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Biography

Paul is an expert on US and UK security and intelligence interventions within the Global South. His work focuses on intelligence liaison, non-Western intelligence cultures, disinformation, and covert action.

His research has been funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council; the British Academy; the Mellon Foundation; the Rothermere American Institute, University of Oxford; the British Library's Eccles Centre for American Studies; the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, Boston; the American Historical Association; and the Centre for Policy Studies, New Delhi.

Paul joined King's from the University of Nottingham, where he worked on a major AHRC-funded project, Landscapes of Secrecy: The Central Intelligence Agency and the Contested Record of US Foreign Policy, 1947-2001, which explored the role played by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in shaping official narratives of American foreign policy.

He is an alumnus of the AHRC's 'Engaging with Government' programme, run in partnership with the Institute for Government, and completed a British Science Association Media Fellowship to engage the wider public in policy-related research.

Paul is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Royal Asiatic Society.

Research Interests

  • Intelligence Studies
  • South Asian intelligence & security
  • Intelligence agencies outside the Anglosphere
  • Anglo-American intelligence liaison
  • Disinformation
  • Covert Action
  • Cold War History

Paul leads research in the field of British and American intelligence interventions in South Asia and the wider Global South.

His current research focuses on the evolution of non-Western intelligence cultures and networks of transnational intelligence liaison and joint operations inside the Global South.

Teaching

Paul teaches on concepts, issues and debates surrounding the utility of intelligence in war, and the role of diplomacy in international crises, at undergraduate and postgraduate level.

  • Intelligence in War Studies (BA2)
  • Diplomacy and Crises (BA3)
  • Intelligence in Peace and War (MA)

Media

TV / Video
23rd Oct 2024

China’s Global Spy Network: Risks in the UK, Europe and Beyond

Featuring: Paul McGarr, lecturer in Intelligence Studies at King’s College London, and author of "Spying in South Asia, Britain, the United States and India's Secret Cold War”.
TV / Video
12th Oct 2024

Book Convo-Paul McGarr | Spying in South Asia:Britain, the United States and India's Secret Cold War

Guest Speaker Conversation Series - MPhil Intelligence and Security Studies, School of Integrated Social Sciences, University of Lahore
Print
9th Oct 2024

Paul M. McGarr's "Spying in South Asia"

Page 99 of my book describes the extent to which the Central Intelligence agency (CIA) developed a large and active presence in Cold War India. The CIA operated several stations, or bases of operation, in India that were concerned not only with espionage, or undercovering the secrets of the Indian government and Eastern bloc missions in the subcontinent, but also covert action, or hidden activity conducted to influence political events. Page 99 details how, somewhat paradoxically, and following the outbreak of a brief and bloody war between India and China over a contested Himalayan border, the Indian government turned to the CIA to help it gather intelligence on its Chinese adversary and conduct paramilitary operations intended to destabilise China’s borderlands and occupy Beijing’s security forces.
TV / Video
27th Sept 2024

Episode 39: Spying in South Asia: Britain, US, and India's Secret Cold War by Dr. Paul McGarr.

In this 39th episode of the Middle East Insights Platform, we have the privilege of hosting a compelling book discussion on "Spying in South Asia: Britain, the United States and India's Secret Cold War" (Cambridge University Press, 2024). Join us as Dr. Paul McGarr, FRHistS, FRAS, FHEA, a distinguished scholar in the field of espionage and Cold War history, unravels the intricate dynamics of espionage in the region during this pivotal era.

Publications

Book
12th Sept 2024

Spying in South Asia: Britain, the United States and India’s Secret Cold War

McGarr, P., 12 Sept 2024, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 358 p.

Research output: Book/ReportBookpeer-review

Chapter
1st Jan 2024

Brother’s Keeper: India’s “Secret Wars” and the Lure of Localism

McGarr, P., 2024, (Accepted/In press) National Approaches to Covert Action. Cormac, R., Long, M., Lester, G., Stout, M. & Van Puyvelde, D. (eds.). Washington D.C.: Georgetown University Press

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Article
1st Jan 2023

The Neo-Imperialism of Decolonisation: John le Carré and Cold War India

McGarr, P., 2023, In: Intelligence and National Security.38, 2, p. 271-28414 p.

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Article
1st Jan 2021

Fake News, Forgery, and Falsification: Soviet Disinformation in Cold War India

McGarr, P., 2021, In: INTERNATIONAL HISTORY REVIEW.43, 1, p. 3453 p.

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Posts

intelligence studies, intelligence history, intelligence outside the Anglosphere
14th Oct 2024

India’s Cold War Spies and the Missing Dimension of Intelligence Studies

Dr Paul McGarr shares insights into his new book and the broadening of intelligence studies outside the Anglosphere