Lord Ricketts and Sir David Omand delivered two practitioner masterclasses to students on the MSc Diplomacy and International Security focusing on the situation in Ukraine and the wider international repercussions. Sir David Omand delivered his practitioner masterclass on ‘The interface between strategy and intelligence’ and covered a number of topics of interest to the students, including the history of intelligence sharing between Great Britain and the United States, and the use of intelligence to create the strategic narrative in the lead up to the invasion of Ukraine. Sir David is former director of GCHQ and his posts in government service included, UK Security and Intelligence Coordinator in the Cabinet Office, Permanent Secretary of the Home Office, and Deputy Under-Secretary of State for Policy in the Ministry of Defence. Sir David also touched on a number of themes in his book, How Spies Think, and answered questions from students on intelligence failures and successes, as well as ethical intelligence.
Lord Ricketts was the UK’s Permanent Representative to NATO and was Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee. During his distinguished career, he was also the UK’s first National Security Advisor 2010-2012, and Ambassador to France 2012-2016. He is currently a crossbench life peer and chairs the EU Security and Justice sub-committee. He spoke about the war in Ukraine and answered a number of questions from students on the diplomatic and security implications for NATO and United Nations. He emphasised the importance of strategic thinking and the need for international cooperation and solidarity in a dangerous world. He also spoke about some of the themes in his book Hard Choices: What Britain Does Next which covers a number of important topics including the choices for the UK post Brexit.
The programme’s director, Dr Rogelia Pastor-Castro, described how inviting practitioners to share their insights was a key part of the Masters programme, and of great importance in the Place of useful learning. The programme brings together academic expertise in the Humanities and Social Sciences from History, Government and Public Policy and Law.
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