Amil Khan

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Person.png Amil Khan TwitterRdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
(journalist, “terror expert”, propagandist?, deep state operative?)
Amil Khan.png
BornGreat Britain
NationalityBritish
Alma materDurham University
Founder ofValent Projects
Member ofAktis Strategy, Chatham House, EXPOSE Network, Foreign Policy Centre, Valent Projects
Interests“Violent extremism”
Security cleared Chatham House fellow who was proposed to be one of the 3 directors of the EXPOSE Network (together with Chris Donnelly of the Institute for Statecraft and Louis Brooke of the Zinc Network

Employment.png Associate Fellow

In office
January 2018 - Present
EmployerChatham House

Employment.png Behavioural Communications Expert

In office
July 2017 - Present
EmployerAktis Strategy

Employment.png Expert Advisor

In office
July 2017 - Present
EmployerUK/Prime Minister's Office,  UK/Cabinet Office,  UK/MoD

Employment.png Political communications consultant

In office
May 2014 - May 2015
EmployerUK/Prime Minister's Office,  Amnesty International
Also worked for "Private sector companies"

Employment.png Advisor to the Syrian Opposition Coalition

In office
February 2013 - May 2014
EmployerUK/FCO

Employment.png Project Manager

In office
April 2011 - December 2012
EmployerPakistan Counter Violent Extremism

Employment.png Strategic Communications Lead in Pakistan

In office
November 2010 - April 2011
EmployerOxfam
"Drafted in to help Oxfam GB manage its response to the 2010 Pakistan floods. Led a team of media, advocacy and policy advisors engaging Pakistani decision makers to affect strategic change in policy"

Employment.png Project Manager

In office
April 2011 - December 2012
EmployerPakistan Counter Violent Extremism

Employment.png Producer,  presenter

In office
November 2007 - August 2009
EmployerChannel 4 Dispatches,  BBC Panorama

Amil Khan is a security cleared Chatham House fellow who was proposed to be one of the 3 directors of the EXPOSE Network (together with Chris Donnelly (Institute for Statecraft) and Louis Brooke (Zinc Network).[1] He has been frequently employed by UK commercially-controlled media.

Career

Amil Khan has worked in media and explaining about "violent extremism", increasingly also the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and UK Ministry of Defence. "In early 2013, Amil was appointed as an advisor to the Syrian political opposition, supporting them during conflict and negotiations."[2]

In 2017 he became a "Behavioural Communications Expert" for the now defunct Aktis Strategy.

He was extensively involved in the Syrian dirty war, during which he provided PR guidance to jihadist groups.[3]

Khan founded Valent Projects “to help good causes navigate the new information landscape.”[4]

Exposure

His CV is described on the proposal to head the EXPOSE Network (exposed by Integrity Initiative Leak 7) as

“Political and communications advisor. Experienced at providing strategic advice to political movements and established leadership at senior levels. Chatham House fellow. Former award-winning documentary maker and Reuters Middle East correspondent. Regular contributor to UK and international news media.”
Amil Khan [1]

Grayzone

In June 2022, the US blog, Grayzone, published what it claims are leaked emails showing British journalist and ex-left Paul Mason discussing plans to involve the state to silence anti-war, anti-NATO media outlets. The leaks show exchanges of emails between Mason and Amil Khan, the head of intelligence contractor Valent Projects, which discuss financially and legally targeting Grayzone. The exchange then appears to show Khan suggesting a “brain storm session” at his agency’s office, and inviting state agents to join them, but that his friends in the state suggested another course of action:

“[S]poke to a friend at National Security Council comms directorate... He says govt wouldn't want to send someone to a meeting as it could jeopardise outcomes later. But he says a plan of action could include a bunch of us who have been targeted putting evidence together for OFCOM and/or DCMS as part of a formal complaint, which would then kick off an investigation into GZ's funding and activities - at which point govt can get properly involved."[5]

The Grayzone has previously revealed Khan’s extensive involvement in the Syrian dirty war, during which he provided public relations guidance to jihadist groups, trained anti-government activists in communication strategies, and secretly oversaw supposed citizen journalist collectives backed by foreign governments. His goal was to flood international media with pro-opposition propaganda, destabilise the government of Bashar al-Assad, and ready the ground for Western regime change.

This ethically dubious work was conducted for a variety of intelligence-adjacent British Foreign Office contractors, such as ARK, a firm founded by probable MI6 operative Alistair Harris, and InCoStrat, which has been plausibly accused of producing propaganda for the blood-stained UK and Saudi-backed insurgents. After leaving the Middle East, Khan reinvented himself as an expert in countering “disinformation”, and has since charged a number of blue chip clients a premium for his dubious services. As this outlet reported, the same techniques of manipulation and information warfare that Khan honed in Syria were turned against Western citizens when he oversaw a British quasi-state funded astroturf YouTube project designed to counter public skepticism of Covid-related restrictions.[6]


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