Introduction
By repute, British Intelligence is the oldest, most experienced organiza-
tion of its kind in the world, the unseen hand behind so many world
events, glamorized by James Bond. The French have always com-
plained about perfidious Albion, the Germans acknowledge having
being outmaneuvered in two world wars by Britain’s professional intel-
ligencers, and in 1942, as the transatlantic intelligence relationship was
in its infancy, beguiled Americans were the neophytes invited into the
brothel to learn the secrets of clandestine operations. Despite the
change in role, from a global power controlling an empire that covered
much of the world to a mere partner in the North Atlantic Treaty Orga-
nization and the European Union, the country’s famed security and in-
telligence apparatus continues largely intact and is recognized as
‘‘punching above its weight.’’ Feared by the Soviets, admired and
trusted by the CIA, British Intelligence has provided the hidden dimen-
sion to the conduct of domestic and foreign policy, with the added mys-
tique of Whitehall secrecy, a shroud that for years protected the
identities of the shadowy figures who recruited the sources, broke the
codes, and caught the spies.
Any glance at history, from the plots mounted against Queen
Elizabeth I to the military expeditions to the Sudan, from the Crimean
War to the guerrilla campaign waged by the Boers in South Africa, from
the trenches of Flanders to the Battle of El Alamein, and perhaps
most starkly during the Cold War, reveals the essential role of intelli-
gence, often covert activities channeled through a myriad of agencies,
branches, bureaus, and covers. Even when the contribution made by the
secret world is hard to discern or has been concealed behind years of
official obfuscation and ‘‘plausible denial,’’ there remains the suspicion
that there was a sub rosa component to all major Cabinet decisions,
every military deployment, and most political triumphs. In recent years,
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