The Global Strategy Network
London-based consultancy founded by former MI6 director of global counter-terrorism Richard Barrett; delivered UK/US-funded strategic communications and media platforms in Syria
| The Global Strategy Network | |
|---|---|
| Type | Consultancy |
| Logo | |
| Founded | 2016 |
| Founder(s) | Richard Barrett |
| Dissolved | |
| Registration ID | |
| Status | Active |
| Headquarters | 27 Old Gloucester Street, London WC1N 3AX |
| Location | |
| Area served | |
| Services | Strategic communications; media platform development and mentoring; research, monitoring, evaluation and learning; data analytics (including ExTrac); CVE programming |
| Registration | |
| Key people | Richard Barrett (founder and former director); Giles Henry Donne Barrett (current director) |
| Website | tgsn.co |
| Remarks | Company number 10433562; led consortium delivering high-impact strategic communications programmes for UK and US governments across Syria; created and funded platforms including SY24, SY+ and the Revolutionary Forces of Syria Media Office |
The Global Strategy Network (TGSN) is a London-based consultancy founded in 2016 by Richard Barrett, former director of global counter-terrorism operations at MI6. It specialises in strategic communications, research, data analytics and programming on disinformation, violent extremism and stabilisation in fragile contexts. TGSN led consortia delivering UK- and US-funded strategic-communications and social-cohesion programmes across Syria, working closely with ARK Group. Leaked documents show it overseeing large media networks and platforms including SY24, SY+ and the Revolutionary Forces of Syria Media Office (RFS).[1][2]
Company details
The Global Strategy Network Ltd (company number 10433562) was incorporated in 2016. Directors have included Richard Barrett (appointed 18 October 2016, resigned 24 June 2021; date of birth June 1949), Matthew Thomas King (appointed 24 June 2021, resigned 30 May 2024) and Giles Henry Donne Barrett (appointed 6 April 2023; date of birth January 1980). The registered office is at 27 Old Gloucester Street, London WC1N 3AX. The firm describes itself as combining technology, communications, research and development, with a team drawn from multiple countries.[1][3]
Syria programming
TGSN led a consortium with over six years’ experience delivering high-impact strategic-communications and social-cohesion programmes for the UK and US governments across Syria, including the Northeast and Northwest. It worked closely with ARK Group and other contractors. A September 2020 Grayzone investigation based on leaked UK Foreign Office documents described TGSN, directed by Barrett, as one of several contractors bankrolled by the FCO to conduct information-warfare operations in Syria. Together with ARK it oversaw media assets inside the country that included 97 video stringers, 23 writers, 49 distributors, 23 photographers, 19 in-country trainers, eight training centres, three media offices and 32 research officers. TGSN developed the Revolutionary Forces of Syria Media Office (RFS), which offered substantial payments (one example cited was $17,000 per month to a journalist) for content production for Syrian rebels. The firm established and later mentored the SY24 and SY+ platforms (first funded under the CSSF “Syrian Voices” project); these were reported to have generated large followings and global coverage. TGSN has also conducted work on reintegration and social cohesion related to populations in camps such as Al Hol and Al Roj.[2][4][5]
The Grayzone reported that TGSN functioned as a PR firm for the Syrian armed opposition, crafting narratives and media content to support regime-change objectives, and that it boasted of constant contact with networks to push pro-opposition talking points. Both TGSN and ARK were contracted by the UK FCO and involved in multi-donor projects with the US and other Western governments. A later CSSF contract award (2023) of £489,600 was made to the Global Strategy Network to provide the Counter-Daesh Communications Cell with quantitative and qualitative analytical reporting on Daesh terrorism and associated terrorist communication.[2][6]
Richard Barrett
Richard Barrett CMG OBE (born 14 June 1949) is a former British diplomat and intelligence officer. He served in MI5, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and MI6, and was director of global counter-terrorism operations at MI6 both before and after the 11 September 2001 attacks. From 2004 to 2013 he coordinated the UN Monitoring Team concerning al-Qaeda and the Taliban and helped establish the UN Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force. He founded TGSN in 2016 and resigned as director in June 2021. Critical reporting has noted his proximity to UK extraordinary-rendition practices during his MI6 tenure and his subsequent role leading TGSN’s Syria information operations.[7][8]
See also
External links
- The Global Strategy Network website
- Companies House officers
- Grayzone, 23 September 2020
- Richard Barrett (Wikipedia)
- Leaked TGSN methodology documents (c. 2019–2020)
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Companies House, THE GLOBAL STRATEGY NETWORK LTD Companies House, accessed 10 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Ben Norton, Leaked docs expose massive Syria propaganda operation waged by Western govt contractors and media The Grayzone, 23 September 2020.
- ↑ The Global Strategy Network, website TGSN, accessed 10 October 2026.
- ↑ Leaked TGSN methodology document (Sections 1.2–1.4), c. 2019–2020, archived via AppForest/S3.
- ↑ Consortium News / Transnational, Leaked docs expose massive Syria propaganda operation… The Transnational, 26 October 2020.
- ↑ Bidstats / Contracts Finder, “CSSF: Global Coalition Against Daesh Analysis,” award to Global Strategy Network, June 2023.
- ↑ Wikipedia, Richard Barrett (counter-terrorism expert) Wikipedia, accessed 10 October 2026.
- ↑ Defend Democracy Press, Leaked docs reveal senior MI6 operative… Defend Democracy Press, 10 July 2021.