GCHQ is a famous British signals intelligence (SIGINT) agency perhaps best known for its work at Bletchley Park during WWII. The spy service decided to have its official history written – and chose a Canadian to do so!
In this episode, Borealis talks with John Ferris, a University of Calgary historian, who undertook the task.
About my guest John Ferris
John Ferris is a Professor of History at The University of Calgary, where he also is a Fellow at The Centre for Military and Strategic Studies. He received an MA (1980) and a PhD (1986) in War Studies, from King’s College, The University of London, United Kingdom.
He has published four books and sixty academic articles or chapters in books, on diplomatic, intelligence and military history, as well as contemporary strategy and intelligence. He comments in national and international media, on Canadian and American foreign and military policy, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, intelligence, and nuclear weapons.
Behind the Enigma: The Authorized History of GCHQ, Britain’s Secret Cyber-Intelligence Agency
The definitive history of GCHQ, one of the world’s most tight-lipped intelligence agencies, written with unprecedented access to classified archives.
For a hundred years GCHQ – Government Communications Headquarters – has been at the forefront of British secret statecraft. Born out of the need to support military operations in the First World War, and fought over ever since, today it is the UK’s biggest intelligece, security and cyber agency and a powerful tool of the British state.
About the host Phil Gurski
Phil Gurski is the President and CEO of Borealis Threat and Risk Consulting Ltd. and Programme Director for the Security, Economics and Technology (SET) hub at the University of Ottawa’s Professional Development Institute (PDI). He worked as a senior strategic analyst at CSIS (Canadian Security Intelligence Service) from 2001-2015, specializing in violent Islamist-inspired homegrown terrorism and radicalisation.
From 1983 to 2001 he was employed as a senior multilingual analyst at Communications Security Establishment (CSE – Canada’s signals intelligence agency), specialising in the Middle East.
Find out more about Phil Gurski
What was it like to be a sniper in Afghanistan?
Episode 309 – If you are going to kill terrorists, send in the best Fighting terrorism is complicated. My background is in security intelligence and I know a lot about what goes into a terrorism investigation. When it comes to the military, things are different. On occasions, soldiers need to use lethal force to kill…
Whither Iran?
Episode 309 – Is this the end of the ayatollahs? It is hard not to be riveted to our screens with what is transpiring in Iran right now. Near a half century of rule by Shia fundamentalists appears, at least to some, to on the brink of collapse as mass demonstrations have led to hundreds…
Language and terrorism: what is the link?
Episode 308 – Do words make worlds? Not surprisingly, terrorism is a very emotive term. When acts take place, the media will often use words and language that vary widely in scope. Some say that we should eschew some vocabulary that may or not be inaccurate, or lead to bias. How do we manage this…
