Historical Dictionary of British Intelligence

POLISH INTELLIGENCE• 423

the following three years in Geneva, cultivating British diplomats at

the League of Nations. In particular, he had become romantically in-

volved with the daughter of the British vice consul, Commander John

Harvey, and used her to meet members of the local British expatriate

community.

In 1939, following his imprisonment, CaptainJohn Kingidenti-

fied Pieck toMI5as his principal contact, to whom he delivered doc-

uments to be copied at an office in Buckingham Gate. Pieck was

known to theSecret Intelligence Service(SIS) through his friend-

ship with a member of the prewar SIS station in The Hague,John

Hooper, and after the war was interviewed by MI5’sToma ́s Harris.

When Pieck was first identified as having acted as King’s contact,

MI5 attempted unsuccessfully to lure him back to England so he

could be arrested. Both John Hooper andConrad Parlantipartici-

pated in this operation, but it proved unsuccessful

PINTO, ORESTE.A Dutch intelligence officer during World War II,
Oreste Pinto was employed at theLondon Reception Centre(LRC)
at theRoyal Victoria Patriotic Schoolto screen refugees. After the
war he acquired considerable fame as an investigator and interroga-
tor, based on his booksSpy-catcher(1952) andFriend or Foe?
(1954) and a television series. In fact Pinto’s self-promoted reputa-
tion for discerning the flaws in the cover stories of enemy agents was
quite unjustified, as the LRC was anMI5establishment and its direc-
tor, Ronnie Haylor, was an MI5 officer with access toiskandisos.
This invaluable signals intelligence source compromised most of the
enemy’s spies and gave the LRC staff a huge advantage, which they
exploited to the full. The one German agent Pinto was responsible
for having arrested,Johannes Dronkers, was recognized by Pinto’s
deputy, Adrianus Vrinten, as a leading Fascist before the war.

POLICE INTERNATIONAL COUNTERTERRORISM UNIT
(PICTU). Staffed by Security Service, Anti-Terrorist Branch
(SO13), andSpecial Branch(SO12) officers, PICTU coordinates the
international antiterrorist work undertaken by the provincial police
forces within the United Kingdom.

POLISH INTELLIGENCE.Before World War II theSecret Intelli-
gence Service(SIS) established close links with the Polish Deu-