Michael Herman (192912 February 2021) was a former British intelligence officer for

GCHQ Government Communications Headquarters, commonly known as GCHQ, is an intelligence and security organisation responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance (IA) to the government and armed forces of the Unit ...

and academic. He was a former Fellow at

Nuffield College Nuffield College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is a graduate college and specialises in the social sciences, particularly economics, politics and sociology. Nuffield is one of Oxford's newer co ...

and

St Antony's College St Antony's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1950 as the result of the gift of French merchant Sir Antonin Besse of Aden, St Antony's specialises in international relations, economic ...

at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, and the founder of the Oxford Intelligence Group. He was the author and/or editor of three books on intelligence, including ''Intelligence Power in Peace and War'', described as "a key reference point for all those seeking to study the nature, roles and impact of intelligence as a state function, influencing a whole generation of academics drawn to its study."

Early life

Michael Herman was born in 1929. He was educated at the Scarborough High School and graduated from

The Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault. It is distinguished by its pred ...

, where he read Modern History. He served in the Intelligence Corps of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

in Egypt from 1947 to 1949. Michael Herman died on 12 February 2021.

Career

Herman worked for the

Government Communications Headquarters Government Communications Headquarters, commonly known as GCHQ, is an intelligence and security organisation responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance (IA) to the government and armed forces of the Un ...

from 1952 to 1987. During that period, he also worked as Secretary of the Joint Intelligence Committee in the

Cabinet Office The Cabinet Office is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for supporting the prime minister and Cabinet. It is composed of various units that support Cabinet committees and which co-ordinate the delivery of government objecti ...

and as a staff member of

Defence Intelligence Defence Intelligence (DI) is an organisation within the United Kingdom intelligence community which focuses on gathering and analysing military intelligence. It differs from the UK's intelligence agencies (MI6, GCHQ and MI5) in that it is an ...

. On retiring from GCHQ in 1987, Herman became a Gwilym Gibbon Research Fellow at

Nuffield College, Oxford Nuffield College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is a graduate college and specialises in the social sciences, particularly economics, politics and sociology. Nuffield is one of Oxford's newer co ...

. He was subsequently an Honorary Departmental Fellow in the Department of International Politics at

Aberystwyth University , mottoeng = A world without knowledge is no world at all , established = 1872 (as ''The University College of Wales'') , former_names = University of Wales, Aberystwyth , type = Public , endowment = ...

in Wales and a Senior Associate Fellow of St. Antony’s College, Oxford. He was also the founding director of the Oxford Intelligence Group. He gave evidence before the

Butler Review The Review of Intelligence on Weapons of Mass Destruction, widely known as the Butler Review after its chairman Robin Butler, Baron Butler of Brockwell, was announced on 3 February 2004 by the British Government and published on 14 July 2004. It ...

in 2004. Herman was the recipient of the St Antony's plaque from St Antony's College in 2004, an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...

in 2005 and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Association for Intelligence Education in 2016. Herman was the author of two books and the editor of a third book, all of which are about intelligence. His first book, ''Intelligence Power in Peace and War'', was published in 1996. It was reviewed by

Percy Cradock Sir Percy Cradock (, 26 October 1923 – 22 January 2010) was a British diplomat, civil servant and sinologist who served as British Ambassador to the People's Republic of China from 1978 to 1983, playing a significant role in the Sino-British ...

in ''

International Affairs International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such as ...

'', Michael I. Handel in ''

The International History Review ''The International History Review'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering the history of international relations and the history of international thought published by Routledge. It was established in 1978 by Edward Ingram, Gordon Martel an ...

'', and Jérôme Marchand in ''

Politique étrangère ''Politique étrangère'' is the oldest French journal dedicated to the study of international relations. Created in 1936 by the French Council on Foreign Relations, this quarterly was taken over and published by the Institut français des relation ...

''. According to Professor Mark Phythian of the

University of Leicester , mottoeng = So that they may have life , established = , type = public research university , endowment = £20.0 million , budget = £326 million , chancellor = David Willetts , vice_chancellor = Nishan Canagarajah , head_labe ...

, the book became "a key reference point for all those seeking to study the nature, roles and impact of intelligence as a state function, influencing a whole generation of academics drawn to its study." In 2001, Herman published a second book, ''Intelligence Services in the Information Age: Theory and Practice''. He co-edited ''Intelligence in the Cold War: What Difference Did It Make?'' with Gwilym Hughes in 2013.

Works

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Herman, Michael 2021 deaths 1929 births Alumni of The Queen's College, Oxford GCHQ people Fellows of Nuffield College, Oxford Fellows of St Antony's College, Oxford Academics of Aberystwyth University British historians of espionage