Incostrat

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Strategic-communications contractor that provided media and propaganda support to the Syrian moderate armed opposition under UK FCO/CSSF contracts; co-founded by Paul Tilley and Emma Winberg


Incostrat
Type Strategic-communications consultancy
Logo
Founded November 2014
Founder(s) Paul Tilley; Emma Winberg
Dissolved
Registration ID
Status Active (as of available records)
Headquarters Washington, DC (US listing); operations in Turkey and the region
Location
Area served
Services Campaign planning; narrative development; media production and distribution; training for opposition media; target-audience analysis
Registration
Key people Paul Tilley (co-founder); Emma Winberg (co-founder); Amil Khan (associated in tender materials)
Website incostrat.com
Remarks Took over the UK contract for strategic communications and media operations support to the Syrian moderate armed opposition from November 2014; one of three FCO partners on Syrian media work


Incostrat (Innovative Communications & Strategies / InCoStrat) is a strategic-communications consultancy that provided media and propaganda support to the Syrian moderate armed opposition under UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office contracts funded by the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund. It was co-founded in November 2014 by Paul Tilley (former director of Strategic Communications for the UK Ministry of Defence in the Middle East and North Africa) and Emma Winberg (later director of Mayday Rescue and wife of James Le Mesurier). The firm positioned itself as one of three FCO partners working on media surrounding the Syrian conflict.[1][2]

Activities in Syria

From November 2014 Incostrat took over from Regester Larkin the UK contract to deliver “strategic communications and media operations support to the Syrian moderate armed opposition.” The work, overseen by the FCO and Ministry of Defence, included production of videos, photographs, military reports, radio broadcasts, print products and social-media posts branded with the logos of fighting groups. A British source with knowledge of the contracts described the arrangement as the government essentially running a “Free Syrian Army press office.” An Incostrat spokesman told the Guardian: “InCoStrat is providing media and communication support to the moderate Syrian opposition to assist Syrians to better convey the reality of war and those involved in it.” Insiders described “tremendous oversight,” with FCO and MoD handlers meeting contractors up to three times a week and having “the last say in everything.”[1]

Leaked tender documents prepared by Incostrat for the FCO describe a multi-donor project “in support of UK Foreign Policy objectives” in Syria, specifically providing strategic-communication support to the moderate armed opposition. Other funders listed included the US government, the United Arab Emirates and Syrian businessmen opposed to the Assad government. The documents claim networks of over 1,600 journalists and influencers, access to stringers across Syria (including some regime- and ISIS-controlled areas), production studios in Turkey and Jordan, and prior work on platforms such as Basma. They also highlight target-audience analysis capabilities and previous clients including US combatant commands, USAID, the FCO and others.[3]

Key personnel

  • Paul Tilley – co-founder; former lieutenant colonel and MoD director of Strategic Communications for the Middle East and North Africa; military-intelligence background. Headed the Regester Larkin contract for strategic communications and media operations support to the Syrian moderate armed opposition before setting up InCoStrat, which took over the work from November 2014. Later associated with Innovation and Insight FZE (IN2).[1]
  • Emma Winberg – co-founder; former FCO diplomat (postings including Damascus and Erbil); later Chief Impact Officer and director of Mayday Rescue.
  • Michael Flood – co-founder, senior principal and president of InCoStrat (US registration); listed as government business point of contact (President) on the firm’s SAM/CAGE filings at 600 Pennsylvania Avenue SE, Suite 200, Washington, DC. Also associated with The FED, LLC.[4][5]
  • Robbie Harris – listed as CEO in InCoStrat’s US SAM/CAGE registration filings.[4]
  • Alexis Everington – InCoStrat partner; described in the firm’s own bid materials as having led over 20 target-audience-analysis and research projects for UK and US governments in Syria and the wider MENA region; work said to have reached US presidential level.[6]
  • Amil Khan – named in InCoStrat tender materials in connection with prior journalistic work embedding with extremist organisations.

Relationship to ARK and Mayday Rescue

Incostrat operated in the same UK-funded Syrian strategic-communications ecosystem as ARK Group. Leaked documents and critical reporting note overlaps in personnel and activity, including work on opposition media platforms such as Basma. James Le Mesurier (founder of Mayday Rescue) worked at ARK from 2011 to 2014; Mayday was spun out of ARK. Winberg joined Mayday after her time at Incostrat. The three firms formed part of the cluster of contractors delivering FCO/CSSF programmes in support of the moderate opposition.[2][7]

See also

External links

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 The Guardian, How Britain funds the ‘propaganda war’ against Isis in Syria The Guardian, 3 May 2016. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "Guardian" defined multiple times with different content
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 RT, White Helmets founder Le Mesurier is now a mainstream saint… RT, 2020.
  3. ↑ Leaked Incostrat tender documents (Lot A: Invitation to Tender for the Provision of Strategic Communications in the Syria Region), 2014, archived at Avalon Library / AppForest.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Innovative Communications & Strategies LLC | InCoStrat (CAGE/DUNS filing).
  5. ↑ Innovative Communications & Strategies Llc | Incostrat (SAM registration).
  6. ↑ InCoStrat tender response on target audience analysis (c.2014), published in the Grayzone/Anonymous Syria leaks.
  7. ↑ Consortium News, Leaked Docs Expose Massive Syria Propaganda Operation… Consortium News, 12 October 2020.
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