MI6: the History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949 Free

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Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. The authorized history of the world's oldest foreign intelligence service, drawing on hitherto secret documents. Britain's Secret Intelligence Service MI6 was born a century ago amid fears of the rising power of other countries, especially Germany. This revelatory account The authorized history of the world's oldest foreign intelligence service, drawing on hitherto secret documents. This revelatory account draws on a wealth of archival materials never before seen by outsiders to unveil the inner workings of the world's 1st spy agency. MI6's early days were haphazard but it was quickly forged into an effective organization during WWI. During the war years, MI6 also formed ties with the USA--harbingers of a relationship that would become vital to both. The interwar years were nominally peaceful, but Britain perceived numerous threats, all of which MI6 was expected to keep tabs on. The aftermath of WWII was as dramatic as the war itself had been, because saw not only the end of the British Empire but also the MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949 of a new sort of conflict--the Cold War. Get A Copy. Hardcoverpages. More Details Original Title. Other Editions Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 3. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Dec 01, Phrodrick rated it really liked it. He was limited in time he could cover and in the MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949 he could cite. He is only allowed to write about the first forty years of the agency, and could not refer to activities the agency felt to be still secret. A further limitation was that the archivists at MI 6 rarely considered it important to maintain documents where the inherit value of the document was fo From the beginning historian Keith Jeffery advises readers that The Secret History of MI6; was directly commissioned by MI6. MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949 further limitation was that the archivists at MI 6 rarely considered it important to maintain documents where the inherit value of the document was for the later creation of an agency history. The result is frequently a history of inter and intra-agency politics and rarely more than a mention of specific secret operations. Taking this last point consider: the problem of recruiting wherein the interviewer cannot say much about the job, or scoring the raw product from unknown people with unknown motives seeking to compromise their country or employers. From the beginning MI6 had to maintain its vision of its MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949, fight for its share of a usually less than minimal budget and fight off encroachment from hungry agencies seeking subsume or subvert the MI 6 Mission. MI6 saw itself as primarily a collector of information. Ideally this info would not be openly available, by for example reading newspapers, and would be vetted for probable accuracy but without analysis to the The Government, branches of the military and diplomatic corps. Diplomats were usually wary of being compromised by the mission of MI6 and usually fought their in country presence. Ultimately they were moved to the Passport office, whose income supplemented their own, but the near uniformity of this arrangement often compromised what was supposed to be secret agents. Later when MI 5 was formed to organize MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949 conduct secret operations, sabotage and the like, MI6 found themselves competing for the same pool of agents and stuffing reprisals from foreign governments disinterested in the bureaucratic division of Special Operations and the relatively passive collection of Special Intelligence. If you are looking for lots of James Bond action, this will not be your book. Two particular areas I had hoped to find better discussed were: The penetration and compromise of MI6 by Kim Philby and the rest of the so-called Cambridge 5 Russian moles. A particular Intelligence situation was later made famous in the several books and movies MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949 Operation Cicero Book and 5 Fingers movie. The version of this story as I knew it was that Cicero was a German spy functioning in the home of the British Ambassador in Turkey, but that he was being played by British Intelligence. In the Jeffery book this tangled story is reduced to a single sentence and one that suggests that Cicero was a German intelligence victory. The Secret History of MI6 is well written and a serious effort has been made to be academically neutral while being respectful to his hosts. Jeffery has no hesitation at noting how long it took for MI6 in house recruiting to abjure the Old Boy Network in favor of talent spotting. Jeffery can be a respectful tenant in the files of MI 6 but blunt were documents critical to a complete history are absent and occasionally sharp in criticizing individuals. At the end he discusses each of the heads of MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949 and his analysis seems complete and fair if constrained by space available. The focus tends to be at high level decision making. We get inter-agency maneuvers and what specific words where used in executing these maneuvers. Field ops rarely get as much detail. The book has to be among the first to make a point of championing woman agent contributions and casualties. The Secret history is more of a foundational, background book and MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949 is of the greatest interest for the serious reader. I found it a valuable addition to a long-time interest in this topic. It is best as a part of a much longer study, and perhaps better if used towards the beginning of MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949 personal interest in things espionage. Jul 18, Terry Cornell rated it it was ok Shelves: history. A really long, fairly monotonous read. The author was hired by MI6 to go through their archives and write an official history of the organization--at least the parts that could be made available to the general public. To paraphrase Mr. Jeffrey early on in the book--a large portion of intelligence work is tedious and boring. Writing reports, filing, etc. A large portion of the book reflects this. There are some interesting stories and tidbits mixed in--the reader just has MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949 find them! Unless you're a die-hard researcher on the organization of the British Intelligence services I recommend some other source. I'm mixed about this book. I enjoyed the fact that it was close look at politics and how it can effect governmental business, yet at times it was incredibly dry. This was particularly frustating because sometimes you wanted more of the sensational. Jeffery mentions a flight from the Nazis in Norway, in one line. But apparently the diary about it was gripping. So it gets just one line? Makes no sense. I mean I can understand downplaying Flemming and Reilly, but really. Yet parts of the book, like I'm mixed about this book. Yet parts of the book, like the different roles, how the politics influenced posting and so on, were interesting. The book really drags for the first 75 pages, picks up, drags again until WWII and then drags. But it is still an interesting read. Mar 03, Erik Graff rated it liked it Recommends it for: espionage fans. Shelves: history. This was an unsatisfying book. The author, an academic historian, was purportedly given unrestricted access to records MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949 the second world war and used them primarily to reconstruct the changing administrative structure of the agency and its relations with other elements in the government. Important matters such as the Enigma machine and the Cambridge spies are only glancingly mentioned. Entertaining matters such Ian Fleming's James Bond figure are not explored--indeed, Fleming himself is g This was an unsatisfying book. Entertaining matters such Ian Fleming's James Bond figure are not explored--indeed, Fleming himself is given but one mention. Still, though certainly not a fun book, it is a thorough one so far as it goes and a worthy, albeit dry, supplement to the myriad books written by outsiders about MI6. View all 5 comments. Jul 23, John rated it liked it. Unfortunately, for the first 20 to 30 years of its existence, MI6 did not value its records as historical artifacts, so at times the author had to put together the facts from those cables, memos, manuals, and accounts that do survive. In this he is successful. While not a read that blows you away, you are left impressed with this organization, its leadership, its productivity, its ability to adapt, and its ability to survive. Fromwhen MI6 was essentially a one-man shop tasked with coordinating the foreign intelligence responsibilities of the British army and navy, towhen it was a globe-spanning, highly professional, civilian-led and focused and internally respected institution tasked with finding out that which diplomats could not, it underwent immense change. Never formally acknowledged during this period, its repeated reorganizations, bureaucratic fights, oversight challenges, and immense operational tasks all took place behind closed doors, in the shadows, or in confidential votes of Parliament. Its ability to survive the Whitehall battles largely rests in the ability of its most senior leaders to convince the real power brokers of its importance and singular capabilities. MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service - Keith Jeffery - Google книги

He attended Methodist College Belfastwhere his father was vice principal. Although much of his work was devoted MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949 military history, his research more recently focused on the history of intelligence gathering. Inhe was commissioned by the British Secret Intelligence Service MI6 to write an authorised history for the organisation's centenary, covering its founding in up through to John Scarlett, head of MI6 at the end of that period, said credibility required that Jeffery be given unrestricted access the files for the relevant period — Scarlett also was quite adamant that if James Bond had been real, he would MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949 have been an agent, but a case officerand that it was unthinkable that a mere agent would have so much autonomy, including a license to kill. He died on 12 February From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Keith Jeffery. The Guardian. Retrieved 31 July Queen's University Belfast. Archived from the original on 7 January Retrieved 25 January BBC News. Retrieved 19 March The Irish News. Retrieved 18 February Namespaces Article Talk. Views Read Edit View history. Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file. Download as PDF Printable version. Methodist College Belfast University of Cambridge. John Andrew Gallagher. Queen's University Belfast Ulster University. This article about a British historian or genealogist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. This biographical article about an Irish historian, chronicler or genealogist is a stub. Keith Jeffery - Wikipedia

SIS is a member of the country's intelligence community and its Chief is accountable to the country's Foreign Secretary. Formed in as a section of the Secret Service Bureau specialising in foreign intelligencethe section experienced dramatic growth during World War I and officially adopted its current name around It MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949 still commonly used today. It provides the legal basis for its operations. The stated priority roles of SIS are counter-terrorismcounter-proliferationproviding intelligence in support of cyber securityand supporting stability overseas to disrupt terrorism and other criminal activities. The service derived from the Secret Service Bureau, which was founded on 1 October The bureau was split into naval and army sections which, over time, specialised in foreign espionage and internal counter-espionage activities, respectively. This specialisation was because the Admiralty wanted to know the maritime strength of the Imperial German Navy. This specialisation was formalised before During the First World War inthe two sections underwent administrative changes so that the foreign section became the section MI1 c of the Directorate of Military Intelligence. He typically signed correspondence with his initial C in green ink. This usage evolved as a code nameand has been adhered to by all subsequent directors of SIS when signing documents to retain anonymity. The service's performance during the First World War was mixed, because it was unable to establish a network in Germany itself. Most of its results came from military and commercial intelligence collected through networks in neutral countries, occupied territories, and Russia. After the war, resources were significantly reduced but during the s, MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949 established a close operational relationship with the diplomatic service. In AugustCumming created the new passport control department, providing diplomatic cover for agents abroad. The post of Passport Control Officer provided operatives with diplomatic immunity. Circulating Sections established intelligence requirements and passed the intelligence back to its consumer departments, mainly the War Office and Admiralty. The debate over the future structure of British Intelligence continued at MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949 after the end of hostilities but Cumming managed to engineer the return of the Service to Foreign Office control. Aroundit began increasingly to be referred to as the Secret Intelligence Service SISa title that it has continued to use to the present day and which was enshrined in statute in the Intelligence Services Act During the Second World War, the name MI6 was used as a flag of convenience, the name by which it is frequently known in popular culture since. Smith-Cumming died suddenly at his home on 14 Juneshortly before he was due to retire, and was replaced as C by Admiral Sir Hugh "Quex" Sinclair. Sinclair created the following sections:. With the emergence of Germany as a threat following the ascendence of the Nazisin the early s attention was shifted in that direction. MI6 assisted the Gestapothe Nazi secret police, with "the exchange of information about communism" as late as Octoberwell into the Nazi era; the head of the British agency's Berlin station, Frank Foleywas still able to describe his relationship with the Gestapo's so-called communism expert as "cordial". Sinclair died inafter an illness, and was replaced as C by Lt Col. On 26 and 27 July[26] in Pyry near WarsawBritish military intelligence representatives including Dilly KnoxAlastair Denniston and Humphrey Sandwith were introduced by their allied Polish counterparts into their Enigma-decryption techniques and equipment, including Zygalski sheets and the cryptologic " Bomba ", and were promised future delivery of a reverse-engineered, Polish-built duplicate Enigma machine. The demonstration represented a vital basis for the later British continuation and effort. The intelligence gleaned from this source, codenamed MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949 Ultra " by the British, was a MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909- 1949 aid to the Allied war effort. During the Second World War the human intelligence work of the service was complemented by several other initiatives:. The chief of SIS, Stewart Menziesinsisted on wartime control of codebreaking, and this gave him immense power and influence, which he used judiciously. Extensive breaches of Nazi Enigma signals gave Menzies and his team enormous insight into Adolf Hitler 's strategy, and this was kept a closely held secret. The British intelligence services signed a special agreement with their allied Polish counterparts In Julythe British and Polish governments jointly produced a two-volume study of bilateral intelligence cooperation in the War, which revealed information that had until then been officially secret. The Report of the Anglo-Polish Historical Committee was written by leading historians and experts who had been granted unprecedented access to British intelligence archives, and concluded that 48 percent of all reports received by British secret services from continental Europe in —45 had come from Polish sources. A major part of Polish resistance activity was clandestine and involved cellular intelligence networks; while Nazi Germany used Poles as forced labourers across the continent, putting them in a unique position to spy on the enemy. Liaison was undertaken by SIS officer Wilfred Dunderdaleand reports included advanced warning of the Afrikakorps ' departure for Libya, awareness of the readiness of Vichy French units to fight against the Allies or switch sides in Operation Torchand advance warning both of Operation Barbarossa and Operation Edelweissthe German Caucasus campaign. Polish-sourced reporting on German secret weapons began inand Operation Wildhorn enabled a British special operations flight to airlift a V-2 Rocket that had been captured by the Polish resistance. Agents of the German army secret service, the Abwehrand the counter-espionage section of the Sicherheitsdienst SDposed as MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949 officers involved in a plot to depose Hitler. On the night of 8—9 November, a meeting took place without police presence. Despite these difficulties the service nevertheless conducted substantial and successful operations in both occupied Europe and in the Middle East MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909- 1949 Far East where it operated under the cover name Inter-Services Liaison Department ISLD. In August Soviet intelligence officer Konstantin Volkov tried to defect to the UK, offering the names of all Soviet agents working inside British intelligence. Philby received the memo on Volkov's offer and alerted the Soviets, so they could arrest him. SIS suffered further embarrassment when it turned out that an officer involved in both the Vienna and Berlin tunnel operations had been turned as a Soviet agent during internment by the Chinese during the Korean War. This agent, George Blakereturned from his internment to be treated as something of a hero by his contemporaries in "the office". His security authorisation was restored, and in he was posted to the Vienna Station where the original Vienna tunnels had been running for years. After compromising these to his Soviet controllers, he was subsequently assigned to the British team involved on Operation Goldthe Berlin tunnel, and which was, consequently, blown from the outset. Despite earlier Soviet penetration, SIS began to recover as a result of improved vetting and security, and a series of successful penetrations. Blake was identified, arrested, tried for espionage and sent to prison. He escaped and was exfiltrated to the USSR in An annual mission of two SIS officers as well as military instructors were sent to Massoud and his fighters. Through them weapons and supplies, radios and vital intelligence on Soviet battle plans were all sent to the Afghan resistance. SIS also helped to retrieve crashed Soviet helicopters from Afghanistan. The real scale and impact of SIS activities during the second half of the Cold War remains unknown, however, because the bulk of their most successful targeting operations against Soviet officials were the result of "Third Country" operations recruiting Soviet sources travelling abroad in Asia and Africa. The end of MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949 Cold War led to a reshuffle of existing priorities. The Soviet Bloc ceased to swallow the lion's share of operational priorities, although the stability and intentions of a weakened but still nuclear- capable Federal Russia constituted a significant concern. Instead, functional rather than geographical intelligence requirements came to the fore such as counter-proliferation via the agency's Production and Targeting, MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949 Section which had been a sphere of activity since the discovery of Pakistani physics students studying nuclear-weapons related subjects in MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949 counter- terrorism via two joint sections run in collaboration with the Security Service, one for Irish republicanism and one for international terrorism ; counter-narcotics and serious crime originally set up under the Western Hemisphere controllerate in ; and a 'global issues' section looking at matters such as the environment and other public welfare issues. In the mids these were consolidated into a new post of Controller, Global and Functional. During the transition, then-C Sir Colin McColl embraced a new, albeit limited, policy of openness towards the press and public, with 'public affairs' falling into the brief of Director, Counter- Intelligence and Security renamed Director, Security and Public Affairs. McColl's policies were part and parcel with a wider 'open government initiative' developed from by the government of John Major. Although the Act provided procedures for authorisations and warrants, this essentially enshrined mechanisms that had been MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949 place at least since for authorisations and under the Interception of Communications Actfor warrants. During the mids the British intelligence community was subjected to a comprehensive costing MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949 by the government. As part of broader defence cut-backs SIS had its resources cut back twenty-five percent across the board and senior management was reduced by forty percent. As a consequence of these cuts, the Requirements division formerly the Circulating Sections of the Arrangement were deprived of any representation on the board of directors. At the same time, the Middle East and Africa controllerates were pared back and amalgamated. According to the findings of Lord Butler of Brockwell's Review of Weapons of Mass Destructionthe reduction of operational capabilities in the Middle East and of the Requirements division's ability to challenge the quality of the information the Middle East Controllerate was providing weakened the Joint Intelligence Committee 's estimates of Iraq 's non-conventional weapons programmes. These weaknesses were major contributors to the UK's erroneous assessments of Iraq's 'weapons of mass destruction' prior to the invasion of that country. But given that this might result in his being transferred or rendered to the United States, MI6 decided it had to ask for ministerial approval before passing the intelligence on in case he faced the death penalty or mistreatment. This was approved by a minister 'provided the CIA gave assurances regarding humane treatment'. In the end, not enough intelligence came through to make it worthwhile going ahead. Init became clear that working with Ahmad Shah Massoud and his forces was the best option for going after Bin Laden; the priority for MI6 was developing intelligence coverage. The first real sources were being established, although no one penetrated the upper tier of the Al Qaeda leadership itself. As the year MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949, plans were drawn up and slowly worked their way up to the White House on 4 September which involved increasing dramatically support for Massoud. MI6 were involved in these plans. Craig Murraya UK ambassador to Uzbekistanhad written several memos critical of the UK's acceptance of this information; he was then sacked from his job. Following the September 11 attackson 28 September the British Foreign Secretary approved the deployment of MI6 officers to Afghanistan and the wider region, utilising people involved with the mujahadeen in the s and who had language skills and regional expertise. In mid-December, MI6 officers who had been deployed to the region began to interview prisoners held by the Northern Alliance. In Januarythey began interviewing prisoners held by the Americans. On 10 Januaryan MI6 officer conducted his first interview of a detainee held by the Americans. He reported back to London that there were aspects of how the detainee had been handled by the US military before the interview that did not seem consistent with the Geneva Conventions. Two days after the interview, he was sent instructions, copied to all MI5 and MI6 officers in Afghanistan, about how to solve concerns over mistreatment, referring to signs of abuse: "Given that they are not within our custody or control, the law does not require you to intervene to protect this. In the run-up to the invasion of Iraq init is alleged, although not confirmed, that some SIS members conducted Operation Mass Appeal which was a campaign to plant stories about Iraq's WMDs in the media. The operation was exposed in The Sunday Times in December Ritter says that SIS recruited him in to help with the propaganda effort, saying "the aim was to convince the public that Iraq was a far greater threat than it actually was. After it became clear that Iraq did not possess MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949 WMDs, MI6 officially withdrew pre-invasion intelligence about them. In the months after the invasion, they also began gathering political intelligence; predicting what would happen in post-Baathist Iraq. Afterwards they raised concerns about the poor detention conditions there. MI6 provided information that enabled the detachment to carry out surveillance operations. MI6 were also involved in resolving the Basra MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service 1909-1949 incident ; the SIS played a central role in the British withdrawal from Basra in In Afghanistan, MI6 worked closely with the military, delivering tactical information and working in small cells alongside Special Forces, surveillance teams, and GCHQ to track individuals from the Taliban and Al Qaeda. The first MI6 knew of the US carrying out the mission that killed Osama Bin Laden on 2 May was after it happened, when its chief called his American counterpart for an explanation. The closures have allowed the service to focus its attention on Pakistan and Afghanistan, which are its principal stations. MI6's uptick in funding was not as large as that for MI5, but it still struggled to recruit fast enough; former members were rehired to help out. MI6 maintained intelligence coverage of suspects as they moved from the UK overseas, particularity to Pakistan. In OctoberSIS appealed for reinforcements and extra staff from other intelligence agencies amid growing concern about a terrorist threat from Afghanistan and that the country would become an "intelligence vacuum" after British troops withdraw at the end of Sources said SAS soldiers have been told that the mission could be the most important in the regiment's year history. Scarlett was an unusually high-profile appointment to the job, and gave evidence at the Hutton Inquiry. On 27 Septemberit was reported that British spies across the Balkans, including a SIS was chief officer in Belgrade and another spy in Sarajevowere moved or forced to withdraw after they were publicly identified in a number of media reports planted by disgruntled local intelligence services — particularly in Croatia and Serbia. A third individual was branded a British spy in the Balkans and left the office of the High Representative in Bosnia, whilst a further two British intelligence officers working in Zagrebremained in place despite their cover being blown in the local press.