DENNISTON, ALASTAIR• 149DENMARK.British Intelligence operations in Denmark have been
based on the relationship forged during World War II whenSpecial
Operations Executive(SOE) took the lead role in assisting the Dan-
ish resistance to the Nazi occupation. The Danish subsection of
SOE’s Scandinavian Section was headed initially by Ronald Turn-
bull, working under press attache ́cover from the British embassy in
Stockholm. SOE operations in Denmark, designatedbooklet, were
divided intotable(sabotage),chair(development of a resistance
organization),dresser(lines of communication),settee(procure-
ment of Danish currency),chest(propaganda), anddivan(opera-
tional intelligence).
After World War II theSecret Intelligence Service(SIS) main-
tained a close liaison with the Danes, withLeslie Mitchellrunning
the SIS station in Copenhagen until 1950. Joint operations with the
Danish security police, the Poltiiets Efterretnigstjesteste, having in-
cluded the recruitment in 1974 of a member of the local KGBrezi-
dentura,Oleg Gordievsky.See alsoDANISH SECTION.
DENNING, LORD.As master of the rolls, Lord Denning was the sen-
ior judge appointed by Prime Minister Harold Macmillan to investi-
gate theProfumoaffair. His report, published in September 1963,
was the most detailed account ever published ofMI5’s role and
involvement in the scandal. The Denning Report included theMax-
well Fyfe Directiveof September 1952 in which the home secretary
had set out the functions of the Security Service and limited its pow-
ers to the defense of the realm.
DENNIS, ERNAN FORBES.SeeFORBES DENNIS, ERNAN.
DENNISTON, ALASTAIR.Director of theGovernment Code and
Cipher Schoolfrom 1919 to 1943, Alastair Denniston had attended
Bonn University and the Sorbonne and had taught German at the
Royal Naval College at Osborne before being transferring in 1914 to
Room 40of the Admiralty. In 1938, in anticipation of another Euro-
pean war, Denniston enlisted Professor (Sir) Frank Adcock of King’s
College, Cambridge, to assemble suitable candidates for crypto-
graphic work so they could be called up and assigned toBletchley
Parkat very short notice, without any indication of what their duties
were likely to be.