Aberystwyth academic wins international prize for Cold War intelligence book

An Aberystwyth University academic has won a prestigious international prize for her book exploring the hidden history of intelligence cooperation during the Cold War.

Dr Aviva Guttmann, Lecturer in Strategy and Intelligence in the Department of International Politics at Aberystwyth University, has been awarded the 2025 Kjetil Hatlebrekke Memorial Book Prize for her book Operation Wrath of God: The Secret History of European Intelligence and Mossad’s Assassination Campaign.

The book examines the role of Western European intelligence agencies in one of Mossad’s most significant targeted killing operations. Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, launched the covert operation known as Operation Wrath of God in response to the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre. The operation consisted of ten missions targeting Palestinians who were directly or loosely associated with terrorism. What was previously unknown, and what Dr Guttmann's book reveals, is that European intelligence played a vital role in the organisation and execution of Operation Wrath of God.

Drawing on previously unavailable archival documents, Dr Guttmann shows how European intelligence services shared information with Mossad during its campaign. The research also highlights how intelligence agencies worked behind the scenes to prevent further attacks, some of which the book reveals for the first time.

The Kjetil Hatlebrekke Memorial Book Prize is awarded every two years in recognition of outstanding research in global intelligence studies. It is sponsored by The King’s Centre for the Study of Intelligence and honours the life and work of Dr Kjetil Anders Ely Hatlebrekke, a Norwegian intelligence practitioner and scholar.

Dr Guttmann said:

“I am delighted to receive this prestigious award. It is an honour to have my work recognised in this way – a prize that celebrates scholarship that expands traditional lines of inquiry in intelligence studies.

"Researching this book has been really great. I have been the first scholar to publish about records from the Club de Berne (a multilateral intelligence group), an exciting archival find. Absolutely fascinating research questions emerged from these records. How do the international relations of intelligence agencies work? Do secret links across national agencies operate differently from public diplomatic relations? When everything can be kept secret, and hence does not need to be justified publicly, is there a different foreign political logic at play? These questions gripped me and eventually led me to the topic of this book."

Dr Guttmann’s research at the Department of International Politics at Aberystwyth University includes intelligence history, terrorism and counterterrorism, covert actions, and the role of women in the work of intelligence agencies.