Professor Rory Cormac gives evidence to Parliament committee on Defending Democracy

On 18 March 2024, Rory Cormac, Professor of International Relations at the University of Nottingham and leading authority on secret intelligence, covert operations and their impact on international security, gave evidence to the National Security Strategy (Joint Committee).

The subject was ‘Defending Democracy’. Rather than altering the outcomes of elections, he sees the threat facing us as a ‘general erosion of trust, sowing confusion, undermining our trust in our democratic institutions, and exploiting our own internal weaknesses and turning them against us.’

Other witnesses included Pamela San Martin of Meta’s Oversight Board (the company that owns Facebook, Whatsapp, and Instagram), the FT’s Martin Wolf.

Rory is also the author if How to Stage a Coup (2022, Atlantic Books) and the co-author with Richard Aldrich of Spying and the Crown (Atlantic Books, 2021).

Watch the evidence session on Parliament.tv. To book Rory as a speaker or find out more, get in touch at speaking@northbanktalent.com.