56 • BITOV, OLEG
Service, which warned her that no such book would be tolerated. As
she herself had worked forMI5, she was in a weak position to argue
her case and she reluctantly dropped the project. She died in 1988.BITOV, OLEG.A Soviet journalist and former deputy editor of the
Literary Gazette, Bitov was aKGBco-optee whodefectedin Italy
in September 1983, only to redefect to Moscow from London the fol-
lowing August. He claimed at a press conference that he had been
abducted by the British Security Service, but the reality was that he
had succumbed to depression and had been unable to complete a con-
tract for the publication of his memoirs,Tales I Could Not Tell.
BJ.Known variously asblack jumbosandblue jackets, this abbre-
viation was applied as a generic term for intercepted diplomatic traf-
fic before World War II.
BLACK TOM.The devastating explosion in July 1916 of a 34-car am-
munition train at Black Island in New York Harbor was heard a hun-
dred miles away and caused immense damage. The munitions had
been destined for Russia, and although sabotage was suspected, it
was Admiral ‘‘Blinker’’ Hall who provided the U.S. authorities with
the intercepts to identify the German spies thought to be responsible.
Although no one was ever prosecuted for setting the incendiary de-
vices believed to have started the fire on the train, several suspects,
named by German telegrams intercepted and decrypted byRoom 40,
were thought to be responsible. The last insurance claims arising
from the explosion were settled in 1954. Because a formerSecret
Intelligence Serviceofficer,Henry Landau, gave such a detailed
account of the incident in hisEnemy Within(1937), some believed
British propagandists had exploited what had actually been an acci-
dent.
BLAIR, NEIL.Born in 1910, Neil Blair fought with the Black Watch
in North Africa and Sicily and joined theSecret Intelligence Service
(SIS) in 1951. Upon his retirement in 1967, he was commissioned to
write anofficial historyof SIS during World War II.
BLAKE, GEORGE.Born George Behar in Rotterdam, Blake pos-
sessed British nationality through his father, who had become a natu-