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Biography
Dan Lomas is Assistant Professor, International Relations, at the University of Nottingham. Previously, he worked at Brunel University, London (2021-23), as Senior Lecturer in Intelligence & Security Studies. Dan specialises in the history, present, and future of the UK intelligence and security community, and has taught on intelligence assessment and policymaking. He is currently working on research projects exploring public attitudes to intelligence, and the use of secret intelligence in the run-up to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Previously, Dan has published on Cold War intelligence and the post-war Attlee government with Manchester University Press, and has explored the history of the UK Labour Party and its complicated relationship with Britain's intelligence community. Currently, he is writing the political and cultural history of UK security vetting for Bloomsbury, and completing a co-authored study into Whitehall reviews of the British intelligence community throughout the Twentieth Century, forthcoming with Edinburgh University Press. He is also under contract to write a new history of the UK's Secret Intelligence Service (SIS or MI6) for Georgetown University Press.
Dan's work has appeared in journals including Intelligence & National Security, The RUSI Journal, The Journal of Imperial & Commonwealth History, Diplomacy & Statecraft, The International History Review, The Journal of Intelligence History, and The Historical Journal. Aspects of his research has also appeared on BBC Radio 4, Times Radio, and BBC Ideas. He is a regular contributor to commentary from the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think-tank and has spoken about intelligence and security matters to the BBC, CNN, ITV, France24, Le Point, The Times, The Guardian, FT, The Washington Post and The Independent.
Expertise Summary
Dan covers the following topics:
- Intelligence collection and assessment
- Intelligence and policymaking
- UK Intelligence
- Spies in popular culture
- Intelligence and the media
Teaching Summary
Dan currently teaches on:
POLI1017 Understanding Global Politics
POLI2049 International Politics in the Twentieth Century
POLI3097 Secret Intelligence & International Security
POLI4195 Covert Action and Unacknowledged Interventions
Research Summary
Currently, Dan's research focuses on several areas. Firstly, the history of the UK's Secret Intelligence Service, focusing on the internal culture, leadership and activities of the organisation. His… read more
Recent Publications
DANIEL LOMAS and CHRISTOPHER J. MURPHY, 2024. Intelligence, Security and the State: Reviewing the British Intelligence Community Edinburgh University Press. (In Press.)
DANIEL LOMAS, 2024. The Security State: The history of UK security vetting Bloomsbury. (In Press.)
DANIEL LOMAS, KRISTIAN GUSTAFSON and STEVEN WAGNER, 2024. "Intelligence Warning and the Invasion of Ukraine, Autumn 2021 - Summer 2022" Intelligence & National Security: Intelligence and the Russo-Ukrainian War: Special Issue. 39(3), (In Press.)
DANIEL W.B. LOMAS, 2024. A latter day Judas? Security, diplomatic protection, and the Foreign Office Security Department, 1955 – 1987 The International History Review. (In Press.)
Current Research
Currently, Dan's research focuses on several areas. Firstly, the history of the UK's Secret Intelligence Service, focusing on the internal culture, leadership and activities of the organisation. His work also seeks to place the activities of SIS in the broader context of the UK intelligence community. Secondly, he has been conducting research on the development of the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office's security department and responses to attacks on diplomats serving overseas. The study seeks to place the development of the FCO's security department in the context of the evolving threat of terrorism, serious crime and espionage activities by foreign states. And, finally, Dan is looking at polling on trust in UK and allied intelligence agencies in the US, Australia and Canada, looking at how increased "openness" on intelligence has impacted wider public understanding of intelligence and security matters.