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for geographic exploration can mask many different levels of espionage
activity. Unlike the tourist, the professional explorer may engage in pho-
tography, journalism (seeking out all kinds of people, interviewing them,
and taking notes), and scientific surveys of all kinds (geological, archaeo-
logical, ethnological, and topographical), often in remote, untravelled
locations, without necessarily arousing any suspicion. Thus, under such
comprehensive cover, exploration can readily disguise all kinds of scout-
ing—notetaking, sketching, and military mapmaking—so that they appear
to be innocent, nonespionage activities. This partly explains why, though
Freya Stark sometimes encountered hostile, even menacing officials dur-
ing her travels, she never once had her cameras, notes, or maps confiscated
or destroyed.
It is also interesting to note how employable Stark was, how important
an asset she was regarded as, and how an assortment of organizations
employed her or afforded her cover. Before she decided to move to Cairo in
July 1940, rival senior intelligence officers competed for her services. While
before the war she was probably an agent or officer of SIS and/or Section
D—there is no primary documentary evidence—Stark worked during the
war for the MOI, which was a quasicovert organization derived from tan-
gled clandestine origins shared with SOE. At the same time, Stark was pro-
vided with FO diplomatic cover as a second secretary, and after the war
continued to do contract work for the FO in Italy. Yet, she undertook war-
time covert operations not only for the PID but also for MEIC and SOE,
without ever being assigned an SOE symbol. Some clarification is provided
by an SOE minute dated 8 January 1941, which explains how Section D of
SIS (and later SOE) was responsible for any black propaganda activity
undertaken by Stark, while the MOI remained responsible for her white
propaganda role.^58 In other words, Stark was MOI with FO cover as second
secretary, while simultaneously working for SIS Section D until it expired.
What will always remain a mystery, not least because of Stark’s silence on the
subject, is who controlled her black activities after the merger of Section D
with SOE. Although SOE (under Adrian Bishop) ran all black operations in
Iraq, we know that Stark never joined SOE. Therefore, it is highly likely that
she remained under some kind of SIS control, possibly through Cairo, or
more likely through her MOI superior, L.F. Rushbrook Williams
(1890–1978), in London.^59 After moving from Cairo to Baghdad in 1941,
Stark continued to confer confidentially with officers of various covert orga-
nizations based in Cairo and with Generals ‘Archie’ Wavell (1883–1950) and
‘Jumbo’ Wilson (1881–1964).^60 Such ambivalent working arrangements
PROLOGUE: OF SPIES, SCOUTS, AND COVER