A book revealing the history of the first 40 years of MI6 has been published. Former head of MI6 Sir John Scarlett tells Jonathan Rugman the book will end myths about a “licence to kill”.
Professor Keith Jeffery, of Queen’s University Belfast, wrote the book based on his unrestricted access to archives from 1909-1949.
The book contains details about MI6’s activities in both of the World Wars and beyond, including vivid accounts of successes such as the secret agent organisation La Dame Blanche, which provided information on enemy troop movements.
It also details how MI6 helped prevent a communist revolution in Brazil in 1935; supervised the Bletchley Park code-breakers; and the missions of individual agents, such as Lieutenant Augustus Agar VC, who sank Russian warships using only fast motor boats during the Russian Revolution.
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Former head of MI6, Sir John Scarlett, told Channel 4 News that the book would allow people to see the truth of the service.
He said: “There are a lot of gadgets in intelligence work and in espionage and that needs to be said, and there’s also a lot of excitement in intelligence work. The myth surrounding a ‘licence to kill’ is a myth – although of course a myth can give something if it creates a very powerful reputation and the James Bond films are one of the great myths of all time.”
On balance, though, he said it was best to present a truthful image of the service.
The myth surrounding a ‘licence to kill’ is a myth – although of course a myth can give something if it creates a very powerful reputation and the James Bond films are one of the great myths of all time. Sir John Scarlett
The book’s author, Professor Keith Jeffery, agreed, saying that James Bond presented a “much more fictional” version of the secret service.
But he told Channel 4 News: “The basis and the beginning does lie in real history.
“There’s a technical department – there isn’t some John Cleese character, a sort of mad professor type, but technical geeks are technical geeks. Some of them are fantastic at what the do and one of the great successes in the Second World War was secure radio communications, more secure than anything that had been done before…now that’s a real success story.
The Foreign Secretary William Hague said: “The debt of gratitude we owe to our intelligence and security services is hard to overstate. Without their unstinting efforts, the defence of this country, its values and way of life would have been imperilled many times.”
The book is published by Bloomsbury in the UK and Penguin in the USA.
Without their unstinting efforts, the defence of this country, its values and way of life would have been imperilled many times. Foreign Secretary William Hague MP
The 800-page book traces the history of MI6 from when it was founded under the leadership of Mansfield Cumming, through the First World War, to the beginning of the Cold War.
Other incidents explained in the archive are the “Venlo Incident”, when the Gestapo captured two MI6 officers, and the “Zinoviev letter”, one of the biggest political scandals of its day ahead of the 1924 election – and MI6’s role in disseminating the document.