Historical Dictionary of British Intelligence (Historical Dictionaries of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, No. 1)

716 Pages·2005·2.63 MB·English

by  Nigel West

MilitaryHistory
W E S T
HistoricalDictionariesofIntelligenceandCounterintelligence,No.1
Praisefortheauthor: HISTORICAL
DICTIONARY OF
“His information is so precise that many people believe he is the unofficial
historianofthesecretservices.West’ssourcesareundoubtedlyexcellent. His
booksarepepperedwithdeliberatecluestopotentialfront-pagestories.”
—SundayTimes(UK)
Launching a new series—Historical Dictionaries of Intelligence and
Counterintelligence—thisbookexaminestheshadowyworldofspiesandprovides
the most detailed, comprehensive, and accurate information available on a
topicthathasprovednotoriouslydifficulttoresearch.TheHistoricalDictionary
of British Intelligence offers insight into the history and operations of British
Intelligence through its more than 1,800 entries on a vast and varied cast of
characters(spiesandtheirhandles,molesanddefectors,politicalleaders,and
topbrass),techniquesandjargon,officesandorganizations,agencies,operations
(includingdouble-agentanddeceptioncampaigns),andevents.Thishistorical I
dictionary, featuring thirty-nine photographs, an extensive chronology, and N
acomprehensivebibliography,containsthemostup-to-datedeclassifiedmaterial
T
but is written in an easy-to-read style, perfect for professional and general
readersalike.
E
Nigel West is a military historian specializing in intelligence and security L
issues, the European editor of the International Journal of Intelligence and H I S T O R I C A L D I C T I O N A R Y O F
L
Counterintelligence,alecturerattheCentreforCounterintelligenceandSecurity
Studies,andtheauthorofTheThirdSecretandMortalCrimes.Itwouldbedifficult I
tofindamoresuitableauthorforthishistoricaldictionary. Mr.Westhasbeen
G
writing about intelligence and security issues for several decades, producing
abouttwentybooksontheBritish,Russian,andothersecretservices. Hehas E
also lectured extensively on the subject, was voted “the expert’s expert” by a
N
panel of spy writers selected by The Observer, and recently received the first
LifetimeLiteratureAchievementAwardfromtheU.S.AssociationofFormer
C
IntelligenceOfficers.
INTELLIGENCE
E
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N I G E L W E S T

HISTORICAL DICTIONARIES
OF INTELLIGENCE AND COUNTERINTELLIGENCE
SERIES
JonWoronoff,SeriesEditor
1. BritishIntelligence,byNigelWest,2005.

Historical Dictionary of
British Intelligence
Nigel West
Historical Dictionaries of Intelligence
and Counterintelligence, No. 1
The Scarecrow Press, Inc.
• •
Lanham, Maryland Toronto Oxford
2005
SCARECROWPRESS,INC.
PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
byScarecrowPress,Inc.
Awhollyownedsubsidiaryof
TheRowman&LittlefieldPublishingGroup,Inc.
4501ForbesBoulevard,Suite200,Lanham,Maryland20706
www.scarecrowpress.com
POBox317
Oxford
OX29RU,UK
Copyright(cid:2)2005byNigelWest
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,
storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmittedinanyformorbyany
means,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording,orotherwise,
withoutthepriorpermissionofthepublisher.
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationInformationAvailable
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
West,Nigel.
HistoricaldictionaryofBritishintelligence/NigelWest.
p. cm.—(Historicaldictionariesofintelligenceandcounterintelligence;
no.1)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN0-8108-5050-8(hardcover:alk.paper)
1.Intelligenceservice—GreatBritain—History—Dictionaries. 2.Military
intelligence—GreatBritain—History—Dictionaries. I.Title. II.Series.
JN329.I6W473 2005
327.1241(cid:2)003—dc22 2004029961
(cid:3)(cid:3)(cid:4)
Thepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstheminimumrequirementsof
AmericanNationalStandardforInformationSciences—PermanenceofPaperfor
PrintedLibraryMaterials,ANSI/NISOZ39.48-1992.ManufacturedintheUnited
StatesofAmerica.
Contents
Editor’sForeword(JonWoronoff) vii
AcronymsandAbbreviations ix
Chronology xv
Introduction xxi
THEDICTIONARY 1
Bibliography 607
Index 629
AbouttheAuthor 665
v

Editor’s Foreword
It seems only fitting that the volume on British Intelligence should be
thefirstinthisnewseriesofHistoricalDictionariesofIntelligenceand
Counterintelligence. After all, it is the oldest organized structure of its
kind, although there were admittedly countless earlier precedents of
states spying on other states (while trying to keep those other states
from spying on them) and historically there were also simpler, more
rudimentary arrangements within what became the United Kingdom
before modern intelligence emerged. It was the British who developed
mostof thebasicaspects, refinedmost oftheessential techniques,and
put together the most intricate organization. For the longest time they
were the paragons as regards imagination, effectiveness, and cunning,
although they are now outpaced by the Americans on technical gad-
getryandcouldneverquitematchtheSovietsintermsofsheerruthless-
ness.ThisdoesnotmeanthattheBritishgoteverythingright;theymost
definitely did not, and British Intelligence is still a work in progress,
havinggonethroughrepeatedreformsanddoubtlesslyheadedformore
further down the road. But, and not every other intelligence organiza-
tioncansaythesame,thesuccessesclearlyhaveoutnumberedthefail-
ures and, what is even more important, Her Majesty’s team repeatedly
beat the bad guys and lived to tell the tale (or keep it secret, as they
preferred).
Thisvolumeprovidesconsiderableinsightintothehistoryandopera-
tionsofBritishIntelligence.Theentriescoveravastandvariedcastof
characters, the spies and their handlers, the moles and defectors, the
political leaders, the top brass, and many further down. Other entries
explain the techniques and jargon. And still others describe the many
different offices and operations, whether MI5, SIS, or GCHQ (which
are fortunately also listed with the acronyms for those whose memory
is not infinite). The chronology shows how this all evolved over time
vii
viii • EDITOR’SFOREWORD
while the introduction puts things in context. The bibliography should
notbeforgotten,certainlynotinthissortofbook,becausethatiswhere
readers can find clues to the constantly increasing literature on what is
one of the most fascinating of fields. Admittedly, this Historical Dic-
tionaryofBritishIntelligencecannotbereadlikeanovel,butthatdoes
notreallymattersincetherearesomanyofthosearound.Itdoessome-
thing far more important: it provides rather quick and direct access to
the information on which the many books are based and helps readers
notonlytofigureoutwhatisgoingonbutalsotoestimatejusthowfar
theauthors(whetherofnonfiction,fiction,orsomeindeterminatemid-
dleground)canbetrusted.
This historical dictionary was written by probably the ideal author
forthetask,NigelWest.Alreadyinterestedinintelligenceandsecurity
issueswhileatuniversity,hesoonbeganwritingonthesubject,produc-
ing about 20 notable works of nonfiction so far with more doubtlessly
to come. Most deal with the British operations, while some focus on
Soviet and other varieties.Most cover the periods of WorldWar II and
theColdWar,butothersgofurtherback.Takentogether,thereisnoth-
ing quite like it and Nigel West is widely regarded as one of the (or
perhaps the) foremost authorities on British Intelligence. Indeed, in
1989 he was voted the Experts’ Expert by a panel of spy writers se-
lected by the Observer. In 2003 he was awarded the U.S. Association
of Former Intelligence Officers’ first Lifetime Literature Achievement
Award. Aside from that, Nigel West has lectured widely and been a
memberoftheHouseofCommons.Asstated,probablytheidealperson
forthejob.
JonWoronoff
SeriesEditor