ITALY• 267ISK.Code name for a cryptographic source created byDillwyn Knox,
who was able to solve some of theEnigmakeys used by theAbwehr
in December 1941. This breakthrough, partly based on success with
isos, encouraged theGovernment Code and Cipher Schoolto con-
centrate on other Enigma keys.
ISOS.Code name for a cryptographic source created byOliver Stra-
cheybased on his study ofAbwehrhand ciphers in 1939. This mate-
rial, intercepted by the Radio Security Service, was originally based
on messages exchanged by Arthur Owens, codenamedsnow,MI5’s
firstdouble agentof World War II equipped with a wireless transmit-
ter. Theisosintercepts originated in transmissions to and from four
German radio stations, two located in Berlin, the others at Wiesbaden
andHamburg.
ITALY.Until Italy went to war with Abyssinia in 1935, the Security
Service had no grounds for investigating the Italian Fascist Intelli-
gence Service or the party organization in British territory, and when
permission was finally granted, theSecret Intelligence Service(SIS)
could offer very little information.Section V’s dossier consisted of
a general review of the Italian system very broadly defined, compiled
several years earlier, with little on the Italian intelligence service and
its place in the Italian military machine.
MI5investigated the local branches of the FAE and shared the in-
formation obtained with the representatives of the Dominions and
Colonies as well as with the liaison authorities in the Middle East. It
furthermore learned from Egypt at an earlier time of tension that the
Royal Air Forcein the Middle East had been obliged to dismiss a
large number of Italian civilian employees on British aerodromes.
Apparently, in the event of war, the National Fascist Party leadership
intended to use the party organization for sabotage in the Mediterra-
nean region.
SIS also received information from an independent source that
specific plans were in place to use the Italian Fascist militia in Greece
to impede mobilization of the Greek army should Greece and Italy
find themselves at war, perhaps as a result of the proposed closure
of the Suez Canal to Italian shipping. The report said that the plans
envisaged the sabotage of railways and bridges in Greece, the Fas-