Aldrich, Richard J. Aldrich, Richard J.
1. "British Intelligence and the Anglo-American 'Special Relationship' during the Cold War." Review of International StuStudies 24, no. 3 (1998): 331-352.
2. "Intelligence within BAOR and NATO's Northern Army Group." Journal of Strategic Studies 31, no. 1 (2008): 89-122.
3. "Legacies of Secret Service: Renegade SOE and the Karen Struggle in Burma, 1948-50." Intelligence and National Security 14, no. 4 (Winter 1999): 130-148.
During World War II, it proved relatively easy for secret services to foment insurgencies. However, in the postwar period, the issue became one of how to handle such forces. The Karens had worked loyally alongside SOE during the war, and in its aftermath some former SOE officers returned in a "private" capacity to aid the hill tribes against the central Rangoon government.
4. "Unquiet in Death: The Post-war Survival of the 'Special Operations Executive,' 1945-1951." In Contemporary British History, 1931-1961: Politics and the Limits of Policy, eds. Anthony Gorst, Lewis Johnman, and W. Scott Lucas. London: Pinter Pub Ltd, 1991.
5. ed. British Intelligence, Strategy and the Cold War, 1945-1951. London & New York: Routledge, 1992.
Clive, Gov't & Opposition 28.4, notes that the main themes of this "collection of essays by academics ... have been perceptibly and accurately presented." However, "the absence of an overall conclusion distilled from the findings of fourteen different contributors" is a serious fault. It seems to Stafford, I&NS 9.1, that Aldrich had "sufficient editorial command to ensure" that the essays "all march in roughly the same direction and [sound] similar tunes." This is a "valuable addition to the literature."
6. ed. Espionage, Security and Intelligence in Britain, 1945-1970. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press; 1998. New York: St. Martin's, 1998.
Kruh, Cryptologia 24.2, calls this work "a solid review of postwar developments, activities and the significance of the British secret service from the end of World War II through 1970.... Aldrich provides a fascinating insight to intelligence developments during the early Cold War,... offer[ing] details from a variety of remarkable sources." To Scott, I&NS 15.3, Aldrich "has succeeded admirably in producing a fascinating collection, replete with authoritative introduction and relevant commentaries."
7. and Michael F. Hopkins, eds. Intelligence, Defence, and Diplomacy: British Policy in the Post-War World. London: Frank Cass, 1994.
According to Surveillant 3.6, this book contains "twelve essays" that review "British defense policy and diplomatic activity ... region by region." The book closes "with a thematic section ... on intelligence and security matters."
Aronsen, Lawrence R., and Martin Kitchen. The Origins of the Cold War in Comparative Perspective: Canadian, American and British Relations with Soviet Union, 1941-1948. London and Toronto: St. Martin's, 1998.
Aubrey, Crispin.
1. "Of Course MI5 Is Lying. That's Its Job." New Statesman, 7 Aug. 1998, 14.
The author revisits the "ABC affair" of the late-1970s and the associated surveillance of the defendants, he among them, by MI5. See Who's Watching You below for a more contemporaneous exposition of the same theme.
2. Who's Watching You: Britain's Security Services and the Official Secrets Act. London: Penguin, 1981.
The author was one of the defendants in the late-1970s "ABC affair" where he, Duncan Campbell, and John Berry, the latter a former GCHQ officer, were charged with violating Section 1 of the Official Secrets Act. In this book, Aubrey focuses on MI5 and other government agency spying on dissidents, radicals, and the like.
Barber, James. "BOSS [Bureau of State Security] in Britain." African Affairs 82, no. 328 (1983): 311-328.
According to the Royal Historical Society Database, this article covers the period from 1950 to 1983.
Bloch,
Jonathan, and Patrick Fitzgerald. British Intelligence and Covert Action: Africa, Middle East, and Europe Since 1945. London: Junction Books, 1983. [pb] Dingle, Ireland: Brandon Book Publishers, 1983.
Unsinger, IJI&C 1.4/2.2, notes that the introduction to this book is by Phillip Agee, and the authors use the "Agee approach -- wholesale listing of personnel in the British Foreign Office and other agencies." There is "precious little substance" here. NameBase adds that "[a]n appendix from pages 254-275 contains official biographies of 132 British spooks."
Bower,
Tom. The Perfect English Spy: Sir Dick White and the Secret War, 1935-90.
London: Heinemann, 1995. The Perfect English Spy: The Unknown Man in
Charge During the Most Tumultuous, Scandal-Ridden Era in Espionage History.
New York: St. Martin's, 1995.
Clark comment: Sir Dick Goldsmith White headed the British Security Service (MI5) from 1953 to 1956 and the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) from 1956 to 1968. Surveillant 4.3 comments that, "with the cooperation of White and dozens of former MI5 and MI6 officers, Bower has written a fascinating, highly authoritative and compelling insiders' account of the successes and disasters which have befallen Britain during the last 50 years.... Highly recommended."
Davies, I&NS 12.3, is less than enthralled with Bower's final product, finding that it "is of considerably less historical value than it might ... have been." The book is "poorly written, frequently unclear, and littered with elementary inaccuracies of detail." Nevertheless, the book "does not try to be an exposé," and does "fill in much of the detail left tantalizingly untouched by the official history." In addition, Bower raises enough doubts about White's management of SIS "to warrant a serious rethinking of the traditionally flattering light cast upon White's record and achievements as Chief of the SIS."
Braithwaite, Rodric. "Foreign Policy and the Art of Intelligence." Contemporary British History 12, no. 2 (1998): 147-51.
Reflections on foreign policy under Margaret Thatcher and John Major.
Brown, Anthony Cave. "C": The Secret Life of Sir Stewart Graham Menzies, Spymaster to Winston Churchill. New York: Macmillan, 1987.
Clark comment: Menzies headed MI6 from 1939 to 1951. Petersen sees the book as "voluminous," with "important material on allied intelligence"; but it is "regarded as not fully reliable by many experts." Sexton refers to the book as "rather imaginative and highly colored." Chambers comments that the author "can't seem to make up his mind" about Menzies.
According to Poth, IJI&C 2.4, the author's "fascinating story" is "marred by a number of factual errors," and his "conclusions in several areas may be questionable." He is "driven in defense of his subject to a 'bizarre conclusion'... that Menzies knew all along that Philby was a KGB agent but was playing him as a double.... [T]wo of a number of reviews of the book are ... extraordinarily biased and inaccurate.... The worst appears in the New York Times Book Review for 27 December 1987 and is by Ken Follet.... The other ... appears on 3 April 1988 in The Los Angeles Times ... [and] is written by Allison Silver."
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