The Arab Bureau (the Story Of Britain’s Most Ingenious Intelligence Unit)

A fascinating study of the British Empire’s Middle Eastern intelligence section during the First World War, drawing on government files and secret publications.

A fascinating study of the British Empire’s Middle Eastern intelligence section during the First World War, drawing on government files and secret publications.

In the midst of the First World War, an extra- ordinary intelligence unit operated from Cairo’s Savoy Hotel, combining the skills of archaeologists, academics and soldiers to revolutionise how Britain gathered information and shaped events in the Middle East. Overshadowed by Lawrence of Arabia, the Arab Bureau’s true significance has remained hidden in plain sight ever since.

This fascinating study uncovers the Bureau’s remarkable story through newly discovered Arabic documents and previously overlooked archives. At its heart lies an astonishing find: Thawrat al-Arab, an ambitious Arabic-language book and the longest piece of British propaganda produced during the war. From the Arab Bulletin’s secret intelligence reports to sophisticated propaganda campaigns, the Bureau was decades ahead of its time. The team—including archaeologists fresh from desert digs and scholars fluent in local dialects— developed new methods of cultural intelligence that would influence future generations.

Eamonn Gearon’s compelling narrative reveals how this unique organisation navigated the complexities of Arab politics, tribal rivalries and Ottoman intelligence, while developing techniques that resonate with today’s challenges in intelligence-gathering. Essential reading for anyone interested in intelligence history, the Middle East or how innovation occurs in wartime, this book transforms our understanding of a crucial moment in world history.

Eamonn Gearon is an historian whose bestselling series for The Great Courses chronicle 1,400 years of Middle Eastern history; and author of The Sahara: A Cultural History, among others. He created and runs MENA area studies training for the U.S. State Department and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.