Alexander Finnen
Alex Finnen – Executive Officer, Specialist Group Military Intelligence.[1] Born in June 1952,[2] he served at first in the Corps of Royal Engineers (Territorial Army), where he was promoted to Captain in 1994[3] and then Major in 1999.[4] He transferred to the Intelligence Corps as Major on 1 June 2005.[5] In 2010 he was awarded The Efficiency Decoration (Territorial) Medal.[6] In 2014 he was listed as with the Parachute Regiment.[7] In 2016 he was again listed with the Intelligence Corps.[8] In his civilian role he is described as a ‘retired member of the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) who, since retiring, has served on a variety of contracts with the EU and the UK Department for International Development (DFID).’[9] There is no mention of Finnen in the Directory of British Diplomats based on officially published data.[10] In 2007 he was Deputy Head of the OSCE presence in Albania.[11] A biographical note records that he served as Director General for Elections in Bosnia. He has provided electoral advice to FCO, DFID and the UK Ministry of Defence for a range of countries from 1996 to date. He has a doctorate and is an Honorary Associate Fellow of the Centre for Global Politics, Economy and Society at Oxford Brookes University.[9]
Specialist Group Military Intelligence
A 2014 document setting out the "Process for SGMI Taskings" says tasks are found by "Chief Ops, Ops Offr (Maj Finnen), Pillar Chiefs" on scoping visits. The document is one of a set of unknown provenance that purport to be internal Specialist Group Military Intelligence files; its authenticity has not been established.[12] He is named in a list of SGMI members published by Anonymous in January 2019 as "SO2 Academic Outreach and Research".[13]
Affiliations
Notes
- ↑ Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media, Briefing note on the Integrity Initiative, 21 December 2018, updated 29 December 2018, accessed 5 November 2026.
- ↑ Companies House, officer appointments, accessed via the Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media briefing note.
- ↑ The London Gazette, supplement 53652, p. 6164.
- ↑ The London Gazette, issue 55615, p. 10095.
- ↑ The London Gazette, supplement 57699, p. 9015.
- ↑ The London Gazette, supplement 59486, p. 13281.
- ↑ The London Gazette, supplement 60895, p. B37.
- ↑ The London Gazette, supplement 61636, p. 14546.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 SCID, 2015 SCID Symposium: Dr Alex Finnen MBE, 1 April 2015.
- ↑ Colin Mackie, A Directory of British Diplomats.
- ↑ Digital TV News, cited in the Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media briefing note.
- ↑ Process for SGMI Taskings, 26 April 2014, among documents of unknown provenance that purport to be internal Specialist Group Military Intelligence files.
- ↑ Anonymous, list of Specialist Group Military Intelligence members posted on CyberGuerrilla, 24 January 2019, archived copy, accessed 1 November 2026.