Historical Dictionary of British Intelligence

COUNTERESPIONAGE• 113

and sentenced to six years’ imprisonment. Costi had acted as a Soviet

agent for theKGBdefectorOleg Lyalinand had been arrested with

Constantinos Martianon when Lyalin had identified them toMI5.

COTTENHAM, MARK.The sixth Earl of Cottenham, succeeding his
brother to the title in 1922, Mark Cottenham was an enthusiastic
driver and pilot. After leaving Charterhouse, he worked for the avia-
tion department of Vickers and joined the racing teams of Alvis and
Sunbeam. In the House of Lords, he was an enthusiastic advocate of
the rights of the motorist and in 1937 was appointed adviser to the
Metropolitan Police’s driving school. When war broke out, he was
commissioned into the Leicestershire Yeomanry and worked for the
Security Service in its transport department. This exclusive unit
comprised Jock Horsfall, another racing driver and former member
of the Bentley team, andJoan Wheatley. Reference to Cottenham’s
role inMI5is to be found inJoan Miller’sOne Girl’s War, but his
clandestine career was to be short-lived as he was opposed to war
with Germany; he moved to the United States in 1941, where he died
two years later, aged 40. Cottenham had divorced his wife in 1939
and left behind two novels,All OutandSicilian Circuit; numerous
books about motoring, including theSteering-Wheel Papers; and a
travel book based on his experiences in North America in 1937,Mine
Host, America.

COUNTER-CLANDESTINE COMMITTEE.An interagency com-
mittee created immediately after World War II to coordinate the work
ofMI5, theSecret Intelligence Service, andGCHQin the field of
illicit signals. The committee’s objective was to pool experience in
relation to Soviet radio communications so overt broadcasts could be
monitored and spies identified.

COUNTERESPIONAGE.Responsibility for counterespionage opera-
tions lie primarily with the Security Service, although inevitably the
Secret Intelligence ServiceandGCHQoccasionally encounter evi-
dence of hostile activity and investigate it. During World War II,
counterespionage was acknowledged as an interagency discipline
that overlapped different organizations, and in 1942 it was the motive
for an attempt at amalgamation, which ultimately was rejected.