Daniela Richterova
Associate Prof/SL in Intelligence Studies @warstudies @kcl.ac.uk www.KCSI.uk
Interests: #ColdWar #intelligence #covertops, #terrorism, USSR/Russia, CEE, #MiddleEast
Author of 📙 #WatchingTheJackals
👉 press.georgetown.edu/Book/Watching-the-J…
- ☀️🎓 Thrilled to be celebrating the MA Intelligence & International Security graduation on such a glorious day. 🎉 Huge congratulations to the Class of 2026! What a brilliant cohort and genuinely fun to teach. 🙌🏻 We cannot wait to see where you all go next and the impact you will make along the way.
- 📢 #WatchingTheJackals is 1 year old. The reception has gone far beyond what I had expected (and Central Europeans aren't known for low expectations). Here’s a snapshot of highlights from the past 12 months. A collective 🙏 to all who quietly made this happen. You know who you are. 1/4 ENDORSEMENTS
- 2/4 MEDIA @nytimes.com @thespectator1828.bsky.social @theguardian.com @shaunwalker7.bsky.social @coldwarpod.bsky.social @recetvienna.bsky.social @warstudieskcl.bsky.social @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social
- 3/4 EVENTS @kcsi.uk @warstudieskcl.bsky.social @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social @pembroke1347.bsky.social @socintelhist.bsky.social
- 4/4 SHOUT-OUTS @nytimes.com @prospectmagazine.co.uk @warontherocks.bsky.social And a special thanks to the team & series editors at @georgetownup.bsky.social for their trust, patience and support. 🙏
- The 2025 #KCSI Holiday Book Guide is here! ✨ Old favourites, 2025 releases and what’s coming next from the 🕵️♀️📚 shelves. 📍 Available now via @kcsi.uk.
- Reposted by Daniela Richterova📖 Dr Daniela Richterova (@drichterova.bsky.social) recommends "Fakers: A Top-Secret Tale of Phantoms and Forgeries on the Disinformation Front Line" by @rorycormac.bsky.social (2026).
- 📕 🕵♀️ Very happily stunned that Chris Costa, Executive Director of International Spy Museum has put #WatchingTheJackals at the top of his 2025 "must read" list & called it "gripping". 👉 Check out the International Spy Museum's socials for Chris' reflections on his top 5 reads.
- 🎧 Grateful to contribute to the 📻 prgm "CURRENTLY: Playing Spies", drawing on what I’ve learned while observing recent UK trials linked to RU sabotage & espionage. Thanks 🙏 @gordoncorera.bsky.social & #BBC Radio 4 production team for putting this excellent programme together! 👉 shorturl.at/icEjs
- 📜 It was a great opportunity to highlight research we published at @rusi.bsky.social in '24 on #gigeconomysabotage, w/ @kloosha.bsky.social @magslong.bsky.social @patrickbury.bsky.social. 👥 It was excellent to appear alongside the expert voices of #SO15 Dom Murphy, @matthewrr.bsky.social & others.
- 📕 🎄 📘 I am grateful to Walter Landgraf for including #WatchingTheJackals on this year’s @warontherocks.bsky.social Holiday Reading List. It means a great deal to have the story recognised alongside such an impressive list of titles 👉 shorturl.at/fc6l1 🙏 to the GUP team & editors for their support
- 🔍 Spotlight on “Strategic Vandalism” See our new piece with @paulineblistene.bsky.social on the recent “Red Hands” trial in Paris, which showed how Moscow instrumentalises vandalism as a calculated instrument of influence. 📝 See full article & more about "strategic vandalism" at #KCSIInsights.
- 🚨New article in our KCSI Insights blog by our core team member Dr @paulineblistene.bsky.social and KCSI Co-Director Dr @drichterova.bsky.social on “Strategic Vandalism: Decoding the French ‘Red Hands’ Trial.” 🔗 Link: kcsi.uk/kcsi-insight...
- 📢 Check out the latest publications by Team @kcsi.uk 👇
- 📄 From the impact of growing digitalisation on intelligence to Czechoslovakia’s complex relationship with Middle Eastern revolutionaries, our KCSI members have been busy with sharing their expert insights in several publications this month. 🔗 All publications can be found here: kcsi.uk/publications
- Reposted by Daniela Richterova📄 'From Prague With a Shove' 🗣️ Michael Young in an interview with @drichterova.bsky.social on lessons from her latest book, "Watching the Jackals" 📌 Diwan, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's Middle East Program @carnegieendowment.org 🔗 Link: carnegieendowment.org/middle-east/...
- 🐧 Grateful and excited about what lies ahead. 🙌 Thankful to everyone involved! www.thebookseller.com/rights/vikin...
- 📢 📚 Very much looking forward to this! Danke schön @recetvienna.bsky.social for the invite.
- 📙 #WatchingTheJackals spotted in the wild 🌴 in exquisite company by Ted Reinert @jfbooks in DC. 🙏
- Fantastic speaking to Michael Young of Malcolm H. Kerr @carnegiemec.bsky.social about #WatchingTheJackals & lessons from Cold War CT. 👉 shorturl.at/v1tr1
- 1/4 🎓🕵️♀️ Exciting times for #KCLMAIIS - the MA in Intelligence & International Security, @warstudieskcl.bsky.social, @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social, co-run with @paulmcgarr.bsky.social, @paulineblistene.bsky.social, David Easter, Huw Dylan & Celia Parker-Vincent.
- 2/4 We just welcomed a cohort of 100+ 🧑🎓 from across the globe and are looking forward to getting to diving into seminars, pracademic masterclasses, and building a strong community throughout the year. 🤝
- 3/4 📅✨ This is also a big season for King's Centre for the Study of Intelligence (KCSI)! We’ll be hosting a number of events and launching new initiatives...
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- 1/3 📕 #CovertAction: National Approaches to Unacknowledged Intervention is now out! I am delighted to have co-authored the chapter “Czechoslovakia: Covert Measures in Peace and War.”
- 2/3 👏 Congratulations to all contributing authors, and especially to the volume editors - @rorycormac.bsky.social, @magslong.bsky.social, @markstout.bsky.social, G. Lester & @dvanp.bsky.social - for their tireless work on this project.
- Do you have an older 💻 or 📱 you no longer use? Back in 2021, Sarah G.Solecki, Ilke D.Hustings & I organised several small-scale initiatives to help Afghan families settle in the UK. We also donated 2 older laptops to Screen Share UK – an org dedicated to empowering refugees through access to tech.
- One 💻 went to an Afghan refugee who has since used it to complete her teacher training & is now preparing to work in education. Getting the tech to Screen Share UK was super easy & the team kept us regularly updated. 👏 You can help too by donating your older tech devices at www.screen-share.co.uk
- 🙌 Delighted to have taken part in the @camsecurity.bsky.social ISI Summer School of '25. 🚨 Enjoyed lecturing & discussing the history & contemporary relevance of #sabotage. More coming soon! 🎓 Wishing the cohort all the best in their pursuit of understanding or shaping #internationalsecurity.
- Many 🙏 to Dr Rosie Johnston & @recetvienna.bsky.social in Vienna for hosting me on the #TransformativePodcast: shorturl.at/X6Do9. Do check out Rosie's fantastic research on the #ColdWar politics of #audiojournalism & her team's project on global politics of #Czechoslovak #weapons: shorturl.at/NStm2
- 🚨 What happens to a generation of journalists raised under Putin? 🎧 Join us for the latest @warstudieskcl.bsky.social podcast episode, where veteran journalists @andreisoldatov.bsky.social & I. Borogan discuss Our Dear Friends in Moscow - part memoir in exile, part anatomy of Putin’s secret state 👇
- 🎙️New Podcast! @andreisoldatov.bsky.social & Irina Borogan join @drichterova.bsky.social to discuss their book Our Dear Friends in Moscow. They explore how fear, betrayal & moral choices shaped a generation of Russians. 🎧Listen now: ☁️ bit.ly/3GibvBf 🟢 bit.ly/4lNgNnf 🍎 bit.ly/4kt6Av2
- Still #Commandos, wild Highlands 🏴. #SpyGems
- Many 🙌 @nytimes.com for including #WatchingTheJackals in your Father’s Day roundup — in my favourite category, no less: "For the dad who’s still talking about The Americans finale." If you're shopping for the espionage aficionado in your life (or just yourself), see full list: shorturl.at/nov9V
- 📺 A new #BBCFour #Storyville documentary on #CarlosTheJackal now streaming on iPlayer. A sharp recap for those interested in the history & mythology of Cold War-era international terrorism. Many 🙏 to the creators for bringing insights from 📚 #WatchingTheJackals to life on screen. shorturl.at/JFUFh
- Who were the #ColdWarJackals? Why were they #watched? What can today’s professionals learn from these uneasy covert alliances? 🎙️ Tune in as Thea Gioe, former USG intel practitioner & #KCSI Visiting Fellow, and I explore these questions in the latest #WarStudiesPODCAST episode. 👉 shorturl.at/ipOUl
- Many thanks to @shaunwalker7.bsky.social & @christogrozev.bsky.social for a fantastic evening at @theguardian.com Live. 🙌 @kcsi.uk / @camsecurity.bsky.social / @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social / @warstudieskcl.bsky.social
- 💼 Had a fantastic time teaching @charlesuni.cuni.cz in Prague on CEE's ties w/ #ColdWarJackals. The students excelled in the final simulation exercise on intel liaison — sharp analysis & fantastic visuals that brought their presentations to life. Big 🙏 to Irena Kalhousova for making this happen!
- 📢 Join in person/online for @theguardian.com Live Events where I'll be speaking alongside christogrozev.bsky.social & @shaunwalker7.bsky.social about the UK's largest #spytrial and what it tells us about contemporary #espionage & #activemeasures. 22nd May / 19:30-21:00 / Register: shorturl.at/yY8cf
