a demonstration of how the UK government could use a sophisticated media campaign of mass deception to fool the British people into the thinking an accident at a chemical plant had occurred and threatened central London

they are British, Eton-educated, headquartered in the city of London and have close ties to Her Majesty's government

The scandal around mass data harvesting by Cambridge Analytica took a new twist on Monday.A Channel 4 news undercover investigation revealed that the company's Eton-educated CEO Alexander Nix offered to use dirty tricks - including the use of bribery and sex workers - to entrap politicians and subvert elections.Much of the media spotlight is now on Cambridge Analytica and their shadowy antics in elections worldwide, including that of Donald Trump.However,Indeed, as the Observer article which broke the scandal said "For all intents and purposes, SCL/Cambridge Analytica are one and the same."Like Cambridge Analytica, SCL group is a behavioral research and strategic communication company.In 2005, SCL went public with a glitzy exhibit at the DSEI conference, the UK's largest showcase for military technology.It's 'hard sell' was. Genuinely.. This is a scandal that cuts to the heart of the British establishment.SCL Group says on its website that it provides "data, analytics and strategy to governments and military organizations worldwide."A freedom of information request from August 2016, shows that the MOD has twice bought services from Strategic Communication Laboratories in recent years.In 2010/11, the MOD paid £40,000 to SCL for the "provision of external training". Meanwhile, in 2014/2015, it paid SCL £150,000 for the "procurement of target audience analysis".In addition,. A List X site is a commercial site on British soil that is approved to hold UK government information marked as 'confidential' and above. Essentially, SCL got the green light to hold British government secrets on its premises.Meanwhile, the US State Department has a contract for $500,000 with SLC. According to an official , this was to provide "research and analytical support in connection with our mission to counter terrorist propaganda and disinformation overseas." This was not the only work that SCL has been contracted for with the US government.The company delivered a three-month course in Riga which taught "advanced counter-propaganda techniques designed to help member states assess and counter Russia's propaganda in Eastern Europe".The NATO website said the "revolutionary" training would "help Ukrainians better defend themselves against the Russian threat".What is clear is that all of SCL's activities were inextricably linked to its Cambridge Analytica arm.As recently as July 2017, the website for Cambridge Analytica said its methods have been approved by the "UK Ministry of Defence, the US State Department, Sandia and NATO" and carried their logos on its website.Mark Turnbull, who joined Alexander Nix at the secretly filmed meetings, heads up SCL Elections as well as Cambridge Analytica Political Global.His profile at the University of Exeter Strategy and Security Institute boasts of his record in achieving "campaign success via measurable behavioural change" in "over 100 campaigns in Europe, North and South America, Asia, Africa and the Caribbean".Turnbull's involvement is just one sign of the sweeping links the company has with powerful Anglo-American political and military interests.The firm is headed up by Nigel Oakes, another old Etonian, who, according to the website PowerBase has links to the British royals and was once rumoured to be an Mi5 spy.In 1992, Oakes described his work in a trade journal as."The President of SCL is Sir Geoffrey Pattie, a former Conservative MP and the Defence Minister in Margaret Thatcher's government. Pattie also co-founded Terrington Management which lists BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin among its clients.One of the company's directors' is wine millionaire and former British special forces officer in Borneo and Kenya, Roger Gabb, who in 2006 donated £500,000 to the Conservative party.Gabb was also fined by the Electoral Commission for failing to include his name on an advert in a number of local newspapers arguing for a Leave vote in the Brexit referendum.SCL's links to the Conservative party continues throughThe organisation has also been funded byfor a decade.Meanwhile, another director is Gavin McNicoll, founder of counter-terrorism Eden Intelligence firm, who ran a G8 Plus meeting on Financial Intelligence Cooperation at the behest of the British government.Previous board members includeThe British military and royal establishment links to SCL are further highlighted through another director,but it's unclear if he still holds that role.The above examples barely scrape the surface of just how deep the ties go between the UK defence establishment and Strategic Communication Laboratories.Indeed, it seems evident that the organisation is a product of murky alliances formed between venture capitalists and former British military and intelligence officers. Unsurprisingly, they also happen to be closely tied to the higher echelons of the Conservative party.International deception and meddling is the name of the game for SCL.Instead,