Historical Dictionary of British Intelligence

BRITISH SERVICES SECURITY ORGANISATION• 69

British zone of occupation in Germany after World War II. Its Intelli-

gence Division, headed by Brigadier J. S. (‘‘Tubby’’) Lethbridge pro-

vided cover forSecret Intelligence Serviceoperations in Germany

during the postwar era.

BRITISH MIDDLE EAST OFFICE (BMEO).The BMEO supplied
military and diplomatic cover for theSecret Intelligence Service
(SIS) stations inCairoand Cyprus from 1945 to 1956. It also tempo-
rarily accommodated the Tehran and Baghdad stations at various
times when the local embassies were obliged to close. The first head
of the BMEO in Cairo was ColonelIltyd Clayton, until 1943 deputy
head of theMiddle East Intelligence Centre. From 1949 until with-
drawal to Cyprus in 1956, the SIS cover was the BMEO’s Coordina-
tion Division, headed by John Collins and assisted by Edward de
Haan.

BRITISH SECURITY COORDINATION (BSC).Headed bySir
William Stephensonand based at Rockefeller Center in New York,
BSC provided an umbrella organization for theSecret Intelligence
Service(SIS),Special Operations Executive,MI5, the Radio Se-
curity Service, and the Political Warfare Executive during World War
II. It was established in July 1940 to replace thePassport Control
Officein downtown Manhattan and ran aSpecial Training School
at Ottawa, Ontario. BSC was responsible for running operations
throughout the Western Hemisphere, and it received large quantities
of intelligence from theImperial Censorshipoffice in Bermuda,
through which all the transatlantic mails were routed. Stephenson’s
deputy was an SIS professional,Dick Ellis, and their work was docu-
mented in anofficial historypublished in 1999. Contrary to one of
the many myths that developed about BSC,intrepidwas its cable
address, not the director’s code name.

BRITISH SERVICES SECURITY ORGANISATION (BSSO).
Based at Rheindahlen, the BSSO wasMI5’s regional office for Ger-
many, responsible for maintaining the security of the British Army
of the Rhine and protecting British military installations from War-
saw Pact infiltration and from terrorist attack from the Provisional
Irish Republican Army. The BSSO also maintained liaison offices