Dean Godson: “Research Director”
Over the last few days, there has been much said about Dean Godson, Policy Exchange’s “Research Director”. His appearance on Newsnight to defend P.E.’s report into extremist literature was quite extraordinary. Here are some interesting facts about Mr Godson.
Most notably, he holds the extraordinary distinction of having lost his position at the Daily Telegraph because of his political views. Back in 2004, Martin Newland, former Telegraph editor, explained to the Guardian:
It’s OK to be pro-Israel, but not to be unbelievably pro-Likud Israel, it’s OK to be pro-American but not look as if you’re taking instructions from Washington. Dean Godson and Barbara Amiel were key departures.
Dean Godson was too pro-Likud and too subservient to the US government for the Telegraph. Given the writers they happily still employ, you’ve got to wonder just how extreme his own views must be.
Mr Godson has also been reasonably open about the need for the US and UK government’s to deploy covert propaganda techniques. In an article for the Times in 2006, he wrote that:
During the Cold War, organisations such as the Information Research Department of the Foreign Office would assert the superiority of the West over its totalitarian rivals. And magazines such as Encounter did hand-to-hand combat with Soviet fellow travellers. For any kind of truly moderate Islam to flourish, we need first to recapture our own self-confidence. At the moment, the extremists largely have the field to themselves.
The Information Research Department was a secret Foreign Office propaganda organisation which operated mostly in the developing world during the Cold War. It’s practices were modelled on psychological warfare operations. Typically, it covertly spoon fed “slanted” anti-communist stories to journalists to achieve the desired effect
Encounter magazine, on the other hand, was funded by the CIA. Based in London and initially edited by Irving Kristol, it too was a covert Cold War propaganda tool. It’s primary function seems to have been to attempt to steer European left wing intellectuals down the “right” path (no pun intended). The “right” path was the path deemed most acceptable by right wingers in the CIA. The CIA funding was kept secret in order that readers wouldn’t know that attempts were being made to manipulate their views from across the pond.
Neither of the government funded organisations operated in a transparent manner. Quite the opposite in fact. Mr Godson, who worked for the Reagan administration, will almost certainly be aware of the covert nature of these organisations. In true neo-conservative style, this does not seem to bother him in the slightest.
This suggests rather strongly that Mr Godson is a believer in the idea of the political noble lie as a means to achieve social cohesion and national security.
And he is the “Research Director” of Policy Exchange, an organisation which purports to be “an independent think tank… committed to an evidence-based approach to policy development”.
Right…
I’m no expert but I’m not sure that Dean Godson is the best man for the job.
The Political News You Need to Know » Dean Godson: “Research Director” said,
December 16, 2007 @ 5:21 pm
[…] Read the rest of this great post here […]
Tim Ireland said,
December 18, 2007 @ 5:21 pm
You may recall that Paul Staines (aka Guido Fawkes) enjoyed some success in his younger days working on a publication not entirely unlike Encounter magazine:
http://tinyurl.com/2rscua
Cold War said,
December 18, 2007 @ 9:07 pm
[…] Dean Godson: “Research Director” […]
chrisc said,
December 19, 2007 @ 8:08 am
Nothing to worry about in those bookshops then…phew, glad you’ve sorted that one out!
If you only knew said,
December 19, 2007 @ 10:20 am
Encounter magazine was very different from the privately circulated intelligence briefing sheets that Staines worked on in his younger days. You are getting warmer though, there is an historical link between US taxpayer funded propagandists like Godson and Staines.
If you look beyond the successful Acid House / video games champion disinformation he seeded into the popular version of his biography you’ll notice some interesting clues.
Why did a very smart young man (he was a teenage Mensa member) with committed right-wing leanings drop out of college to have an army career lasting only months?
After his suspiciously short military career he joined the SDP, handy for political cover, where he concentrates his efforts on foreign affairs - namely boosting support for anti-Communist insurgencies in the third world. He was an “asset” to somebody wasn’t he? He was publicly the London end of ISHR, (IGFM in Germany) which was set-up by NTS Cold War warriors and is now acknowledged as a successful CIA front.
Staines has updated the methods of Brian Crozier for today. Brian Crozier is the link between Godson and Staines. Read Crozier’s book “Free Agent” to get an idea of the methods.
Have you noticed that Staines is ridiculously camera shy? Covert operators have it so very deeply ingrained into them.
Garry said,
December 19, 2007 @ 1:57 pm
chrisc, a classic response. Thank you.
Astonishingly, I can be concerned about Islamist extremism and the way Dean Godson and Policy Exchange go about their business. Contrary to your implication, the existence of the one doesn’t give a free pass to the other to do whatever they like without scrutiny.
Tim, he certainly has been a busy boy.
If you only knew, interesting but speculative. Not sure I’m buying it.
More on Dean Godson « Parburypolitica said,
December 20, 2007 @ 6:54 pm
[…] and wrecking Britiain’s chance to become a modern social democracy. Now it appears that the Research Director of Cameron’s favourite thinktank was parted company from the Telegraph f…. That must have taken some doing! Via Bloggerheads Posted by parburypolitica Filed in […]
If you only knew said, said,
April 2, 2008 @ 8:50 pm
If you actually investigate rather than speculate you would find out.
Staines worked on World Briefing and British Briefing. They were spook-publications associated with Brian Crozier, who was a CIA bagman at times. Crozier and Godson senior go back.
There are some publicly verifiable traces of the involvement of Staines. The whole Contra thing he was part of at the European end was part of ‘Project Democracy’. Which was a DIA (not a typo) funded enterprise from the people who brought you Iran-Contra.
I know this to be true. However I am guessing that the Policy Exchange clumsy attempt to manufacture evidence was based on the Institute for the Study of Conflict model of think tank work. The ISC was a private sector ally of the IRD.
Crozier set up a news features syndication service which fed stories and articles into the press. The right wing blogs of today fulfill a similar role.
Boris, Dean Godson, Andrew Gilligan and, er, the Routemaster bus? said,
May 24, 2008 @ 11:23 pm
[…] much more than just a ‘Daily Telegraph leader writer and Tory activist’. Let’s review the evidence (etc.): Most notably, he holds the extraordinary distinction of having lost his […]