The typical image of intelligence agents in our imagination is formed thanks to cinema. The famous bodyguard performed Kevin Costner was just a retired special agent of the famous American Secret Service USSS. According to the plot of the film, he could not save the president during the assassination attempt and went free to protect the star - the heroine Whitney Houston. "The Last Boy Scout" Bruce Willis also protected the president with his body in the literal sense of the word.
In memory of the counterfeiters
On this day, November 12, 1860, more than a century and a half ago, the United States Secret Service was formed - the United States Secret Service, USSS - the first and only federal intelligence service at that time. Initially, the organization was created to combat dollar counterfeiting and was subordinate to the Ministry of Finance. The fact was that the rampant counterfeiters threatened to almost collapse the American financial system. It was assumed that the new structure would catch offenders and remove counterfeit money from circulation. On the evening of the day when the decision was made to create the Secret Service, President Lincoln was mortally wounded. However, at that time this did not yet prompt the idea of creating a special unit to protect the first person.
Only in 1902 did the secret service acquire additional functions and powers. The responsibility of the USSS included the protection of top officials of the state, their families, as well as officials of other countries visiting the country. It was connected with the murder President William McKinley in 1901. After the incident, two special agents were assigned to protect the top person of the state. Soon one of the guards died, but this was not related to the assassination attempt on the president, but to an accident - a car in which I was traveling Roosevelt and his bodyguard collided with a tram. The second presidential bodyguard in US history died as a result of an assassination attempt. President Truman in 1950. Since 1968, after the assassination Robert Kennedy, Congress has insisted on protecting not only presidents, but also candidates for office. And since 1997, ex-presidents also receive protection for the next 10 years after the expiration of their powers.It is noteworthy that in 1908, Theodore Roosevelt placed several special agents under the Department of Justice, and it was from them that the now famous Federal Bureau of Investigation later grew. Of the selected Wilson in 1915, agents to investigate the facts of espionage were later formed by the Central intelligence agency. His powers include analyzing information about citizens of other states, secret operations, including the elimination of leaders of other countries, and even propaganda. During the Cold War, the CIA received maximum freedom of action; the US leadership considered this simply necessary to effectively confront the KGB.
In addition, the USSS was directly involved in the creation of various departments to oversee tobacco, alcohol and drugs. And the counterfeiters were “to blame” for everything.
Since 2003, the agency has been subordinate to the US Department of Homeland Security. To date, 15 units have been created within the USSS to combat cybercrime alone.
The usual image of intelligence officers includes a formal dark suit, dark glasses and a communication earpiece in the ear. In principle, employees of the Federal Protective Service of the Russian Federation look approximately the same, with the exception of the sunglasses they always wear for no reason.
American Secret Service USSS. Photo: wikipedia.org
MI6 agent number 007
The British secret intelligence service MI6 is known mainly thanks to the agent James Bond- main character Ian Fleming and the hero of the longest film series: since 1962, 23 Bond films have been released. The image of the adventurer and favorite of women was remembered by the audience, but it hardly corresponds to the true type of English intelligence officers. Although we must pay tribute to the filmmakers: several James Bond films depicted the real British intelligence building on Albert Embankment in London.
Until 1994, the very existence of MI6 was denied by the British government, until the English Parliament passed the Intelligence Act, which consolidated the powers of the long-existing structure. Some sources speak of the origin of the prototype of British intelligence back in the era of colonial empires and the development of new lands. MI6 owes its name to its origins. Secret itself intelligence service(SIS) was formed back in 1909 as one of the departments of the Kingdom's Secret Service Bureau in connection with the impending threat from Germany. The immediate founders are considered to be Vernon Kell and the one-legged captain Mansfield Cumming, who became the first head of the intelligence service. However, initially she was not involved in intelligence and counterintelligence - these powers passed to her with the outbreak of the First World War. It was then that the service began to be called the Directorate of Military Intelligence section 6, MI6.
By the way, the widespread tradition of giving all film secret agents the pseudonym Smith also dates back to those times. The first director of SIS was George Smith-Cumming, who was simply called Smith, and he simply signed the letter S.The first peak of MI6 activity occurred during the First World War, when royal intelligence was collecting information in the territories occupied by Germany, since it was not yet possible to create an intelligence network directly in Germany. During the Second World War, a special unit was allocated within the structure of MI6 to carry out sabotage work. And it was during this period that the loudest failure in the history of British intelligence occurred. In 1939, an agent of the German security service gained the trust of British intelligence officers and began, as they say today, “to leak misinformation to them.” But it ended even worse than it started. Having finally lulled the vigilance of the British, the SS kidnapped the would-be intelligence officers and completely destroyed the Dutch branch of MI6. The leader of the operation, called the "Venlo Incident", received the Iron Cross from his hands Hitler.
Subsequently, the intelligence service took an active part in all major conflicts of the last century in close cooperation with the intelligence services of other countries, in particular with the CIA.
And here is an interesting fact from our time: in April 2014, a number of media outlets disseminated information that the head of MI6 warned the Prime Minister David Cameron from interfering in the affairs of Ukraine, since, in his opinion, this could lead to the outbreak of the Third World War. Putin will not remain idle if the West sends military assistance to support the self-proclaimed government in Kyiv, the report said.
Is Mossad not as scary as they make it out to be?
If the movie talks about something terribly secret and concerns Israel, then in most cases it means Mossad - Israel's political intelligence service, whose track record is comparable to the CIA. The main directions of the organization’s work are the prevention of terrorist activities against Jewish targets abroad, maintaining secret political ties with other states, carrying out special operations outside the country, the main thing is to ensure the safety of Jews around the world. One of the leaders of the organization said that it was the Mossad that should compensate for the difference in resources between Israel and its opponents.
The goals are being achieved with the help of just over a thousand employees, including only a few dozen trained combat officers. Moreover, the number of recruited foreign agents is in the tens of thousands. Potential Mossad employees undergo several levels of background checks and examinations. Already in the early 60s, the secret service had its own training academy, where even during training, students lived according to legends and under fictitious names. The requirements for those wishing to work for the Mossad were first made public only in the second half of the 90s. At the same time, the first advertisement for a vacant spy position appeared in the newspaper. To be fair, MI6 advertises recruitment of special agents on the Internet.
Mossad was also created on the model of the British MI6, and the year of its appearance coincides with the year of the formation of the state of Israel itself (1948). Over the years of its existence, the Mossad has been credited with authoring and directing dozens of special operations - from the destruction of Western weapons developers in Egypt, Iraq and Iran to the hijacking of French missile boats. But in most cases it is not possible to prove or disprove these facts.
In 1960, Mossad agents stole from Argentina Nazi criminal Adolf Eichmann, who was hiding there under an assumed name. He was transported to Israel, convicted and executed. In 1965, the US filmed the thriller Reckoning, in which three young Mossad agents kidnap and kill a famous Nazi criminal. Thirty years later, a man accused of Nazism appears in Ukraine, and one of the former special agents has to return to his previous line of work. In 2005, the film “Munich” was released, a joint production of the USA, Canada and France, in which Mossad agents hunt down and methodically destroy Palestinian terrorists involved in the death of Israeli athletes at Munich airport after the 1972 Olympics.
Grozny GRU
An entire series has been filmed on Russian TV about GRU special forces soldiers under the laconic title “Special Forces.” It may not have gained as much popularity as the James Bond epic, but the characters in it are no less heroic. The list of actors alone is worth it: Alexander Baluev, Vladislav Galkin, Igor Lifanov, Alexander Nosik, Mikhail Porechenkov,Vladimir Turchinsky.
Founded by the leader of the proletariat, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the USSR survived the war, perestroika and the era Yeltsin, unlike the KGB. Initially, the intelligence agency existed under the auspices of the General Staff of the Red Army, but in such a situation, intelligence information came through many intermediaries, took a long time to process and was sometimes inaccurate.Over time, the GRU formed into a separate structure with its own headquarters and troops. In the 50s, divisions and units were created within the structure of the GRU special purpose to work deep behind enemy lines, as well as to organize sabotage activities. The first GRU special forces battalions were intended to eliminate launchers nuclear missiles NATO. It was these units that played an important role both in the war in Afghanistan and during the Chechen conflict. It is believed that the GRU was involved in the assassination attempt former President of Chechnya Zelimkhan Yandarbiev, who was accused of collaborating with Al-Qaeda.
To this day, GRU special forces units are considered the most trained special forces units of the Russian Armed Forces. They do not have special names or symbols, like the special forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and fighters have the right to wear the uniform of any military unit.
Here are some interesting facts from today: Alexander Shlyakhturov, who headed the GRU from 2009 to 2011, after his resignation became the chairman of the board of directors of that same Oboronservis, and for some time now has been an adviser to that very same. And it is Shlyakhturov who is credited with reforming the GRU, starting with the reduction of entire units. He hasn’t become a movie hero yet, but he’s still ahead.
How did the royal British intelligence service begin to take shape during the formation of the British Empire? Its creation was determined, first of all, by the needs of the state colonial foreign policy the most important trading and maritime power in Europe.In March 1909, the British Prime Minister recommended that the Imperial Defense Committee pay special attention to the threat posed by German intelligence and reorganize the national intelligence service accordingly. Based on the recommendations of the Prime Minister, instructions were prepared for the creation of a Secret Service Bureau under the Foreign Department of the Imperial Defense Committee, the founding date of which was October 1
The immediate founders of the new department were Captain Vernon Kell and the legendary one-legged sailor Captain Mansfield Cumming. The latter became the head of the Foreign Department of the Bureau of Secret Services. That was the name of the progenitor of modern Western intelligence services in those years. In honor of Cumming, all subsequent directors of British intelligence began to be abbreviated as “S” in correspondence and conversations.
Thus, in the wake of fears in the face of German aggression, a special intelligence service was created, which became the basis for the future Secret Intelligence Service. Initially it received the abbreviated name MI-1s. After the First World War, this department changed its index to MI6. The new organization was given a goal: “carrying out positive intelligence activities,” which meant collecting and analyzing information. After this, the main functions of MI6 became the acquisition of secret information on military, political, economic, scientific, technical and other problems of state interest, as well as conducting covert operations to exert a beneficial influence on the foreign and domestic policies of other countries for Great Britain. This organization, for cover purposes, was traditionally located within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Foreign Office).
Most strong influence The development of the British intelligence service was undoubtedly influenced by Winston Churchill, who became Prime Minister in 1940. By this time he already had extensive experience in politics, military and naval matters. After graduating from the Royal Military College at Sandhurst in 1885, he served in the army, was a war correspondent, a member of Parliament, and later - Minister of War Supply, Minister of War, Minister of Aviation, and also Secretary of State for the Colonies.
Secret Intelligence Service
The secret intelligence service, operating within the Foreign Office, was completely undercover. It was known to a certain circle of people as the 6th Military Intelligence Department (MI6). One of the reasons that the very existence of MI6 was hidden in Great Britain for a long time was the natural sensitivity of the issue of diplomatic “protection” for spies.
The modern British intelligence service is represented by five directorates or departments, the main one of which is operational.
The Operations Directorate manages the activities of all foreign and “London” residencies. Its structure is built on a regional-geographical principle. The main directions of management activities are the collection of information relating to foreign and domestic policies foreign countries, including information of an economic nature; military doctrines and construction of armed forces of foreign states; terrorism and international organized crime, in particular drug trafficking routes and the practice of laundering “dirty money”.
In its activities, the department is guided by the instructions of the government and the Joint Intelligence Committee under the Cabinet of Ministers. It assists in carrying out foreign policy Great Britain on the international stage and its military policy, including illegal intelligence operations. The operational management of SIS/MI6 includes regional-geographical departments (seven in total).
British Territorial Division
The First Operations Directorate manages intelligence work carried out in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and recruits sources of information from among persons of interest to other operational departments of MI6. The objects of the first department are mainly foreigners coming to England for a fairly long period of time. This category includes employees of permanent diplomatic missions of foreign states, scientists, specialists, graduate and undergraduate students, sailors and airline employees, etc. Therefore, the London station of the department has developed a system for monitoring foreign diplomats and other foreigners of intelligence interest.
The targets of recruitment from among British subjects are those who travel to potential enemy countries. These include scientists, specialists, journalists, and other persons with certain connections abroad. Naturally, MI6 is more interested in political intelligence.
When conducting recruitment operations, department employees use the cover of public and private organizations in the UK, such as the British Council, numerous media outlets, translation and consulting agencies, and tourism associations responsible for various types of exchanges at the international level.
European department
The second department of management traditionally specializes in European countries and coordinates intelligence activities against EU allies. Its employees work under diplomatic cover in the embassies of Great Britain and Germany, as well as in France, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland. In the countries that are the area of activity of the second department, operational work is traditionally carried out in contact with local services. MI6 carries out formal interaction with European partners, especially with the intelligence services of NATO countries, through the communication channels of the second department with the European headquarters of the CIA, located in Frankfurt am Main.
The external aspect of cooperation between NATO intelligence services is not an obstacle to their recruitment work in order to intercept sources of information. Employees of the second department, in turn, do not hesitate to carry out direct intelligence operations against the UK's European partners.
Russian orbit group
The third operational management department was formed back in the mid-20s. During the existence of the Soviet Union, he was responsible for the development of facilities in the Eastern Bloc countries (“Russian Orbit Group”). The department was supposed to ensure coordination of activities in this area of all national (government) institutions and all intelligence units. Particularly close contact was maintained with the department responsible for developing assignments in MI6.
During World War II, information about the very existence of the third department working against the USSR was classified as top secret. However, the main person responsible for combating communist infiltration during this period was the Soviet intelligence officer Kim Philby.
After Churchill proclaimed the Cold War policy in his Fulton speech in 1946, British intelligence became the main instrument of psychological warfare. It should be emphasized that, along with special political actions In the concept of “psychological warfare”, the MI6 leadership also included actions of terror, sabotage and sabotage.
It is quite obvious that the successes of Soviet intelligence in Great Britain in the post-war years will remain unsurpassed in the entire history of Soviet and Russian intelligence services. The number and quality of agents introduced during this period into British intelligence, counterintelligence, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and other key departments of the country still have no analogues in the history of world espionage.
Battles on the fields of secret battles periodically ended in “visa wars”, which left a certain imprint on the development of bilateral relations between the USSR and Great Britain. In 1996, during parliamentary debates, the issue of relations with Russia and the role of the British intelligence services in this process was discussed. It was emphasized, in particular, that “England cannot afford the luxury of being ignorant of the proliferation of nuclear, bacteriological and chemical weapons, taking into account the situation in Russia, as well as its relations with the CIS countries, China and some other states in Europe and the Middle East.” So, the Russian direction will remain a priority in the work of the British intelligence services.
Middle East department
The Fifth Division of the Operations Directorate has always been considered “Middle Eastern.” Its residencies operate in Israel, Syria, Turkey, Iran, Lebanon, Cyprus and a number of other countries.
For a long time, the center of tension in the Middle East was Lebanon. In this regard, the regional station of MI6 was located in Beirut, from the position of which the activities of intelligence networks were managed in almost all Arab countries. The main focus of MI6's subversive operations was anti-Egyptian and anti-Syrian in nature. The operational services of the residency were provided by the British Foreign Office's Middle East Center for Arabic Studies, located in the Lebanese city of Shemlan, near Beirut.
Although MI6's Iraqi station was able to identify Baghdad's attempts to acquire chemical and biological weapons in a timely manner, Section 5 is nonetheless blamed for what British intelligence agencies failed to predict in the late 1980s. developments in Persian Gulf. Proof of the ineffectiveness of British intelligence was its inability to timely signal the entry of Iraqi troops into Kuwait, which caused considerable damage to the national interests of Great Britain and endangered the lives of British citizens. The result of the proceedings was the conclusion that the British Foreign Office had overlooked preparations for the invasion due to the desire to improve relations with Baghdad. In addition, it was emphasized that Western intelligence agencies were accustomed to traditionally relying on sophisticated electronic technology, which in the case of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait was insufficient.
Far Eastern department
The sixth department is “Far Eastern”. The most active areas of activity of the residencies of this department were Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. In addition, the British intelligence services have traditionally maintained contacts with the relevant departments of Australia and New Zealand to solve problems in this region. MI6 sought to coordinate its activities with the secret police and intelligence services of Indonesia (BAKIN), Malaysia, and Japan.
It should be said that one of the future leaders of MI6, Colin McCall, began his rise through the ranks while working in Indochina. From 1958 to 1962, McCall held various posts in Bangkok, Thailand, and Vientiane, the capital of Laos, where he was deputy resident and then resident.
In the early 90s. within the structure of MI6, a Department for global control of the planning and conduct of operations to combat international drug trafficking, including in the countries of Southeast Asia, was created. The capabilities of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCC), specializing in cryptanalysis and interception of communication channels of foreign states, were connected to the work of the department. The Far East Department was involved in coordinating the activities of MI6, Scotland Yard, the Customs Service and the ShKPS.
Latin department
The seventh department of management is considered “Latin”. The greatest activity of his residencies was in Argentina (especially during the Malvinas or Falklands crisis), as well as in Uruguay, El Salvador, Guatemala, Chile, Brazil, Mexico and Colombia.
The hidden factor that ensured England's victory in the 1982 conflict with Argentina over the Malvinas Islands was the secret alliance of the CIA, MI6, Chilean military intelligence and the Israeli intelligence service Mossad. This secret agreement gave the Thatcher government the opportunity to use secret Allied airfields for British spy planes, commando bases of these countries, spy centers and other important military installations located on Chilean territory during the invasion. It is known that during the Malvinas conflict, British intelligence actively used agents of the Chilean special services to collect information about the Argentine Armed Forces. Centers were created in Punta Arenas that carried out intensive reconnaissance by means of communications using English electronic equipment. They were engaged in intercepting reports sent to the Argentine Armed Forces.
Administrative and personnel support
The administrative and personnel department is called upon to carry out staff functions within the MI6 structure, resolve administrative, managerial and legal matters, as well as manage issues of selection, training and placement of personnel. In addition, the management has always been entrusted with financial support for the activities of SIS. Since 1979, the department began to involve the Civil Service Commission and university employment services in recruiting intelligence personnel. The MI6 administration credo expressed the following thesis: “The Empire is in decline, but the secret national elite maintains the purity of tradition, and this is the strength of the British nation, which contributes to its survival; the basis of British statehood is loyalty and patriotism; the prestige of the nation—the image and reputation of the undeclared superiority of the British gentleman.”
The department of operational equipment (or special support) within MI6 has always been held in high esteem, although it was auxiliary. It provides operational units with modern technical means of reconnaissance. The Department of Foreign Counterintelligence and Internal Security is responsible for the penetration of MI6 into the intelligence services of foreign states and, in turn, counters the penetration of foreign agents into British intelligence. Its main task is to obtain advance information about espionage operations against Britain being prepared from outside. In addition, the functions of the foreign counterintelligence department include combating disinformation from hostile intelligence services.
The Information and Task Development Directorate is in charge of developing tasks, as well as preparing intelligence products. It is also responsible for organizing the receipt of orders and applications from consumers, mainly from the ministries of foreign affairs and defense, for the formulation and setting of tasks for obtaining relevant information. After analytical and predictive processing of the obtained information, the final exploration products are sent to customers. The office has always been renowned for its high-quality policy analysis.
Economic intelligence
In the early 70s. London has stepped up its national intelligence agencies' ability to gather industrial and commercial intelligence. MI6's responsibilities included rapid infiltration of international oil companies in order to identify early trends "adversely affecting the welfare of Great Britain" in order to take all possible measures to prevent a repeat of the oil crisis that erupted in 1974.
In 1984, Treasury Secretary Peter Middleton secured funds for MI6 to collect economic and commercial information. After this, the economic sphere becomes the main one for British intelligence. An aggressive hunt begins for the technological and economic secrets of competitors. IN Lately In order to collect economic information, trade and economic channels are actively used, in particular, trips of British entrepreneurs to foreign enterprises, both civilian and military, under the pretext of assessing their prospects for creating joint ventures or their possible participation in the conversion.
The activities of the UK intelligence community in the field of industrial espionage are managed by an interdepartmental body represented by the Foreign Economic Intelligence Committee. The activities of business and financial intelligence are supervised by the Deputy Minister of Finance for Foreign Economic Affairs.
MI6/SIS deployment
Until the mid-80s. MI6 was based in Century House, in central London near Westminster Bridge. The only exception was during the war, when a number of units were located in London at 54 Broadway Street.
MI6 headquarters later obtained residence in the castle, which was worth £200 million. It is located in another London neighborhood - Lambeth, Vauxhall Cross, 85, in close proximity to the metro station of the same name. Apparently, not a single writer from among the former employees of MI6 could come up with a different name for the sign displayed in front of the entrance to its headquarters. Thanks to this, the British taxpayer now knows the exact address nests of their intelligence - a building that has no equal in size in the area. Available mailing address MI6 at the British Foreign Office (MI6/SIS, PO Box 1300, London SE1 1BD, England).
Who works at SIS
Throughout history, work in British intelligence was considered prestigious and attracted people from aristocratic families and the creative intelligentsia. Typically, intelligence personnel are recruited from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Armed Forces, SAS paratroopers, the police, as well as from among university graduates (mainly Cambridge and Oxford). It is generally accepted that the SIS cadre consists of "gentlemen who elegantly break laws and human rights" and adventurers in the spirit of the legendary Thomas Lawrence or Sidney Reilly, who were engaged in intelligence at the beginning of the century. These were professionals belonging to the rare category of “independent operatives.”
The number of MI6 employees, especially during the years of increased intelligence activity, reached 3 thousand people. In the mid-80s, the staff of MI6 was 1.5 thousand people, which was considered sufficient at that time. In March 1994, the intelligence staff already had 2,303 employees. It is known that after the end of the Cold War, MI6, finding itself in a difficult economic situation in the country, was forced to take part in a policy of “belt tightening.” In order to reduce costs, it was planned to significantly reduce the number of employees. However, significant reductions were avoided due to the temporary withdrawal of certain categories of employees from the staff.
The MI6 secret service is headed by general director, who is also the permanent First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. Thus, formally MI6 is under the control and structurally part of the staff of the British Foreign Office. However, the main role in the mechanism of state control over the activities of the system of national special services and intelligence, as its component, is played by the prime minister, to whom intelligence has direct access and often acts on his personal instructions.
Does England need intelligence?
In the post-Cold War period, fears of joblessness prompted British intelligence agencies to intimidate the public. History professor Christopher Andrew developed the theory that in coming years In the UK we can expect attacks by international terrorists using weapons of mass destruction. Counterintelligence MI5 and MI6 were forced to justify their existence with this routine set of threats, as espionage activities against the Russians lost their relevance.
Following other European intelligence agencies, MI6 happily took up the idea of the “Russian mafia” opening a “second front” in Europe. Based on this thesis, British intelligence managed to convince their masters that a significant part of their Russian colleagues, heirs of the former KGB, were some kind of double agents for the mafia. What finally worked was the idea that “the influence of organized crime on individuals or groups in the intelligence services has become so intense that one should speak of some kind of interpenetration: the mafia and secret agents use the symbiosis of their connections for mutual benefit.”
In the early 90s. There is a debate in the UK about the future of intelligence. Is it needed in our time, when the Cold War is over, the Russians are no longer as dangerous as they once were, operations against the IRA are being curtailed, since the latter has declared a truce? The taxpayer believed that espionage activities against the Russians were no longer a sufficient basis for maintaining a cumbersome apparatus of national intelligence services.
In 1991, a proposal was made to eliminate the division between MI5 and MI6 and create a single organization whose principal purpose would be the fight against terrorism. To the delight of employees of both intelligence services, this proposal was rejected.
Foreign stations MI6/SIS
All departments of the MI6 Operations Directorate are responsible for organizing undercover and other intelligence and subversive activities on the territory of the states “reportable” to them. For these purposes, a wide network of large and small stations is used, which have always formed the basis of the activities of British intelligence, its “golden fund”.
In terms of its size, MI6's overseas station can consist of either two people or several dozen employees. Typically, the station, whose functions include planning and implementing intelligence gathering activities, storing primary information and maintaining contact with the center, is located in the buildings of British embassies, but there are also cases when they worked under the cover of other institutions, in particular, consulates, corporations and firms, airlines, cultural centers and publishing houses, or were located on the premises of a neutral company, and not necessarily in the country against which British intelligence was working.
Legal basis
In fact, until the mid-90s. British intelligence operated without state status, being virtually unaccountable to parliament. Funding for MI6, as mentioned above, is provided through the Foreign Office.
The Intelligence Services Act was passed by the UK Parliament in 1994. It was the first to define intelligence activities as “the acquisition and dissemination of information about the activities and intentions of foreigners outside the UK, as well as the conduct of special operations in the interests of national security».
This document confirmed the already existing de facto right of intelligence services to carry out their operations if they are aimed at protecting the national security and economic well-being of the UK, as well as preventing and solving serious criminal offenses. In addition, the law exempted intelligence officers from liability for actions they committed outside the country in order to perform their functions, even in cases where in England they would have been regarded as criminal. Ministers in charge of the intelligence services are given the power to authorize, at their discretion, operations related to interference in privacy, wiretapping and secret entry into residential and office premises.
The Intelligence Services Act provided for the creation of a parliamentary committee on intelligence and security issues. This body is given the right to exercise control over the spending of budget funds by the intelligence services, management and policy in the field of solving the main tasks of ensuring the internal and external security of the state.
The composition of the committee is formed from nine members of parliament from the ruling and opposition parties. However, committee members should not be elected by fellow parliamentarians, but appointed by the prime minister. The work of this body should be carried out by members of the Cabinet Office, mainly from the staff of the government's Joint Intelligence Committee. Weekly meetings are held in a specially designated room in the Prime Minister's Office.
The law did not contain clear instructions regarding the powers and range of issues that the committee was called upon to resolve. It was only noted that he was obliged to submit an annual report to the Prime Minister, but not to Parliament, as well as other reports at his discretion.
The law made three provisions regarding the provision of information to the committee necessary for its work. According to these provisions, the head of the national intelligence service can: provide the required information “in accordance with arrangements approved by the Minister”; refuse to provide it on the basis of an order of the minister, who must be guided by national security criteria; notify the committee that the information it requests cannot be disclosed due to its secrecy and special importance. Sensitive classified information means information that could reveal or contain details of sources and operational methods, relate to specific transactions (past, present or future) or are provided by a third party that does not wish to disclose them.
However, in practice, this committee has not acquired any powers to delve deeply into the state of affairs in the organizations of the British intelligence community and hear the heads of the intelligence services on issues of interest. At the very first meeting of the committee, the Prime Minister expressed the wish that its members would not try to in any way control the operational activities of the intelligence services. Thus, in fact, the committee turned into a purely advisory body to the British Prime Minister.
Since 1917, immediately after the revolution, and to this day - as is clear from the recent scandal associated with the exposure of a number of intelligence officers from MI6 working in Moscow under the roof of British diplomats - the intelligence war has not stopped. Both during the times of socialism and today, the intelligence services of Russia and Western countries fight against each other. Colonel of the SVR in reserve Oleg Ivanovich TSAREV agreed to answer questions about how the British intelligence services worked on their own and on foreign territory.
– Oleg Ivanovich, please, at the beginning of our conversation, tell us about yourself. Why did you agree to talk about the British intelligence services?
– I, Tsarev Oleg Ivanovich, in 1970 graduated from the Moscow Institute of International Relations, Faculty of Economics, after which I was invited to work in political intelligence and after a year of study at the intelligence school began my work in the First Main Directorate of the KGB of the USSR. At the time, which we will discuss further, it was engaged in reconnaissance outside the borders of the Motherland. I worked in this KGB unit until the collapse of the USSR. And as you know, after its collapse, the State Security Committee was divided into its constituent units. At the same time, the Foreign Intelligence Service - SVR - was created, where I had the honor of working until 1992. Now I am a reserve colonel. He wrote two books about the work of British and Soviet intelligence services and their confrontation with each other. The first is called “Fatal Illusions”, and my second book is “The KGB in England”. So I will try to be useful to you as much as I can.
– What were the residencies of the British intelligence services like, and how did they organize their work against our country?
– Before the revolution in Russia, the British mainly had experience in intelligence work against Germany, which during the First World War was their main enemy.
After October 1917, they had to rebuild and gain similar experience in working against our country. Although Russia has always been interesting to them, so they had certain positions in those days - at least in the British Embassy in Moscow. They had contacts with the anti-Bolshevik underground, in particular with the Socialist Revolutionary Savinkov, the Lokord Conspiracy, although this still requires more detailed study. But, one way or another, after the revolution of 1917 diplomatic relations with England were terminated and re-established only in 1924. And as far as one can judge from the documents of the Cheka and the OGPU, British intelligence did not have a residency in Russia.
You may ask - why? This is the peculiarity of British intelligence: it prefers to work against its enemies from the territory of neighboring countries. If, for example, it works against Poland, then it will work from the territory of a neighboring country - well, say, the Czech Republic. This is due to the fact that British intelligence is organizationally subordinate to the British Foreign Office. Naturally, diplomats do not want to have complications with the country in which they represent their power.
Let's take, for example, Poland. The British Embassy does not want to have complications in relations with the Polish government due to the fact that the Secret Intelligence Service station operates under its roof. After all, this work is fraught with failure, which means tension in relations between countries. Therefore, British reconnaissance against Poland will be conducted from a neighboring country. She also worked against Russia.
And at the time that we are talking about, after 24, the work against the USSR was carried out by the English intelligence officer Gipson. Foreign sources attributed great successes to him, even the existence of a source in the Kremlin itself. We have reprints on this topic in our literature, but this is all untrue. Gipson was based in countries bordering Russia, moved around them and had his own agents in them, and I described above how the work of the station and its agents went. To work against Russia, they needed those who traveled abroad. These could be businessmen, border residents and their relatives living in Russia. In short, those who had legal excuses to visit her. This means that they could conduct operational work there and acquire sources for British intelligence. It was to this principle that the work of British intelligence boiled down to at that time.
But let's return to Gipson. He had an agent from among the emigrants, named Bogomolets: he, being a very gifted person by nature, organized a network of agents who, in turn, crossed the border, traveled to Russia and delivered him information. This agency also included emigrants from Soviet Russia, but have the right to visit it.
It must be said that since the OGPU managed to introduce Gipson into his circle big number its agents, then it could organize an operation to block the actions of its agents. The code name of the operation was “Tarantella”, it was akin to the now well-known operation “Trust”, with the only difference that in “Trust” there was an imitation of the White Guard underground in Russia in order to attract the dissatisfied to their side state system military personnel of the Russian army, and in “Tarantella” there was an imitation of sources who allegedly sent information through British intelligence channels to London. The main goal of the operation was disinformation and misleading the British, and this operation lasted until the mid-30s, as long as Bogomolets worked.
But it should be recognized that the activity of Soviet intelligence itself was significantly complicated, and in some places curtailed, as a result of the repressions of 37-38, when many great intelligence officers who carried out operations “Trust”, “Tarantella”, “Syndicate-2” were executed. These are Syroezhkin, and Antonov-Ovseenko, and Yakushev, and Artuzov - people whose names were the pride of our intelligence. In this regard, Operation Tarantella was no longer so effective. But, despite this, Bogomolets remained in the sight of the NKVD. And they tried to make him a recruitment offer. At the same time, it was explained to him that he worked surrounded by Soviet agents and supplied misinformation to his leaders. He avoided recruitment for some time, but then in Egypt in the forties he himself expressed a desire to cooperate with the intelligence of the USSR... By the way, this example was well able to demonstrate that despite any difficulties and troubles of our Motherland, its special services and especially its intelligence will always work and complete the tasks assigned to her!
This is how the pre-war period ended, and I repeat, the British had no more sources after “Tarantella” - and even those that were available at the time of its holding were not real. Our intelligence service knew this for sure from Kim Philby, whom I would hesitate to call an agent due to the fact that he, without taking money, collaborated with our intelligence for ideological reasons. He is one of us, Soviet intelligence officers.
– How did British intelligence work in the post-war period, and did it change its methods of work? After all, the traitor from the GRU, Colonel Penkovsky of the General Staff, was led by a career employee of the British service Greill Wyn, and not an emigrant?
– After the war, the style of work of British intelligence changed. Using the example of the story with Gipson, they were convinced that the construction of work, as they had before the Great Patriotic War, does not meet the challenges facing British intelligence.
Moreover, if before 1945 they could work not only through emigrants, but also conduct their work through the intelligence services of countries bordering the USSR, namely, through Romanian and Polish intelligence services, they could use their sources and their information, which brought mutual benefit, since the information was well paid, after 1945 the countries neighboring the USSR entered its orbit of influence - after which, naturally, Great Britain could not use its intelligence services in them. She tried to use Turkey and Afghanistan bordering our country in the south. And it must be said that she succeeded to a certain extent. But how do you get from Afghanistan, where the USSR had a fairly strong presence, to the Kremlin and try to recruit someone? A man in a robe and turban would not always be able to get to Moscow, let alone recruit someone in the Kremlin. And there was no white emigration left, so there was no one to work with. In Europe, many sympathies were on the side of the USSR, which defeated fascism.
Therefore, the work of the UK intelligence services had to be restructured.
Already at the end of the war, British intelligence began to recruit Soviet diplomats and employees of Soviet missions abroad, supported nationalist-minded communities and the governments of Lithuania and Latvia in exile, which included former fascist collaborators who collaborated with the Gestapo during German occupation. The intelligence services of England, as I saw from their documents, were even interested in ballet dancers, as well as famous athletes, because they were in the highest circles of power. Naturally, they began to create a residency in the USSR, including in Moscow.
They had no experience working in Russia, and it was difficult for them: they did not have people who knew Russian, there were no people who knew the system of our counterintelligence units. We had information from our agents in British intelligence itself that Great Britain was creating its own station in our country and was facing the problems that I listed for you.
Creating your own intelligence organization in any country is a very difficult matter. This depends on the size of the country and on the tasks facing intelligence. It sometimes takes 5-10 years to establish a residency. For example, when we established diplomatic relations with Great Britain (and this was, as I already said, in 1924), our intelligence began to have more or less decent sources only 3 years later. This is before the Cambridge Five, which appeared in the thirties.
But let's return to the British. First big deal British intelligence was the case of Oleg Penkovsky. I don’t know of any other major traces of their activities at that time. There were attempts, together with the Americans, to land saboteurs and spies from among the nationalists who went to the West with the Germans on high-speed boats and parachute into the Baltic states in the late forties and early fifties. But all these operations failed. In the Baltic states themselves, large counterintelligence operations called the “Red Web” were carried out with them.
Penkovsky, who voluntarily offered his services to the British, was led jointly by the British and Americans. But the operational work with him in Moscow was carried out by the British intelligence services, who worked not entirely straightforwardly, but with a bit of imagination.
It was led by diplomat Chishold, who came from Germany with his wife. The fact that Chishold is an intelligence officer became known to us immediately, because in Berlin Chishold was replaced in his position by George Blake, and he was, as I said above, our colleague, and if an intelligence officer replaces him, then there is no question who Chishold himself is . Naturally, our counterintelligence, from the very appearance of Chishold, took a closer look at him and saw that he was not active, working quietly at the embassy, and this is not entirely normal. Well, he’s a scout, so what does he do? Naturally, he must get comfortable in a country that is foreign to him, learn the language, study the work of counterintelligence, etc. And then our counterintelligence decided to follow what his wife was doing. And she went out for a walk with a small child lying in a stroller on Tsvetnoy Boulevard. It was cold for her to walk in winter. Naturally, she came either to warm up, or, excuse me, to adjust her stockings in some entrance. And during one of her walks, the KGB counterintelligence detected contact. Surveillance followed him, but lost him, which happens when you work carefully. But they began to develop the case further - and in the end they came to Penkovsky.
Let's look at what led to the failure. The house where the Cheeseholds lived is located on the Garden Ring. The place where she walks on Tsvetnoy Boulevard is four hundred meters away, and Tsvetnoy Boulevard itself is six hundred meters long. The entire route of her walks before contacting Penkovsky was at most a kilometer, with a stop in one of the alleys. During this time, she could not check to see if she was under surveillance. Of course, she could pretend that she was adjusting something in the stroller in order to look back. At this time there were so many people on Tsvetnoy Boulevard that her entire route could have been clogged with surveillance. Moreover, she walked back and forth and would never have been able to detect observations. From the point of view of the operative, this was a completely illiterate job. So she was hooked. And this clue led to failure.
At the same time, Penkovsky saw the surveillance car and felt that he was close to failure and was on the verge of exposure. But his masters pressed him that this was unacceptable and unforgivable for intelligence work.
And this episode with Penkovsky teaches us that, firstly, the work with the agent during the meetings was carried out promptly illiterately, even mediocrely; secondly, with regard to meetings with Penkovsky on the streets of Moscow, this tells us that the British did not have sufficient experience; and third, they don't value their sources. They had the opportunity to freeze it. After all, they knew about the surveillance machine both from Penkovsky himself and from the words of their counter-surveillance observer. And when such information arrives, the intelligence work is curtailed for an indefinite period, and the agent’s work is stopped for the required period. When our agents from the Cambridge Five developed a threatening situation in 1945, their work was frozen for 3 years and only then they were approached with great caution, and then not directly, but through indirect channels. And if British intelligence had behaved the same way with Oleg Penkovsky, then perhaps the ending of his work for them would have been different!
– Did this incident teach the British intelligence services how to work correctly with their agents?
It is known that the British intelligence services treated their agent, former colonel of the PGU KGB of the USSR Oleg Gordievsky, more carefully, taking him from under the noses of our counterintelligence agents to London in 1985.
– Were the British intelligence services operationally very strong at this time?
I think that the British have very strong intelligence. But when we're talking about about the assessment of any of the intelligence services, then it is impossible to directly compare the work of, say, the British and Soviet intelligence services, because each of them fulfills the task assigned to it by its government.
– So, only the government can judge the effectiveness of its intelligence service?
– Only the president of that country can speak about how well a country’s intelligence works.
British intelligence did not officially exist until 1996-97. About five years before that, everyone knew that it seemed to exist, but no one officially recognized it. But when they received a rather large tourist building on the south bank of the Thames for their headquarters, then they learned about it. And their former intelligence officers began to hold press conferences, which I also had the opportunity to attend.
– What is the assessment of the work of the British intelligence services by its government and its former employees?
– There are different estimates. Some of the authors of books on British intelligence have unofficial contact with its representatives. For example, British intelligence found itself in a similar position to Soviet intelligence when it warned the British government that Argentina should enter the war for the Falkland Islands in order to annex them. British intelligence informed its government about this in advance.
Soviet intelligence was in a similar situation in 1941, warning its government about the plans of Nazi Germany. Although let me make a reservation: the scale is incommensurable, the German attack on our Motherland and the seizure of islands far from Great Britain are absolutely different-scale events. But I’m talking to you about the similarity of intelligence work and situations, that both British and Soviet intelligence warned about the enemy’s plans, but in the capitals of their states they did not believe them and did not take action. And here is the result: both there and there an unexpected attack - although, I repeat once again, the situations are incommensurable in significance, but the problems are similar.
Oleg Ivanovich, as many of your colleagues from both intelligence and counterintelligence told me, the power of the State Security Committee lay in the fact that its intelligence and counterintelligence units worked in the same system and could jointly analyze the information obtained, and act together, and duplicate each other friend, depending on where this operation is carried out in our country or abroad. Did the British intelligence services also have counterintelligence and intelligence in the same system?
No. The British have counterintelligence M-I Five, which in our country is called Mi-5, and there is intelligence, M-I Six, or as we call it Mi-6 in our country. The letters Em and Ai, or Mi, denote Military Intelligence, like a military intelligence department: 5 is counterintelligence, a military intelligence department, 6 is political intelligence. In fact, they have nothing to do with military intelligence: they are simply encrypted in this way. The English love to call things by other people's names.
The Mi-5 operated in the countries of the socialist community, and the Mi-6 operated in all other countries. For example, in Germany the geographical coverage of the Mi-6 was not great, but the Mi-5 had more. A representative of Mi-5 was sitting in Gibraltar, and a representative of Mi-6 will already work in Morocco, because this is a foreign country, and Gibraltar is the territory of England for them.
But which of these British intelligence services could have recruited Oleg Gordievsky and how could it obtain such an operationally valuable agent? Do you, Oleg Ivanovich, have your own version of his recruitment?
I personally believe that the story of his betrayal and departure, despite his appearances in the media and his book “KGB of the USSR,” is not yet completely clear. I have my own version. He himself claims that he switched to them for ideological reasons, because of what he saw on the streets of Prague in 1968. But he set out on his own path only 10 years after the Prague events, working in Denmark. What has he been doing all this time – maturing spiritually?
No, everything that happened to him is not so simple. Something pushed him to cheat. Many who worked with him argued that he did not restrain himself in the female department, and he should have known, as an intelligence officer, that local counterintelligence could take advantage of this. I personally assume that this is exactly what happened; according to our intelligence services, he visited brothels during his trips to the Scandinavian countries. The enemy’s counterintelligence, as I later learned from personal conversations with those who served in it, had the ability to control and know which of our embassy employees went there and when. That's where they grabbed him. The Danes could pass information about Oleg to the British, because the British intelligence services had good relations in Europe with Holland and Denmark.
Do not think that they acted rudely by showing him photographs of him in the company of ladies of easy virtue and making a recruitment offer. It was important for them to feel his mood, to know his views, and, having special equipment, this was not difficult to do. And only after learning his attitude to the system, his views on everything that was happening in the USSR, they developed them and based his recruitment on this. But they always kept the incriminating evidence in reserve so that he would not back down, and if he did, they would, in addition to knowing about him, also show him photographs. Moreover, if he had been completely recruited there, the British would not have given him the opportunity to divorce his first wife. Because a divorce would not have given him the opportunity to take the place of deputy head of the third department of the First Main Directorate of the KGB of the USSR (department for work in the Scandinavian countries and Great Britain), who worked with the Cambridge Five. This means that then they have not yet completely subjugated him, if he did get divorced. After which he was transferred from the central apparatus to the Red Banner Intelligence Institute to a pseudoscientific position. This speaks for my version.
And before leaving for the UK in 1982, for some reason he was nervous, covering up his nervousness by saying that he didn’t know the language well and might not fit into the new team. At work in the UK, he began taking tranquilizers and kept asking to be recalled to Moscow.
I think that in Denmark he was hooked and did not complete the recruitment process, and he was afraid to go to England, realizing that the British would not leave him alone and would force him to work for themselves. full power. After all, pay attention that in Moscow, in an insignificant position, they did not touch him: they did not need him then. And when he returned to work at the London station of the KGB PGU, his colleagues from Mi-5 began to help him. First, they expel our deputy resident for political intelligence, and the PGU appoints Gordievsky to this position. Then the British intelligence services expel the resident himself, and Gordievsky has the opportunity to take his place, and in 1985 he becomes acting resident. And in the same year, Soviet intelligence received information, the source of which is unknown to me, that a “mole” had appeared in its London station.
Couldn’t the signal about a “mole” in the London station of Soviet intelligence come from the allies, say, from Directorate A of the GDR MGB intelligence, headed by Markus Wolf?
I will repeat: despite all my subsequent attempts to learn from the people at the helm of USSR intelligence at that time, they did not lead to success. The source of Gordievsky's identification as a mole remains a mystery to me. As for the version you expressed, it cannot be ruled out completely - since the intelligence service of the GDR MGB in London had a strong position. But the first signal about a mole in the USSR KGB intelligence in London did not specifically indicate Gordievsky, but only reported the traitor’s place of work.
Then he was summoned to Moscow under the pretext of an interview for his appointment as a resident in the London station of the PGU of the KGB of the USSR. During the interview, as he writes in the book, psychotropic drugs were mixed into his food to make him talk. I doubt that everything was exactly like that, because he wrote under the dictation of his new bosses, which means he had to write what they needed. But they won’t let him write the whole truth. Moreover, the State Security Committee had nothing to love about either the Mi-5 or the CIA. We were enemies with them and defended different state systems.
But, during the conversation, I think that he, as a smart person, understood everything and, perhaps, after it he was able to notify the British about his failure. Because they found a way to very quickly and skillfully take it outside the USSR. There are two versions of how they managed to do this. The first is that he was picked up during his morning jog, when he was resting at the KGB dacha near Leningrad, where he went after the conversation, and taken out in the trunk of a car with diplomatic license plates.
But why didn’t the dogs sniffing this car smell it?
It is likely that the British could have treated the car with something.
The second version also has a right to exist: perhaps he left using someone else’s passport. By the way, the British intelligence services practiced this. Gordievsky's photograph is already supposed to be pasted into the passport prepared for him by the British. And he crossed the border using a passport in the name of another person. Which, by the way, also required a certain amount of courage from him when going through passport control.
So, they drew conclusions from the failure of Oleg Penkovsky and began to somehow protect their agents?
I think the Gordievsky example partially answers your question. They worked with her secretly against representatives of our institutions abroad. It was easier to work in England itself, where their hands were completely free, using couriers passing through our country to protect their country’s embassy from scandals.
The intelligence service must somehow maintain contact with the agent, regardless of whether in our country or in their own country. How was this done? Apparently they had a good radio service at the British Embassy?
You and I know that the Americans used their own technical means of communication. This means that the British also had them. The CIA station in Moscow was strong, and the fact of their cooperation existed. And the British could, in return for exchanging information, give their agents, who they had recruited somewhere, to communicate with American intelligence officers, so as not to reveal themselves here in Moscow. And hold meetings with them on the road.
The basis of any intelligence service work, from undercover penetration of, say, an enemy intelligence service, to the fight against terrorism and preventing its consequences, is the work of an analytical plan. To what extent did the British intelligence services have strong analytical units?
I believe that they are very strong, but they cannot be compared with the American ones, since the analytical divisions of the CIA are better able to work with different sources of information, both open (media, TV, radio) and closed ones - that is, with agents.
Each departure of an employee, and especially the PGU of the KGB of the USSR, was accompanied by the fact that colleagues loyal to them were either expelled from the country where they worked or arrested, it all depended on the nature and specifics of their work. After Gordievsky’s flight, which you, Oleg Ivanovich, described above, 39 people were declared persona non grata in the UK. Approximately how many of them were full-time employees of the State Security Committee?
Well, of course, a certain number were expelled, but pure diplomats are also added to this number.
So, it turns out that the British intelligence services loved political scandals?
In this case, I believe, several goals were pursued.
First, shake up your country to remind you that the enemy is not asleep, the KGB is everywhere. This is a reason for a new round of anti-Soviet propaganda, and this is what promises money to the military-industrial complex. Because if there is an enemy, then you need to protect yourself from him, and in order to have protection, you need new types of weapons.
Secondly, their side wanted to take revenge for an agent who had been exposed but had left his counterintelligence agency.
Thirdly, apparently they wanted to stir up unpleasant relations between the KGB and the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
You, Oleg Ivanovich, said above that Western intelligence services used ideological operations in their work. How, in your opinion, can this be classified as: a speech on the British radio station BBC former leader Directorate of Foreign Counterintelligence Oleg Kalugin, with a story about the assassination attempt on the editor of one of the departments of this radio station. And the “confession” of former KGB officer Lyalin about how he trained special forces in the UK in 1970. surgeries in case nuclear war. How can you comment on all this?
Yes, British intelligence services often took part in psychological warfare against the USSR, finding people who voiced the information they needed.
IN Russian media, at one time, there was information about the book published by Mi-5 employee Tomlinson, “Tasks of the British Special Service.” It says that in the recent past, British intelligence services were preparing the assassination of Serbian leader Milosevic. Was British intelligence really doing this?
This question is quite complicated. Here you need to have information, as they say, from the service itself or from our most secret agent in it. Because even if such operations are carried out, they are not documented on paper. And Tomlinson himself presented some documents and said that something similar was being prepared, but how it happened is difficult to say. And in such matters they work with extreme caution. For example, the son of Rudolf Hess, after the death of his father, argued in his book that Hess himself could not hang himself in Spandau prison, and he made a number of convincing arguments that his father could not commit suicide. But this is also just a version.
As is known, technical sabotage advisers from the British intelligence services helped the Basmachi of Central Asia back in the 20s. Later, during the Cold War, did British intelligence services support various anti-socialist movements in the Warsaw Pact countries, as was the case in Hungary in 1956, or during the Czech Spring in 1968?
Yes, during the Hungarian events in 1956, the British intelligence services created warehouses with weapons on the territory of Austria, and transporting them by bus across the then almost open border of Hungary and Austria different people from anti-socialist groups, taught them how to use these weapons, and prepared them for an armed uprising in Budapest.
Thank you for the interesting conversation.
Government Intelligence Committee
A. Younger
Education
The UK's Joint Foreign Intelligence Service originates from the Secret Service Bureau of the Government Defense Committee and the Army's Main Intelligence Directorate. The RU of the Defense Committee, formed in 1909, included intelligence and counterintelligence departments with a small apparatus. On the recommendation of the Navy RU, Captain 2nd Rank M. Cumming was appointed head of the intelligence department, Major General V. Kell was appointed head of the security department. Due to financial and personnel difficulties in maintaining several parallel special services, the RU of the Defense Committee was merged with the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ground Forces. Captain 2nd Rank M. Cumming became the head of the 6th, and Major General V. Kell - the 5th Directorate. The intelligence of the Ground Forces at that time consisted of 19 functional departments.
Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ground Forces
Structure
| Department no. | Functions |
|---|---|
| 1st | Encryption Service |
| 2nd | Military statistical (colonies W. hemisphere USSR, Scandinavia (until 1941) |
| 3rd | Military statistical (European countries USSR, Scandinavia (since 1941) |
| 4th | Topographical |
| 5th | Military counterintelligence |
| 6th | Intelligence (after organizing the SIS communications group) |
| 7th | War propaganda |
| 8th | Radio interception |
| 9th | Survey of military personnel who returned from captivity |
| 10th | Reconnaissance by technical means (since 1949 Government Communications Center) |
| 11th | Military police |
| 12th | Military censorship |
| 13th | Special Operations |
| 14th | Military statistical (Germany and occupied territories) |
| 15th | Species reconnaissance and aerial photography (since 1943, RU Air Force) |
| 16th | Scientific and technical intelligence |
| 17th | Secretariat |
| 18th | For use in literature without disclosing state secrets |
| 19th | Survey of prisoners of war |
| JIS | Communications group Government Intelligence Committee |
| L(R) | Liaison group with the attaché in the USSR |
Management
In connection with the tradition of the leadership of government agencies to mark documents with their initials, the first head of the 6th Directorate, M. Cumming, marked the documents with his initial “C” in green ink. Subsequently, the initial "Si" became the unofficial designation for the position of chief of foreign policy intelligence. The head of military counterintelligence (5th Directorate), Major General W. Kell, marked management documentation with the initial “K”, but was not as famous as the conspicuously disabled M. Cumming.
World War I
Reorganization of intelligence of the Ground Forces
In 1916, for political and financial reasons, it was decided to reassign the special services of the Ground Forces to civilian departments. The 1st Directorate was transferred from the Ministry of the Ground Forces to the General Staff of the Navy (Admiralty), the 6th to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the 5th to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, with funding for the special services through the budgets of the Navy and two civilian ministries, not the Ground Forces. The departments of military propaganda, special operations and work with prisoners of war remained under the jurisdiction of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ground Forces. In 1920, the departments that were withdrawn from the GUR of the Ground Forces received the designations:
- 1st - “Cryptographic Service Schools” of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- 5th - “Security Services” of the Ministry of Internal Affairs
- 6th - “Intelligence Services” of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Intelligence Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
1920-30s
In 1923, after the death of Captain 1st Rank M. Cumming, Admiral H. Sinclair was transferred from the post of head of the Naval Operations Directorate to the post of head of the foreign intelligence service. Under his leadership, the expansion of the foreign policy intelligence apparatus began, including the creation of new departments:
Directorate of Illegal Intelligence "Z"
The SIS resident in Rome in the 1930s, Lieutenant Colonel C. Dancy, noted that by the time he took office, the cover of intelligence officers in the embassy as "passport officers" had largely been exposed by the enemy, and his position as resident was not in doubt by Italian counterintelligence . In addition, many professionals from the General Staff of the Ground Forces worked in political intelligence residencies, who were competent intelligence analysts, but did not always reliably master the methods of underground work abroad.
After returning from Italy and being appointed to the post of deputy chief of service, Lieutenant Colonel Dancy suggested that the leadership in their work should focus on using not embassy, but business connections in the business world, which was not subject to such close counterintelligence attention, including attracting businessmen who had friendly US citizenship rather than British citizenship. At Dancy’s suggestion, the illegal intelligence department “Z” was organized in SIS, which used cover for both international trading companies and individual entrepreneurs and financiers. By 1936, the personnel and intelligence personnel of the “Z” department numbered up to 200 people. Among the employees of the “Z” department was, for example, the British director of Hungarian origin A. Korda, whose international film studio London Films was often used as an unofficial cover for intelligence officers.
Change of SIS leadership
Capture of the SIS residency in the Netherlands
The most important European intelligence centers of the SIS were the residencies in The Hague and Brussels, which were the main communication points between other European points and the London center. The residency in The Hague had two senior officers, one of whom, being an employee of Directorate Z without diplomatic cover, had connections in government circles and royal family the Netherlands, and the senior officer of the embassy station ensured communication between European points and the Center. Trying to find an approach to the SIS residency on the neutral territory closest to Germany, in September 1939, the counterintelligence department of the SS Security Service under the leadership of Major W. Schellenberg, allegedly in order to avoid a pan-European war, made a proposal to begin negotiations on the topic of removing A. Hitler peacefully or by force, ending the invasion of Poland and transforming the existing regime with the help of the allies.
From the very beginning of the negotiations, the goal of the SS counterintelligence officers was to capture British intelligence officers in the German-Dutch border area, which was not possible, since station officers appeared in the border area only accompanied by intelligence officers and the Dutch police. A month after the start of negotiations, both employees of the Hague station and an employee of the 3rd Directorate of the General Staff of the Netherlands at one of the meetings in the border city of Venlo were captured by an SS special forces group and taken to German territory. A seriously wounded employee of the 3rd Directorate of the General Staff of the Netherlands died in a hospital on German territory in Dusseldorf.
Employees of the Hague SIS station were convicted by a German military court of espionage and served time in a concentration camp, from where they were released only with the Allied offensive in 1945. Thus, one of the main European SIS stations was completely paralyzed at the very beginning of World War II in Europe . An important point during the first phase of the war was that Nazi Germany received a formal pretext for occupying the territory of the neutral Kingdom of the Netherlands due to the fact that British intelligence services were actively working there.
Working in the Western Hemisphere
Since the spring of 1940 in the USA (New York), the so-called “Security Directorate” of the SIS (British Security Co-ordination/BSC) was formed in the USA and Canada for contact with the US intelligence services (at that time the 2nd Directorate of the General Staff of the Land troops and RU of the US Navy). In collaboration with the SIS Ambassadorial Station and the Office of Military Attachés in the United States, the Security Administration for the United States and Canada assisted in the formation of the United States Office of Strategic Services (OSS).
The Second World War
At the beginning of World War II, Great Britain concentrated its efforts not only on human intelligence behind enemy lines, but also on sabotage and force actions, radio interception of enemy communication lines, and mass decryption of codes of operational significance.
Government radio interception program
To organize a large computer center and a full-scale radio interception program for all strategic communications channels of the Armed Forces Hitler's Germany since 1941, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Cipher Service School was allocated a territory in the suburbs of London. Bletchley (so-called Bletchley Park Exhibition Centre). The main task of the government decryption center was the development and implementation of the latest computer methods for decrypting data encrypted with German electronic encryption tools at that time. All information received by the specialists of the CC decryption service was transmitted special management SIS to the Government's Joint Intelligence Committee for further distribution at the request of the Navy and Ground Forces.
Government counterintelligence program "20"
With the outbreak of hostilities in Europe and then the air war from the continent against the mother country, the British government adopted the counterintelligence program “20” (“XX”), according to which the tasks of the Security Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs included identifying and re-recruiting the intelligence network of Hitler Germany in Great Britain. The main goal of the operation was to use the identified agents to transmit disinformation to the German command about the situation in the metropolis. The “20” counterintelligence program was coordinated by a specialist from the Army Military Intelligence Corps and Deputy. Head of the Security Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs D. Masterman. The key point In organizing a preventive large-scale operation on the territory of the metropolis, the counterintelligence agencies of the Security Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs had access to the materials of the Computer Center of the School of Encryption Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
After the outbreak of hostilities in Europe, the Security Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in a short period arrested more than twenty people from among the identified German agents in the metropolis. The investigation into the cases of the arrested agents was conducted in the 20th prison of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the district of Richmond in West London. To directly organize the intelligence game with the participation of converted agents, disinformation department No. 1A was created in the “B” (counterintelligence) department of the Security Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs under the leadership of an experienced operative T. Robertson.
Work in Hitler's Germany
Until the outbreak of World War II, the SIS station in Berlin exchanged information with intelligence and counterintelligence of the SS security service on issues of countering the activities of the Comintern in Europe. SIS resident in Berlin F. Foley considered his relationships with his colleagues from the SS Security Service to be quite friendly.
Government Special Operations Program in Occupied Europe
In wartime, on the basis of the 13th Directorate of Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ground Forces and Directorate “D” of the SIS, the so-called Directorate of Special Operations (USO), engaged in reconnaissance and sabotage activities in the occupied territories of Europe. The USO was disbanded in 1946 in peacetime conditions, some of the fighters of the sabotage groups were transferred to work in the SIS. Since 1940, K. Philby was an employee of the USO center for training sabotage groups near Calais Ave.
Working in the Western Hemisphere
Work in the East Asian region
To counteract Hitler Germany and Imperial Japan in North Africa and the Middle East South-East Asia The Interservice Liaison Department/ISLD was formed with main residencies in India (Delhi) and Egypt (Cairo).
Government aerial photography program
Since 1940, on the basis of the 4th (topographic) and 15th (aerial reconnaissance) directorates of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ground Forces, a photographic reconnaissance department (Photographic Development Unit / PDU) was formed, before the start of hostilities in Europe it was deployed to the Central Directorate for the Analysis of Photoreconnaissance Materials (Central Interpretation Unit/PIU/CIU). After the war, the department was deployed to the Center for Species Intelligence of the Ground Forces and the Air Force.
SIS in the 1940s-1980s
SIS in the post-war period
Immediately after the liberation of the territory of the USSR and the release of parts of the Red Army to the state border in 1944, the 9th (anti-Comintern) directorate, disbanded in 1941, was restored within the SIS to counter Soviet intelligence in Europe. An employee of the Special Operations Directorate, K. Philby, was appointed head of the 9th Directorate, and was later sent as head to the SIS embassy residencies in Turkey (Ankara) and the USA (Washington).
In the summer of 1945, an employee of the USSR Consulate General K. Volkov initiated contact with the SIS residency in Ankara, proposing to give SIS employees a list of Soviet agents in the British civil service apparatus. The contact with the Soviet diplomat in Turkey was reported by the station to the head of the 9th Directorate, K. Philby, who contacted the London station of the NKVD and warned Soviet intelligence about betrayal. K. Volkov was hastily taken from Ankara to Moscow and convicted.
In 1946, the operational departments were formally consolidated into the so-called. “extractive” (“Production Sections”, “Directorate of Production”), and information - in “request” (“Requirements Sections”, “Directorate of Requirements”) management. The apparatus and agents of the disbanded USO were transferred to the jurisdiction of the SIS.
Great damage to the work of the SIS in the war and post-war years was caused by the fact that the head of the special operations and counterintelligence department, K. Philby, was an agent of Soviet intelligence. He continued his intelligence work even after being transferred from the London office as a resident to Ankara and then to Washington (USA). In the post-war period, Soviet intelligence managed to obtain with its help information about joint special operations of the USA and Great Britain against the USSR from the territory of Turkey and Albania, as well as about all the details of the work of the US CIA in Washington. Philby was dismissed from SIS due to inconsistency after his classmate and colleague at the Foreign Office D. Maclean and SIS colleague G. Burgess fled from Great Britain to the USSR with the assistance of Soviet intelligence.
Modern structure of the SIS
Operational Directorates
Location of the SIS
Historically, UK intelligence services were located in the government quarter of Westminster (in the area Buckingham Palace and parliament, later on the street. Whitehall).
Westminster (1909-1919)
Westminster (1926-1996)
In 1926, intelligence and cryptographic service Ground Forces were transferred back to Westminster st. Broadway, 54 (next to the Metro Main Directorate). In 1964, a new high-rise building “Century” was built for SIS on the street. Vauxhall Bridge.
SIS main building (1996-present)
In 1995, according to the architect's design Terry Farrell for the Foreign Office SIS near the 1960s building. the newest building was built on the embankment at Vauxhall Bridge. The SIS building can be seen in the James Bond films: “GoldenEye”, “The World is Not Enough”, “Die Another Day”, “Casino Royale”, “007. Coordinates: “Skyfall”, as well as in the series “Ghosts” about the work of MI5, the BBC series “Sherlock” and the mini-series “The Night Manager”. In the movie 007: Specter, the SIS building is blown up.
List of executives
| No. | Chin | Insignia | Name | Portrait | In the position | Right awards |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Captain 1st rank |
M. Cumming | 1909-23 | |
||
| 2. | Admiral | H. Sinclair | 1923-39 | |||
| 3. | Major General | S. Menzies | 1939-52 | |
||
| 4. | Major General | D. Sinclair | 1953-56 | |
Culture
Do you feel like someone is following you, reading your email and listening to your telephone conversations? Don't rush to see a psychiatrist! It could be THEM! No, not aliens, but very real people - intelligence officers. And don’t think that you are too insignificant to be of interest to the knights of the cloak and dagger. Do you have relatives abroad? What a reason to watch! Who doesn’t have them now, you say? Do you know what exactly they do? No? And the intelligence services are aware! Speaking seriously, the intelligence services of any country now have a wide enough potential to track down almost anyone. Does this mean that someone can periodically spy on you? Well, if your activities may be of at least some interest to the intelligence services, then this is quite possible. So, we bring to your attention a list of the ten most influential intelligence agencies in the world.
1. RSI (India)
The Indian intelligence community is a powerful instrument in the service of the country's national interests, which includes all domestic and foreign intelligence units. This organization has always attracted the close attention of Western intelligence services, in particular due to the close relations of the so-called RSI Research and Analysis Department with the intelligence services of the Soviet Union and Israel. Working undercover and collecting all kinds of information is a long way off. not the only goals of the RSI that it pursued in other states. However, some facts indicate that until 1977, the main violin in many aspects of the life of the Indian people was played by Soviet intelligence, generously funded by the Government of India. However, the KGB did not work well enough, throwing money down the drain, since they failed to maintain the influence of the Communist Party of this country on the leadership. Be that as it may, many experts are confident that the RSI has been dancing to the tune of the USSR for a long time.
2. ACPA (Australia)
The main mission of the Australian Secret Intelligence Agency is to obtain and analyze information in the Western Pacific region, identify sabotaging civilians, and combat terrorism. It probably won’t be surprising news to anyone that the structure of ASRA is built on the principles of the British intelligence service MI6. It is noteworthy that the powers of Australian intelligence officers are extremely limited. In general, there is quite little information about the Australian intelligence service. This can mean two things: either it works very well or very poorly. Perhaps this is due to the remoteness of the Australian mainland from other continents. Australian intelligence was at one time reproached for interfering too much in the personal lives of its citizens. I also remember a very curious case when, during a training operation to liberate one of the hotels in Melbourne from imaginary terrorists, representatives of the Australian intelligence services got so angry that they caused significant damage to the hotel and used physical violence against several hotel employees.
3. PMR (Pakistan)
One of the powerful intelligence services is located in a South Asian state like Pakistan. In fact, this is not surprising, since Pakistan has often found itself at the center of multiple military conflicts in the territories adjacent to its border. That is why many experts consider the PMR one of the most well-organized intelligence services in the world. The country's attitude towards this organization is far from clear, since Pakistani intelligence is often called a “state within a state.” Very often, Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence attracts close attention from Western intelligence agencies.(although this interest never seems to wane!). U.S. officials often accuse Pakistani intelligence agencies of having ties to terrorist organizations, particularly their support for the Islamic Taliban movement, which is officially labeled a terrorist organization by the United Nations. Against the backdrop of this information, the recent transfer of two reconnaissance aircraft from the US Navy to Pakistani maritime intelligence cannot but cause bewilderment. Here they are, real spy intrigues!
4. Federal Reserve System (Germany)
The German Federal Intelligence Service has a trail of high-profile and successful operations carried out during the history of this organization. The Fed is a real player that also influences the policies of many foreign countries. The complex structure of this organization is due to the numerous issues that Fed employees have to resolve every day within the framework of national security. However, Despite all the power of this organization, I remember an absurd incident, which occurred in 1997, which exposed the Fed's foreign intelligence agents to attack. The fact is that the Fed management issued special badges with the inscription "I love the Fed". It was planned to use the money raised from the sale of these badges to build kindergartens for the children of intelligence officers. The comical nature of the situation was that almost all the offspring of intelligence officers who played in the courtyards of Munich, conducting important and secret activities on the territory of other states, were wearing these badges. Finding out whose families the parents work in intelligence was not difficult...
5. GDVB (France)
Although many ill-wishers call the French “frogs,” the country’s General Directorate of External Security boasts the most widespread spy network not only in Europe, but also in the United States of America. Once upon a time, agents of the French intelligence services had a very high reputation: their training was so well organized that French agents were considered one of the most inventive in the matter of conducting affairs within the framework of foreign intelligence. However, since a constant stream of emigrants poured into France, The French intelligence services were forced to devote all their forces to the fight against the terrorist threat and to prevent terrorist attacks. Unfortunately, despite the fact that the French leadership has repeatedly tried to convince its citizens that they are carefully filtering the flow of emigrants, in this country clashes occur every now and then in which it is the newcomers who are involved. The most recent incident occurred recently when an Algerian man shot and killed three French soldiers while claiming to be acting on behalf of Al Qaeda. However, according to officials, no connections between the killer and the terrorist organization could be identified...
6. MGB (China)
"Knock, knock, knock, I'm your friend!" Probably, this motto would be best suited for the Chinese intelligence services. Agents from many countries note the complete impossibility of functioning on the territory of the People's Republic of China due to the extremely well-functioning system of denunciations built by the Ministry of State Security of the People's Republic of China. Even the almighty West admits its helplessness in the face of the might of Chinese intelligence services, noting the fact that the Chinese are a people accustomed to planning decades in advance. The Chinese themselves have long admitted that they are lagging behind in terms of technical equipment. American army, relying on the development of information technology and the appropriate technical equipment of their intelligence services. Every now and then you can hear about how another Chinese hacker hacked another security system of another American server. The question – whether this is the work of home-grown specialists or Chinese intelligence services – remains open. The leadership of the PRC itself stated that the purpose of the activities of their MGB "is to ensure the security of the state by organizing effective measures against the invasion of enemy agents, spies and counter-revolutionaries whose activities are aimed at undermining development socialist system China". How familiar is this to citizens? former USSR, is not it?
7. MI6 (UK)
Even a person very far from Hollywood and the film industry knows very well that there is no stronger intelligence service than the British MI6, since the invincible James Bond is in the service of this organization. After all, it is in MI6 that you can find the most modern types of weapons, the fastest cars, the most sophisticated spy devices, the most beautiful women, and finally, the most difficult tasks! Jokes aside, but until 1994 the highest leadership Misty Albion denied the existence of the Secret Intelligence Service MI6, which was involved in foreign intelligence. What not best example secrecy? The activities of MI6 agents have always been shrouded in secrecy. In fact, for every employee of this intelligence service, any secret business trip in case of failure was considered a one-way ticket - none of the highest ranks of Britain would recognize not only that the failed agent belonged to their secret service, but even the very existence of such a service! It’s no wonder that all the stories around MI6 are pure speculation, shrouded in an aura of mystery and uncertainty.
8. CIA (USA)
America's Central Intelligence Agency needs no introduction. There are so many scandals surrounding this organization that it would be enough for a good dozen other special services. At one time, in our country, an aura was created around the CIA not just as an enemy, but as an evil and insidious machine, whose tireless activity was aimed at undermining the foundations of the Soviet state. During the so-called Cold War, the name of this intelligence service almost scared children. IN this moment The CIA's time has increased significantly, since One of the main goals of this department is to combat international terrorism
. One can, of course, say that the special services were overzealous in this fight, destroying the “enemy” on its own territory, and when this in no way infringes on America’s national interests. However, this is probably how an exemplary model should work intelligence organization, who knows... On his 50th birthday, President Clinton said: "...Americans will never know the full story of their (CIA agents) bravery...". Yes, it seems that few people had the chance to learn not only the whole story of the courage of CIA agents, but also what this organization actually does.
9. KGB (USSR)
One thing that definitely needs no introduction is the USSR State Security Committee. And although this organization was officially abolished back in 1991, the echoes of the KGB’s activities make half the world shake with fear (moreover, this fear is based for the most part, only on stories within the framework of anti-Soviet propaganda conducted by the CIA). It should be noted that the committee members organized a system of denunciations that worked no worse than in China. It is believed that information about many secrets that cause widespread excitement(the death of Hitler, UFOs, etc., etc., etc.), stored in the KGB archives. In fact, there are much more of these secrets, and the organization’s activities on the territory of other countries during the existence of the Soviet state are shrouded in even greater secrecy than the information about how Hitler’s remains were actually dealt with. The KGB is no longer there, but many remember this organization as a tool in the fight against the Russian intelligentsia. However, one should not underestimate the merits of this special service in the fight against the threat to the statehood of the USSR.
10. Mossad (Israel)
Which intelligence service do you think is considered the most effective and whose employees are the most trained professionals? No, this is not the CIA at all. According to the unanimous opinion of most experts, the Israeli Intelligence and Special Tasks Agency (Mossad) is considered the most professional. In principle, there is nothing unusual in the work of this organization - it, like many of its colleagues in other countries, collects and analyzes information, conducts various operations outside Israeli territory, and, in principle, does everything for the security and integrity of his country. How is the effectiveness of this special service demonstrated? In fact, it is the Mossad employees who can be considered the real knights of cloak and dagger, since thanks to their efforts in Israel, bordering such hotbeds of tension as Lebanon, Syria, the Gaza Strip and Egypt, it is possible to maintain order and a peaceful way of life. And this despite the fact that in this country representatives of all ethnic groups, religious teachings and denominations are simply mixed! This is someone you really should learn work from!
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