From Syrian Psyops to Project Alchemy: How a Former Journalist Became the UK’s Master of Digital Manipulation
THE SENTIMENT INSPECTOR
I wanted to expand a little more on Amil Khan, who I mentioned in my previous article about Project Alchemy. The man behind Valent Projects and the UK’s Master of Digital Manipulation.
The Puppetmaster of Perception
Behind the scenes of Britain’s digital landscape, a new breed of information warriors is quietly shaping what you see, hear, and believe. At the centre is Amil Khan, ex-journalist turned psychological operations architect, and his private intelligence firm, Valent Projects.
Their mission?
To control the narrative, silence dissent, and wage a new kind of war-one fought not with bullets, but with bots, algorithms, and legal threats.
Welcome to Project Alchemy.
From War Correspondent to Information Warrior
Amil Khan’s journey from BBC and Reuters reporter to covert psyops specialist is a study in transformation-and ambition. In the early 2010s, Khan left journalism for the shadowy world of government consulting. His first major act: advising the Syrian opposition, training activists, and running “citizen journalist” networks funded by the UK Foreign Office. These weren’t just media workshops-they were the front lines of a propaganda war, designed to topple Assad by flooding the airwaves with Western-friendly narratives, even if it meant whitewashing extremist groups.
“He was extensively involved in the Syrian dirty war, providing PR guidance to jihadist groups and secretly overseeing supposed citizen journalist collectives backed by foreign governments.”
Valent Projects: The Digital Disinformation Machine
In 2020, Khan founded Valent Projects, promising to fight disinformation. But behind the PR, Valent is a digital warfare contractor, developing AI tools like Ariadne AI-capable of tracking, predicting, and manipulating online sentiment at scale.
Valent’s client list? Western governments, NGOs, and anyone with the budget to wage narrative warfare. Their methods:
- AI-driven sentiment analysis and bot detection
- Covert online campaigns
- Legal and regulatory harassment of “undesirable” media
- Astroturfing and influencer manipulation
Project Alchemy: The UK’s Information Warfare Playbook
Project Alchemy is the crown jewel of Britain’s new information war. Launched by the Ministry of Defence, it’s a multi-agency, multi-year operation to seize control of global and domestic narratives-especially around the Ukraine conflict and Russian influence.
Valent’s Role in Project Alchemy
- Discrediting and targeting independent media (e.g., The Grayzone) through legal complaints, regulatory pressure, and coordinated campaigns.
- Deploying AI-powered psychological operations to manipulate public opinion, especially around sensitive topics like Covid-19, Ukraine, and anti-vaccine activism.
- Partnering with military units like the 77th Brigade for cyber and psychological warfare, both abroad and at home.
- Leveraging NGOs and private contractors to mask state involvement and give operations a veneer of legitimacy.
“Valent’s work has led to the takedown of coordinated networks and a measurable drop in disinformation activity fueling conflict…”
Suppressing Dissent at Home
Under the guise of fighting “disinformation,” Khan and Valent have helped orchestrate campaigns to marginalize critics of UK foreign policy, Covid restrictions, and more. Their tactics include:
- Coordinated takedowns of social media accounts critical of Western-backed regimes (e.g., in Sudan and Ethiopia).
- Astroturfed campaigns (like the “Sussex Squad” bot army) to sway public sentiment on cultural issues.
- Opaque AI manipulation of trending topics and hashtags, making it nearly impossible for the public to distinguish organic debate from manufactured consensus.
The Ethics of Narrative Warfare
The line between defending democracy and manipulating it has never been thinner. Valent Projects’ operations-often funded by Western intelligence and development agencies-raise urgent questions:
- Who decides what is “disinformation” and what is legitimate dissent?
- How much influence should private contractors have over public debate?
- What happens when the tools of war are turned inward, against a nation’s own citizens?
Who Controls the Narrative?
Amil Khan’s rise from war reporter to master of digital psyops is a warning for democracies everywhere.
As Project Alchemy’s influence spreads, the British public must ask:
Are we being protected from foreign threats-or manipulated by our own government’s shadowy contractors?
The sentiment inspector is here to find out.
References
- Project Alchemy, Sentiment Inspector
- Wikispooks: Amil Khan
- Valent Projects Official Site
- Amil Khan LinkedIn
- [The Grayzone Reporting on Project Alchemy]
- Janes Intelligence Podcast (Worth listening to)
This article (Exposé: Amil Khan, Valent Projects, and the UK’s Secret Information War) was created and published by The Sentiment Inspector and is republished here under “Fair Use”
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