Sign up to the launch event of the much anticipated research on State Threats, by Matthew Redhead of RUSI

Chinese espionage. Russian sabotage. Iranian assassination attempts. North Korean cybercrime. The UK and its allies are facing successive waves of covert, and sometimes not-so-covert, hostile action from repressive states with revisionist ambitions. These states are using many different tools, from cyber and AI technologies to weaponised illegal migration and many different types of operatives, from criminals and terrorists through to apparently legitimate companies, civilians and diaspora communities. While during the Cold War hostile covert action was largely the preserve of intelligence agencies, now, the most active states are increasingly taking a ‘whole of society’ approach.   

In a new research paper funded by the Serious Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Evidence (SOC ACE) Research Programme, RUSI Senior Associate Fellow Matthew Redhead seeks to understand and assess such hostile activity, described in UK government policy as ‘state threats’. The paper examines the scale, scope and significance of the contemporary state threats landscape and considers future trends, highlighting how states are diversifying, decentralising and experimenting in their secret statecraft. The paper also narrates how the use of state-to-state hostile activity is spreading, virus-like, from ‘usual suspects’ such as Russia and Iran to other authoritarian – and even some democratic – states, who view the exploitation of underhand methods as a cheap and effective way to pursue policy goals.  

The event will include headline findings from the research, followed by an expert panel discussion that will consider the scale and scope of contemporary threats, potential future trends, and policy responses. 

Sign up to the event here and access the full research paper on 14 January 2025 on the SOC ACE Understanding State Threats project page.