FREE MI6: THE HISTORY OF THE SECRET INTELLIGENCE SERVICE 1909-1949 PDF Keith Jeffery | 864 pages | 06 Jun 2011 | Bloomsbury Publishing PLC | 9781408810057 | English | London, United Kingdom The Secret History of MI6 by Keith Jeffery 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.