British academic specialising in international relations and defence issues. Dr Shea is currently adjunct professor of
politics at
Michigan State University, and serves as
NATO's Director of Information and Press. He holds an honours degree from
Sussex University and a doctorate from
Oxford University.
People would better know Dr Shea for his Cockney-accented press briefings during the Kosovo Conflict. In NATO's first ever conflict, his rise to prominence and the way how he presented briefings and shared information with the media showed how public relations had become an influential role in modern warfare. Indeed at one point he
suggested that a Yugoslav radio station would be spared from bombing if it broadcasted Western news.
His boundless glib enthusiasm for regaling how effective NATO operations were irritated some commentators. However others felt that his Barrow Boy tongue made his spin sound more genuine than if they were delivered in crisp RP tones.
While the Telegraph thought that his Estuary English accent made him sound like the manager of a lower-division football club, Dr Shea claims to have been nominated as one of the ten sexiest men alive.