About
Dr Trenta is an expert in intelligence and covert operations, with a primary interest in state-sponsored assassinations. His latest book The President’s kill list: assassination in US foreign policy since the Cold War (Edinburgh University Press 2024) explores the US government’s involvement in the assassination of foreign officials from the early Cold War to the present.
He has held several British Academy grants for the study of assassination and covert operations. These included his 2021 project on secrecy and selective disclosures and a 2017 British Academy Rising Star Engagement Award (BARSEA). The Award - 'Out of the shadows: understanding, researching, and teaching covert action' - aimed at engaging with secondary schools to expand awareness of and interest in intelligence and overt operations.
Dr Trenta is the author of several peer-reviewed articles on covert operations, intelligence, and the use of force. He has published in IR, intelligence studies, and international law journals, including the Europea Journal of International Security, Intelligence and National Security, and the Journal on the Use of Force and International Law. His research appears regularly in prestigious magazines including The Economist, The New Yorker, and History Today. He features in various newspapers including The Guardian and The Telegraph. He is a regular contributor to The Conversation and to RUSI Commentary, as well as national and international media outlets.
Dr Trenta is a member of the editorial board of Intelligence and National Security, the leading intelligence studies journal. He is the host of the Out of the Shadows podcast where he interviews experts and authors in intelligence and covert action. Dr Trenta has appeared several times at the Hay-on-Wye International Book Festival, at the Being Human Festival of the Humanities, and in TV documentaries.