The Defence of the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5To mark the centenary of its foundation, the British Security Service, MI5, has opened its archives to an independent historian. The Defence of the Realm, the book which results, is an unprecedented publication, It reveals the precise role of the Service in twentieth-century British history, from its foundation by Captain Kell of the British Army in October 1909 to root out 'the spies of the Kaiser' up to its present role in countering Islamic terrorism. It describes the distinctive ethos of MI5, how the organization has been managed, its relationship with the government, where it has triumphed and where it has failed. In all of this, no restriction has been placed on the judgements made by the author. The book also casts new light on many events and periods in British history, showing for example that though well-placed sources MI5 was probably the pre-war department with the best understanding of Hitler's objectives, and had a remarkable willingness to speak truth to power; how it was so astonishingly successful in turning German agents during the Second World War; and that it had much greater roles than has hitherto been realized during the end of the Empire and in responding to the recurrent fears of successive governments (both Conservative and Labour) and or Cold War Communist subversion. It has new information about the Profumo affair and its aftermath, about the 'Magnificent Five' and about a range of formerly unconfirmed Soviet contacts. It reveals that though MI5 had a file on Harold Wilson it did not plot against him, and it describes what really happened during the failed IRA attack in Gibraltar in March 1988. |
Contents
The Origins of the Secret Service Bureau | 3 |
Part 1 The Failure of German | 53 |
Part 2 The Rise | 84 |
Copyright | |
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The Defence of the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5 Christopher M. Andrew No preview available - 2009 |
Common terms and phrases
Abwehr activities Andrew April arrested attack August became believed Blunt bomb Britain British intelligence cabinet Centre Churchill claimed codenamed Cold War Comintern Committee Communist counter-espionage CPGB decrypts Defence Dick White Director double agent Double-Cross System embassy espionage evidence files Foreign Office former Security Service German intelligence Gordievsky Guy Liddell Guy Liddell diary head Hollis Holt-Wilson Home Office Home Secretary identified intelligence officers Intelligence Service intercepted investigation Irish July June Kell's Labour letter major March meeting military Moscow Northern Ireland October operations Philby PIRA police political Prime Minister recruited reported responsible revealed Rimington Roger Hollis role Russian Scotland Yard Second World Secret Service Security Service Archives Security Service officer September Service's SIGINT Sillitoe Soviet agent Soviet intelligence Special Branch spies staff Stella Rimington subversion success surveillance targets terrorism terrorist threat TNA KV told Union VENONA wartime Whitehall Wilson wrote