 about how the review came together and what was left on the cutting room floor.

contingentmagazine.org/2025/08/12/t...

Thks to TheWire.in for noting some of my recent work on UK & US covert Cold War interventions in Kerala m.thewire.in/article/hist... With elections due in Kerala next year its timely to revisit the issue of electoral interference

@warstudieskcl.bsky.social @kcsi.uk @universitypress.cambridge.org

The Search for Intelligence the intelligence individuals are less James Bond and George Smiley than bureaucrats

During the Cold War, the US, UK, and USSR all had covert operations in India.

Were their efforts successful? No.
Were their efforts secret? Definitely no.

Read more about these covert operations, only in @contingent-mag.bsky.social

#india #security

contingentmagazine.org/2025/08/12/t...

Dr @paulmcgarr.bsky.social draws on newly declassified British documents to reveal how, during the #ColdWar, India’s Congress government, the CIA & British intelligence took covert actions to undermine the Communist Party of India in #Kerala in the late 1950s.

Read more:
bit.ly/3JjPwe6

The Search for Intelligence the intelligence individuals are less James Bond and George Smiley than bureaucrats

The latest @contingent-mag.bsky.social essay is my review of @paulmcgarr.bsky.social's excellent book, Spying in South Asia @universitypress.cambridge.org

The book is a MUST READ especially for @shafrhistorians.bsky.social

#india #coldwar #skystorians

contingentmagazine.org/2025/08/12/t...

Method in Trump's Pakistan romance: US' Gulf security Like Turkey and Egypt, Pakistan is one of a handful of powers with the human resources and infrastructure to help secure the Persian Gulf as Trump’s America draws down its military presence.

Intelligence history being put to good use in The Print India to contextualise recent "developments" in US relations with India and Pakistan. Appreciate the mention 🙏

theprint.in/opinion/secu...

@warstudieskcl.bsky.social @kcsi.uk @universitypress.cambridge.org

When Indian government, British intelligence and the CIA joined hands to spy on communists in Kerala Newly declassified British government documents cast important light on the complex system of cooperation and competition that characterised Western intelligence interactions with India during the Col...

Thks to @indianexpress.com for carrying a piece I wrote on newly declassified British intelligence files that reveal covert collaboration btw India & the UK in Cold War Kerala. The article is available here 👇

indianexpress.com/article/opin...

@warstudieskcl.bsky.social @kcsi.uk

The Search for Intelligence the intelligence individuals are less James Bond and George Smiley than bureaucrats

A review of Spying in South is out by @marcus1984.bsky.social in @contingent-mag.bsky.social contingentmagazine.org/2025/08/12/t.... Mark is a superb scholar & his critique is on point. If you don't read Contingent at present, you should. It's a non-profit history mag doing amazing work. Take a look

Sovereignty and Surveillance in Cold War India Paul McGarr opens his work with a reference from John le Carré’s Smiley’s People, recounting the brief meeting between George Smiley and his Soviet counter

Hugely grateful to @arjm5184.bsky.social for his very generous & insightful review of Spying in South Asia in @diplomatichistory.bsky.social. Andrew's meticulous assessment neatly captures the book's essence 🙏https://academic.oup.com/dh/advance-article/doi/10.1093/dh/dhaf052/8226034?searchresult=1

How Britain found itself at the heart of a CIA civil war An ex-Navy Seal and an agent for 30 years, Tom Sylvester was the ideal candidate for London station chief. Did someone get to him?

Spoke to @telegraphnews.bsky.social on the hiring & firing of US officials by the Trump admin. The piece covers the decision not to appoint Tom Sylvester as the next CIA station chief in London. In short, politicising intelligence is a VERY bad idea. Take a look👇 www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08...

SPYING IN SOUTH ASIA: Britain, the United States, and India’s Secret Cold War | By Paul McGarr book review of SPYING IN SOUTH ASIA: Britain, the United States, and India's Secret Cold War By Paul McGarr

Grateful to Zach Constantino at sspga.ubc.ca for a very generous review of Spying in South Asia cambridge.org/9781108843676 in @pacificaffairs.bsky.social. Humbled that an intelligence practitioner of Zach's experience offered encouraging words on the book.
See pacificaffairs.ubc.ca/book-reviews...

From Langley to Tokyo: The JFK Assassination Files and Communist…

Great new article on Cold War Japan from King's War Studies PhD candidiate, Satoshi Yoda. Well worth a read.

kcsi.uk/kcsi-insight...

Humbled by a very kind review of Spying in South Asia cambridge.org/9781108843676 in India's World. Delighted the review appeared in a publication that, under the expert leadership of Happymon Jacob &
Raja C Mohan, is becoming the go to outlet for expert commentary on India's international affairs.

Very kind review of Spying in South Asia www.cambridge.org/9781108843676 by Sumit Ganguly in Journal of Cold War Studies. Humbled Sumit states, "McGarr masterfully traces the lineage of the IB & discusses in extensive detail how it...work[ed] with British intelligence after India’s independence." 🙏

Spying in South Asia is now on sale via the CUP bookstore cambridgebookshop.co.uk/products/sale-… A steal at £22. Who wouldn’t want to read more about the alcoholic CIA station chief who came down to earth with a bang on finding that he hadn’t, in fact, discovered the secret of unpowered flight. 😬

@dsdkings.bsky.social

Thanks to Amb SD Muni for noting Spying in South Asia cambridge.org/9781108843676 in @hindustan-times.bsky.social re the Emergency & Indira Gandhi's complex relations with the CIA. For more on intelligence & South Asian statecraft👇
@warstudieskcl.bsky.social @kcsi.uk @universitypress.cambridge.org

The Strategic Intelligence for Senior Executives course equips you with the skills to navigate complex geopolitical challenges, manage risks & make strategic decisions that drive business success.

🗓️ 10 Sept 2025

🔗Discounts available until 31 July
www.kcl.ac.uk/short-course...

Delighted that Spying in South Asia www.cambridge.org/9781108843676 has been named @iajournal.bsky.social book of the week. Thanks to @sandbaggerone.bsky.social for a generous review.

@kcsi.uk @warstudieskcl.bsky.social @kingsindiainst.bsky.social @cambridgeup.bsky.social

“…readable, richly researched, and persuasive…” - from a CIA officer’s review of “Spying in South Asia by @paulmcgarr.bsky.social. www.cia.gov/resources/cs...

YouTube video by Jan Man Gan How the West Spied on India: Spy Stories from the Cold War! With Paul McGarr #spy #podcast #gandhi

Thanks to Prateek Joshi for a fantastic discussion on Spying in South Asia www.cambridge.org/9781108843676 on the Jan Man Gan podcast. Give the podcast a listen 👇
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNEa...

@kcsi.uk @warstudieskcl.bsky.social @kingsindiainst.bsky.social @cambridgeup.bsky.social

Stimulating day listening (& talking) to a stellar group of academics, journalists, & practitioners on India’s place in the world. Thanks to Shruti Kapila and Tarika Khattar for hosting an amazing event @corpusCambridge.bsky.social Superb keynote on Indian diplomacy delivered by Shivshankar Menon

🚨🎙️Join us (online) on 27 May at 6pm for a new conference on #intelligence with @paulmcgarr.bsky.social

As tensions arise between #India and #Pakistan, there is. no better place to be on the 27th to dig into the history of Indian intelligence 🇮🇳

Registration here 👇

www.irsem.fr/agenda/cycle...