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Dr. Dan Lomas

@sandbaggerone.bsky.social

1.9K followers 520 following 1.1K posts

Assistant Professor, University of Nottingham. Writes on 🇬🇧 intelligence. Remains an opinionated Northerner & Mancunian. ✍ Vetting, 'Friends' & UK intelligence 📚 🇺🇦 Views my own. 🔗 https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/politics/people/daniel.lomas

www.nottingham.ac.uk

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Dr. Dan Lomas @sandbaggerone.bsky.social · Nov 16

⁉️ What is UK national security vetting, and how has the current system evolved to meet insider threats?

Really pleased to see this political, social, and cultural history of British vetting finally reach Bloomsbury's website.

🗓 Out June 2025

www.bloomsbury.com/uk/secret-hi...

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Reposted by Dr. Dan Lomas

nottspolitics.bsky.social @nottspolitics.bsky.social · 8h

🎧Dr Dan Lomas @sandbaggerone.bsky.social appeared on @bbc5live.bsky.social recently to talk to Naga Munchetty about the collapse of a prosecution against two men accused of spying for China

Listen again from 1:17:36 🔗⏬
www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Naga Munchetty - 07/10/2025 - BBC Sounds

Naga Munchetty features news, experiences, and big name interviews from around the UK.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Dr. Dan Lomas @sandbaggerone.bsky.social · 1d

(Critical) Intelligence Studies is just nonsense. It's overtheorisation and a copy of Critical IR/Security, etc.

It's still possible to study gender, media, ethnicity, non-state intelligence without being "critical" because intelligence studies covers everything.

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Dr. Dan Lomas @sandbaggerone.bsky.social · 1d

MI5 issues guidance on countering espionage and interference

www.gov.uk/government/n...

MI5 issues guidance on countering espionage and interference

MI5's National Protective Security Authority issues new security guidance to protect democratic institutions from espionage and foreign interference

www.gov.uk

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Dr. Dan Lomas @sandbaggerone.bsky.social · 1d

Ministers accused of ‘pure fabrication’ over China spy case claims

www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

Ministers accused of ‘pure fabrication’ over China spy case claims

Security minister Dan Jarvis said the government had made ‘every effort’ to support the failed case. His Conservative predecessor disagreed

www.thetimes.com

Dr. Dan Lomas @sandbaggerone.bsky.social · 2d

UK security services step up work with business to fight cyber threats www.ft.com/content/6e54...

UK security services step up work with business to fight cyber threats

High-profile hacks raise fears about the potential economic damage caused by disruption to supply chains and services

www.ft.com

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Dr. Dan Lomas @sandbaggerone.bsky.social · 2d

"The suspicious apps, which are not available to the Chinese public, were allegedly found on Mr Berry’s mobiles after he returned to Britain from China in February 2023".

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

Police found secret messaging app on spy suspect's phones

The trial of Christopher Berry and Chris Cash, on charges of passing secrets to China between 2021 and 2023, collapsed last month.

www.dailymail.co.uk

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Reposted by Dr. Dan Lomas

nottspolitics.bsky.social @nottspolitics.bsky.social · 5d

Dr Dan Lomas @sandbaggerone.bsky.social recently contributed to this @thetimes.com piece on the priorities of the new MI6 chief Blaise Metreweli

Read it here 🔗 tinyurl.com/4puhmcud

Find out more about Dan and his research on intelligence services 🔗 nottingham.ac.uk/politics/people/daniel.lomas

MI6’s new chief aims to restore British influence in Middle East

Blaise Metreweli, 48, is the youngest ever boss of the Secret Intelligence Service

tinyurl.com

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Dr. Dan Lomas @sandbaggerone.bsky.social · 3d

What the British ‘spies’ were really doing in China

www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...

Access Restricted

www.telegraph.co.uk

Reposted by Dr. Dan Lomas

RUSI @rusi.bsky.social · 6d

Could a concerted strategy of strengthened sanctions, advanced weapons for Ukraine, and incentivising Russian brain drain change Putin's calculus and stop the war machine in Ukraine? Read the latest RUSI Newsbrief by Sergei Guriev to learn more.

Putin's Polycrisis

Despite mounting economic and demographic pressures, Russian President Vladimir Putin will continue to feed the war machine so long as he gains ground in Ukraine. To change his calculus, Western leaders must strengthen sanctions against the Kremlin, pro...

www.rusi.org

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Dr. Dan Lomas @sandbaggerone.bsky.social · 6d

Yes, it's that man again ...

If only there wasn't an event over 20 years ago that damaged his credibility 😉

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Dr. Dan Lomas @sandbaggerone.bsky.social · 7d

BBC News - Threat assessment of China led to spy case collapse, says CPS
www.bbc.com/news/article...

Threat assessment of China led to spy case collapse, says CPS

The dropping of charges against two men last month prompted criticism from some ministers and MPs.

www.bbc.com

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Dr. Dan Lomas @sandbaggerone.bsky.social · 9d

BBC News - Nottingham attacks victim Grace O'Malley-Kumar awarded George Medal - BBC News
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Nottingham attacks victim Grace O'Malley-Kumar awarded George Medal

The medical student

www.bbc.co.uk

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Dr. Dan Lomas @sandbaggerone.bsky.social · 10d

Lessons from History about Russian Sabotage

en.euroatlantic.org/new-issue-of...

New issue of the Euro-Atlantic Bulletin: "Lessons from History about Russian Sabotage" - Euro-Atlantic Council of Slovenia

Historical information about Soviet sabotage planning is instructive in analyzing Russian sabotage operations today. The Soviet KGB was responsible during the Cold War for preparing target packages on...

en.euroatlantic.org

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Dr. Dan Lomas @sandbaggerone.bsky.social · 11d

"The charges relate to spying for China, one of the people said, adding that the man, whose precise role within Belgium’s national security apparatus has not been disclosed, was recruited for his access to Brussels’ international diplomatic circles".

www.politico.eu/article/belg...

Belgian security service officer indicted for spying

Indictment comes amid mounting pressure on Belgium’s security agencies.

www.politico.eu

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Reposted by Dr. Dan Lomas

The Times & Sunday Times @thetimes.com · 12d

Blaise Metreweli, 48, is the youngest ever boss of the Secret Intelligence Service

MI6’s new chief aims to restore British influence in Middle East

Blaise Metreweli, 48, is the youngest ever boss of the Secret Intelligence Service

www.thetimes.com

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Dr. Dan Lomas @sandbaggerone.bsky.social · 12d

MI6’s new chief aims to restore British influence in Middle East

www.thetimes.com/uk/defence/a...

MI6’s new chief aims to restore British influence in Middle East

Blaise Metreweli, 48, is the youngest ever boss of the Secret Intelligence Service

www.thetimes.com

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Dr. Dan Lomas @sandbaggerone.bsky.social · 13d

"British prosecutors suspected that China’s fifth most senior official was in receipt of intelligence from Westminster in a controversial and now-abandoned espionage case".

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

China’s fifth-ranking official was suspect in dropped Westminster spy case

Person who was thought to have received intelligence is understood to be Cai Qi, de facto chief of staff to Xi Jinping

www.theguardian.com

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Dr. Dan Lomas @sandbaggerone.bsky.social · 16d

BBC News - Terry Farrell, architect who designed MI6 building, dies
www.bbc.com/news/article...

Terry Farrell, architect who designed MI6 building, dies aged 87

He also designed the headquarters for ITV's 80s breakfast show TV-am, with giant eggcups on the roof.

www.bbc.com

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Dr. Dan Lomas @sandbaggerone.bsky.social · 16d

Just 2 weeks before Oct. 7, Mossad reportedly said Hamas ‘not interested’ in armed conflict

www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_ent...

Just 2 weeks before Oct. 7, Mossad reportedly said Hamas ‘not interested’ in armed conflict

* * *

www.timesofisrael.com

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Dr. Dan Lomas @sandbaggerone.bsky.social · 16d

Oh, but the experts said HUMINT was difficult in today's technology rich environment ... 😉

Hundreds of Israelis receive recruitment calls from Iranian intelligence, Israel Police says | CNN share.google/GoLdVJ0e72qG...

Hundreds of Israelis receive recruitment calls from Iranian intelligence, Israel Police says | CNN

Hundreds of Israeli citizens have received calls from Iran’s intelligence service in attempts to recruit them, the country’s police force said Saturday.

share.google

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Dr. Dan Lomas @sandbaggerone.bsky.social · 17d

www.theguardian.com/world/ng-int...

Inside the everyday Facebook networks where far-right ideas grow

The Guardian spent a year studying an online community trading in anti-immigration sentiment and misinformation. Experts say such spaces can play a role in radicalisation

www.theguardian.com

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Dr. Dan Lomas @sandbaggerone.bsky.social · 17d

Mark Urban: How the secret state tried to ban my book on the Troubles
www.thetimes.com/uk/history/a...

Mark Urban: How the secret state tried to ban my book on the Troubles

Declassified files show that my exposé of SAS tactics against the IRA frayed nerves in Whitehall. But it was an ally’s betrayal that really surprised me

www.thetimes.com

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Dr. Dan Lomas @sandbaggerone.bsky.social · 17d

Netherlands Detains 2 Teens on Suspicion of Spying for Pro-Russia Hackers www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/09/26/n...

Netherlands Detains 2 Teens on Suspicion of Spying for Pro-Russia Hackers - The Moscow Times

Two 17-year-old boys were arrested in the Netherlands this week on suspicion of espionage for a foreign power, Dutch authorities said Friday, in a case media linked to pro-Russian hackers.

www.themoscowtimes.com

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Dr. Dan Lomas @sandbaggerone.bsky.social · 19d

Sir Mark Heathcote Bt obituary: MI6 officer with role in Falklands war

www.thetimes.com/uk/obituarie...

Sir Mark Heathcote Bt obituary: MI6 officer with role in Falklands war

Intelligence officer with an appetite for adventure and life’s wilder shores who was head of the SIS station in Buenos Aires in the early 1980s dies aged 84

www.thetimes.com

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Dr. Dan Lomas @sandbaggerone.bsky.social · 20d

✍️ "With this amount, which only equals that spent every year on the maintenance (not the cost) of one of H.M. Destroyers ... it is indeed remarkable that such results have been achieved at all".

SIS's Chief, "Quex" Sinclair, highlighting the lack of money to support SIS in October 1935.