Gordon Corera (born 1974) is a British

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

and

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

. He was the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's Security Correspondent and specialised in computer technology from 2004 to November 2024, he now co-presents the podcast The Rest is Classified (which is about the intelligence services) and is produced by Goalhanger Podcasts.

Early life

Corera was born in London; his father was from the state of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

in southern

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and his mother is German. The family has a home near Cavelossim, in the state of Goa in western India, which he says he has a deep affection for, and visits regularly.

Education

Corera was educated at University College School, an

independent school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

for boys in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...

in northwest

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, followed by St Peter's College at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, where he studied

Modern History The modern era or the modern period is considered the current historical period of human history. It was originally applied to the history of Europe and Western history for events that came after the Middle Ages, often from around the year 1500, ...

,BBC press office biography
followed by graduate studies in US foreign policy at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

.Biography from the BBC's ''Today'' programme

Life and career

Corera worked on the re-election campaign of President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

. He joined the BBC in 1997 as a researcher and later became a reporter. He has worked on Radio 4's ''

The World Tonight ''The World Tonight'' is a British current affairs radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4, every weekday evening, which started out as an extension of the 10 pm news. It is produced by BBC News and features news, analysis and comment on dome ...

'', BBC2's '' Newsnight'', and worked in the US as the BBC's

State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...

correspondent and as an analyst for the BBC's coverage of the 2000 US presidential election. In 2001 he became the foreign reporter for Radio 4's '' Today'' programme. He was appointed BBC News' security correspondent in 2004. Corera presented the 2009 Radio 4 programme ''MI6: A Century in the Shadows'', a three-part history of Britain's

Secret Intelligence Service The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 (MI numbers, Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of Human i ...

.''MI6: A Century in the Shadows''
BBC website

Books

Corera wrote ''The Art of Betrayal: Life and Death in the British Secret Service'' (Orion 2011) about MI6, and ''Shopping for Bombs: Nuclear Proliferation, Global Insecurity, and the Rise and Fall of the A.Q. Khan Network'' (September 2006) , about Abdul Qadeer Khan and Pakistan's nuclear programme. He wrote ''Intercept: The Secret History of Computers and Spies'', also ''Cyberspies: The Secret History of Surveillance, Hacking, and Digital Espionage''. Corera wrote the introduction to

Omar Nasiri Omar Nasiri (born 1960s) is the pseudonym of a Belgium, Belgian spy of Moroccan origin who infiltrated al-Qaeda, attending training camps in Afghanistan and passing information to the UK and French external intelligence services, the Directorate ...

's book '' Inside the Jihad: My Life with al Qaeda, a Spy's story''. Corera most recently wrote ''Russians Among Us: Sleeper Cells, Ghost Stories and the Hunt for Putin's Spies''. The book covers the FBI and CIA investigation into the Russian Illegals programs.

References

External links

Audio discussion with Gordon Corera
ABC New South Wales, Australia
Journalisted - Articles by Gordon Corera
{{DEFAULTSORT:Corera, Gordon Living people 1974 births Alumni of St Peter's College, Oxford BBC newsreaders and journalists English male journalists English people of German descent English people of Indian Tamil descent English people of Portuguese descent Harvard University alumni Journalists from London People educated at University College School