Historical Dictionary of British Intelligence

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countermeasures intended to deter raids mounted by Italian frogmen

operating from Spanish territory.

After the war, Burt investigated several cases of collaboration with

the enemy, including those ofJohn Amery,William Joyce,and

some of the misguided British renegades, the members of the ‘‘Le-

gion of St. George.’’ Later in 1945 Burt returned to Scotland Yard to

head the postwarSpecial Branch, a post he would hold for a record

12 years. He retired in 1958 and died in September 1983, having pub-

lished his memoirs,Commander Burt of Scotland Yard.

BUTKOV, MIKHAIL.In May 1991 Mikhail Butkov, a member of the
KGB’srezidenturain Norway, operating under journalistic cover as
a TASS correspondent,defectedto theSecret Intelligence Service
(SIS) and was received by the head of station in Oslo. Butkov was to
be the first of several useful defectors who opted to jump ship follow-
ing the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Butkov and his girlfriend
were resettled in England, and what propaganda value he had was
extracted by the publication in Oslo of his memoirs,The KGB in Nor-
way. Although Butkov assisted SIS in an operation conducted in
Spain in 1992, directed against an Iranian criminal gang, his subse-
quent history proved awkward for SIS. Short of cash, Butkov master-
minded a language school scam from his home in Berkshire,
advertising tuition and visas in foreign-language newspapers in the
United States. However, instead of supplying the courses, Butkov
simply pocketed the deposits and fees and caused considerable em-
barrassment for SIS when he was charged with fraud and imprisoned
for three years.

BUTLER, CHARLES.A veteran ofMI5since 1926, Colonel Charles
Butler was the director ofA Division, in charge of administration,
until his retirement in 1950. Briefly, following the dismissal ofSir
Vernon Kellin June 1940, he was actingdeputy director-general
of the Security Service, until the appointment ofSir David Petrie
as director-general and the promotion of Jasper Harker.

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CABINET OFFICE.The Cabinet Office at 60 Whitehall is headed by
theCabinet secretaryand accommodates theintelligence coordi-