112 • CORPORATE
Cornwell’s portrayal of intelligence officers in a poor light did lit-
tle to enhance his popularity within British Intelligence; John Bing-
ham, the colleague he acknowledged as the model for the fictional
character of George Smiley, was particularly infuriated. Cornwell
wrote a semiautobiographical book,The Naive and Sentimental
Lover, but has gone to extraordinary lengths to prevent others, in-
cluding the biographer Graham Lord, from writing about him. His
official, approved biographer is to be the novelist Robert Harris.CORPORATE.Code name for the military operation to recover the
Falkland Islandsafter they were occupied by an Argentine invasion
force in April 1982. A Royal Navy task force was deployed to the
South Atlantic and recaptured the islands two months later.
CORPS OF GUIDES.Following the success of the French Corps des
Guides, especially during Napoleon’s campaign in Italy, a British
version was established in March 1797 and deployed initially along
the south coast to warn of a French invasion. Composed of men with
a local knowledge, the Corps of Guides was an elite unit undertaking
reconnaissance and intelligence-collection missions. The Corps of
Guides was to serve during the Peninsula War, in India, and in South
Africa.
COSTANTINI, FRANCESCO.Employed by the British ambassador
in Rome, Sir Eric Drummond, until his dismissal in 1936, Francesco
Costantini copied large quantities of diplomatic cables and Foreign
Office cipher books and sold them to the Italian military intelligence
service (SIM) and theNKVD. Even after he had been sacked, he was
able to gain access to the embassy through his brother Secondo, who
kept his job as a trusted embassy servant throughout the war. Code-
nameddudleyby the Soviets, Costantini was betrayed byWalter
Krivitskyas having spied since 1924. After the war,Count Ciano’s
Dairiesrevealed the leak, causing a statement to be made in the
House of Commons in December 1947.
COSTI, KYRIACOS.A 27-year-old Greek Cypriot tailor andCom-
munist Party of Great Britainmember, Kyriacos Costi was con-
victed of offenses under theOfficial Secrets Actin December 1971