Ask the man on the street his first impression when he hears the term “MI6” and you will likely get one of two responses: a blank stare or a James Bond reference. While there are many who have heard of Britain’s famous spy agency, few understand its place in history. Even fewer understand the complex circumstances that led to its rise to prominence in the First and Second World Wars.
To clear the air and get to the truth, Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service – better known as MI6 – commissioned Queens University academic Keith Jeffrey, a professor of British history, to pen an authoritative history of the agency from its pre-World War I inception to the onset of the Cold War. For five years, he was given unrestricted and unprecedented access to the MI6’s secret archives.
The result is Jeffrey’s authoritative The Secret History of MI6: 1909-1949, an exhaustive account that exposes the world’s first spy agency, warts and all, to any reader willing to slog through more than 700 pages of the mundane (endless pages devoted to bureaucratic wrangling), the sexy (stories of a real-life interwar agent who James Bond’s character was likely based upon) and the bizarre (plans – later rejected - to raise funds by selling confiscated opium).
It is, admittedly, a tough book to crack. The first 50 or so pages are so packed with facts, correspondence and winding paragraphs that it’s difficult to discern a narrative or tell where the book is heading. It’s hard not to have sympathy for Mansfield Cumming, the first “C,” who nurtured the agency from its infancy through World War I. The accounts of his never-ending battles for funding and his maneuvers to fend off hostile takeovers from competing bureaucracies reveal the harsh reality of building a spy agency – literally – from the ground up.
Yet, read on and there is much to discover about a spy service that, until recently, officially did not even exist.
History buffs will appreciate accounts of MI6’s involvement in nearly every major political development of the war and interwar years. Those more interested in spycraft may find interest in stories about Kim Philby, the famous communist double-agent. Jeffrey reveals Philby’s role in operations to infiltrate the Soviet Union via the Caucasus and his attempts to hinder probes into Russian spying in Canada. Jeffrey’s records also point to Philby’s scheming as contributing to the failure of a joint mission with the CIA to overthrow Enver Hoxha’s communist government in Albania.
The book, though an official history, does not gloss over major failures. The case of Kim Philby, with the benefit of hindsight, provides a stunning example. Secret History details how even MI6 Stewart Menzies defended Philby, writing of the “valuable work” he carried out for Menzies and the agency.
Some other interesting points include:
Fearful of MI6’s funding drying up from a future unsympathetic government, it was suggested in 1918 that the agency set up its own £1 million endowment – which would have had the added benefit of allowing the service to avoid accountability to elected officials and the public. The suggestion was eventually dismissed.
In true Bond fashion, in 1941 a Dutch agent was fitted with a special rubber wetsuit that allowed him to land ashore near a casino in Schevening in full tuxedo. Upon landing, his colleague sprinkled a few drops of Hennessy on him to enhance his “party-goer’s image.”
In 1948, experiments were conducted to find ways to throw guard dogs off their trails. Osmic acid was tried, as was the suggestion to use bear or cheetah fat to awaken “atavistic memories” and cause dogs to run away. However, this was dropped after reports that bear fat had indeed been offered to a dog and was promptly ‘eaten faster than a week’s meat ration’
Just before the onset of World War II, the agency pondered whether Nazis might try to attack Britain with chemical weapons. Among their concerns was whether or not the milk bottles left on the doorstep for the Prime Minister and other leading officials might be a target of chemical tampering.
The book, commissioned by MI6, has earned accolades from Sir John Scarlett, former chief of the service from 2004 to 2009. In an interview, he hailed the book an “authoritative account” and praised Keith Jeffrey “an experienced, widely respected historian” and an “expert in this period and known for his independent judgment.”
Asked what audiences might find particularly surprising when thumbing through Secret History, Scarlett cited the success of the agency’s operations in the First World War, and MI6’s work with the famous Bletchley Park codebreakers. He also pointed out “the astonishingly small resources available to the Service, especially in the interwar period.”
Scarlett expressed his hope that Jeffrey’s account will further enhance MI6’s reputation and – while the service has long recruited from among the best and brightest Britons – perhaps a few more may be interested after taking a look at the first 40 years of the agency’s history.
Now that the first four decades are out of the way, can we expect the second volume – including accounts of MI6’s role in the Cold War – any time soon?
Don’t count on it – at least according to Scarlett.
“There are no plans for further volumes beyond 1950, and I do not expect this to happen for many years.”
“So, make the most of this book now that it is here.”
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Book Unmasks MI6’s ‘Secret History’
February 8, 2011
Ask the man on the street his first impression when he hears the term “MI6” and you will likely get one of two responses: a blank stare or a James Bond reference. While there are many who have heard of Britain’s famous spy agency, few understand its place in history. Even fewer understand the complex circumstances that led to its rise to prominence in the First and Second World Wars.
To clear the air and get to the truth, Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service – better known as MI6 – commissioned Queens University academic Keith Jeffrey, a professor of British history, to pen an authoritative history of the agency from its pre-World War I inception to the onset of the Cold War. For five years, he was given unrestricted and unprecedented access to the MI6’s secret archives.
The result is Jeffrey’s authoritative The Secret History of MI6: 1909-1949, an exhaustive account that exposes the world’s first spy agency, warts and all, to any reader willing to slog through more than 700 pages of the mundane (endless pages devoted to bureaucratic wrangling), the sexy (stories of a real-life interwar agent who James Bond’s character was likely based upon) and the bizarre (plans – later rejected - to raise funds by selling confiscated opium).
It is, admittedly, a tough book to crack. The first 50 or so pages are so packed with facts, correspondence and winding paragraphs that it’s difficult to discern a narrative or tell where the book is heading. It’s hard not to have sympathy for Mansfield Cumming, the first “C,” who nurtured the agency from its infancy through World War I. The accounts of his never-ending battles for funding and his maneuvers to fend off hostile takeovers from competing bureaucracies reveal the harsh reality of building a spy agency – literally – from the ground up.
Yet, read on and there is much to discover about a spy service that, until recently, officially did not even exist.
History buffs will appreciate accounts of MI6’s involvement in nearly every major political development of the war and interwar years. Those more interested in spycraft may find interest in stories about Kim Philby, the famous communist double-agent. Jeffrey reveals Philby’s role in operations to infiltrate the Soviet Union via the Caucasus and his attempts to hinder probes into Russian spying in Canada. Jeffrey’s records also point to Philby’s scheming as contributing to the failure of a joint mission with the CIA to overthrow Enver Hoxha’s communist government in Albania.
The book, though an official history, does not gloss over major failures. The case of Kim Philby, with the benefit of hindsight, provides a stunning example. Secret History details how even MI6 Stewart Menzies defended Philby, writing of the “valuable work” he carried out for Menzies and the agency.
Some other interesting points include:
Fearful of MI6’s funding drying up from a future unsympathetic government, it was suggested in 1918 that the agency set up its own £1 million endowment – which would have had the added benefit of allowing the service to avoid accountability to elected officials and the public. The suggestion was eventually dismissed.
In true Bond fashion, in 1941 a Dutch agent was fitted with a special rubber wetsuit that allowed him to land ashore near a casino in Schevening in full tuxedo. Upon landing, his colleague sprinkled a few drops of Hennessy on him to enhance his “party-goer’s image.”
In 1948, experiments were conducted to find ways to throw guard dogs off their trails. Osmic acid was tried, as was the suggestion to use bear or cheetah fat to awaken “atavistic memories” and cause dogs to run away. However, this was dropped after reports that bear fat had indeed been offered to a dog and was promptly ‘eaten faster than a week’s meat ration’
Just before the onset of World War II, the agency pondered whether Nazis might try to attack Britain with chemical weapons. Among their concerns was whether or not the milk bottles left on the doorstep for the Prime Minister and other leading officials might be a target of chemical tampering.
The book, commissioned by MI6, has earned accolades from Sir John Scarlett, former chief of the service from 2004 to 2009. In an interview, he hailed the book an “authoritative account” and praised Keith Jeffrey “an experienced, widely respected historian” and an “expert in this period and known for his independent judgment.”
Asked what audiences might find particularly surprising when thumbing through Secret History, Scarlett cited the success of the agency’s operations in the First World War, and MI6’s work with the famous Bletchley Park codebreakers. He also pointed out “the astonishingly small resources available to the Service, especially in the interwar period.”
Scarlett expressed his hope that Jeffrey’s account will further enhance MI6’s reputation and – while the service has long recruited from among the best and brightest Britons – perhaps a few more may be interested after taking a look at the first 40 years of the agency’s history.
Now that the first four decades are out of the way, can we expect the second volume – including accounts of MI6’s role in the Cold War – any time soon?
Don’t count on it – at least according to Scarlett.
“There are no plans for further volumes beyond 1950, and I do not expect this to happen for many years.”
“So, make the most of this book now that it is here.”
