Recently declassified archival materials reveal that the United Kingdom conducted a sustained program of so-called black propaganda at the height of the Cold War. This article examines roughly 350 operations in which the British government spread propaganda through forgeries and front groups. Placing the campaign in its broader global history, the article demonstrates that British black propaganda mainly targeted Soviet activity in Africa and Asia as part of the postcolonial battle for influence. The British government engaged in black propaganda far more often than has previously been kown, including aggressive operations seeking to disrupt, attack, and sow chaos as much as simply to expose lies. Although much of the content was broadly accurate, the fake sources deliberately deceived audiences in order to encourage a reaction, incite violence, or foment racial tensions.

This article examines Great Britain’s approach to covert action during the formative years of British Cold War intelligence operations, 1950–1951. Rather than shy away from such activity in the wake of the failure in Albania in the late 1940s, the British increased the number of operations they pursued. This was the start of a coherent strategy regarding covert activity that can be conceptualized as the “pinprick” approach. The strategy was overseen by a highly secretive Whitehall body, the Official Committee on Communism, which in effect became the government’s covert action committee. This article uses the commission’s recently declassified papers for the first time to assess the merits of this approach.