Foreign Office

Europe, France, Russia
French lawyer Grand d'Esnon leads Alisher Usmanov's fight against EU sanctions

To head his legal battle against European Union sanctions at the European Court of Justice, Russian-Uzbek business magnate Alisher Usmanov has hired a lawyer who used to advise the late French president Jacques Chirac.

United Kingdom
Falklands return to heart of British intelligence concerns

The Falklands islands are once again becoming strategic for the UK, both to develop new space surveillance capabilities and to deal with Argentina, which is quickly moving closer to China.

The Corporate Intelligence Village Voice
Othrys, Ercom, Hart Security, Risk&Co

Appointments, financial results, new contracts: each week, we report on events both big and small that matter in the global corporate intelligence community. This week we go to London and Paris.

LondonA TV producer at the helm of intelligence firm Othrys.

ParisErcom and Suneris made full Thales units with Cyril Autant appointment.

LondonHart Security to dispatch intelligence experts to UK's most at-risk embassies.

ParisRisk&Co brings ex-Amarante manager Dimitri Akarawitage to boost corporate security management line.

The Intelligence Gazette
CIS, UK counter state threats bill, Palestine-Algeria

Appointments, reforms and the issues at stake: every Monday, Intelligence Online serves up snippets big and small from the global intelligence community from London to Paris via Moscow.

Palestine-AlgeriaMaster spy Noureddine Mekri takes a stab at Palestinian reconciliation

United KingdomChristine Lee affair sparks Tom Tugendhat's push for draft bill on counter state threats

Russia'Compatriot' think-tank receives award

United Kingdom
Airbus to install new ciphering system for British Foreign Office

The Franco-German company has won a contract for a new ciphering system for Britain's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) as London looks to deal with a growing espionage threat.

France
Viginum and DGSI consider partnering with defence-backed startups to fight fake news

With four months to go before the French presidential elections, Sahar and Storyzy, two start-ups backed in their early days by the French armed forces ministry, are leading the field for contracts to equip the DGSI and Viginum - the second on the advice of the first - with cyber systems to fight fake news.

United Kingdom
London lays groundwork for British cyber among Gulf allies

CyLon, a British cyber incubator close to the UK government and advised by Israel's former domestic intelligence chief Yuval Diskin, has been developing semi-public accelerators in the Gulf with funding from the Foreign Office, itself keen to export British cyber tools to the region.

France
France's SGDSN budget finances new anti-fake news technology for Viginum

France's new anti-fake news service Viginum has been allocated €4m to procure technology and hire 25 additional staff in signs which suggest the service is poised to work more closely with the French intelligence community.

France, United Kingdom
Storyzy hunts fake news for UK foreign office

French firm Storyzy, initially a contractor to French ministries, supplies disinformation monitoring and analytics tools to a growing number of government clients abroad.

Spotlight | United Kingdom
Britain's HMGCC looks to serve as bulwark against Beijing

The communications security agency, which develops gadgets for the intelligence community, is at the front line of efforts to counter Chinese espionage.

Iraq, United Kingdom
Adam Smith International roped in to help with Peshmerga reform

Adam Smith International has won a contract from the British foreign ministry to help the Kurdistan Region of Iraq to implement "priority reforms" mainly regarding the security forces.

Iraq, United Kingdom
After training Africa's civil servants, Crown Agents to lecture Iraqi military

British international development company Crown Agents has been awarded a contract by the Foreign Office to train Iraqi army officers.

United Kingdom
The Foreign Office to invite bids for security and intelligence contracts at high-risk embassies

The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office's regular contractors for work of this kind are busy preparing their bids.

United Kingdom
MPs have reservations about National Security and Investment Bill

In a critical report on Britain's National Security and Investment Bill (NSIB) published on 19 January, Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee [...]

United Kingdom
Discreet visit by North Korean military envoy goes down badly

A low-key visit to London by the Moscow-based North Korean [...]

United Kingdom
Ex-GCHQ chief Robert Hannigan becomes super-consultant

Robert Hannigan, who stepped down as head of Britain's interception agency GCHQ in January, has taken on a number of [...]

France, United Kingdom
EDF still pitching Hinkley Point nuclear plant

While the construction of a nuclear plant at Hinkley Point [...]