Inside MI5 Espionage Documentary

Summary

MI5, Britain's Security Service, has operated in the shadows for a century, safeguarding the nation from threats such as global terrorism and IRA attacks. This transcript reveals insights into the agency's history, including its response to 9/11, the handling of high-profile cases like the Gibraltar shootings, and the allegations of complicity in torture. It also discusses the impact of the service's actions on its reputation and the lessons learned from past operations, emphasizing the importance of understanding history to avoid repeating mistakes.

Takeaways

• 🕵️‍♂️ MI5's Role in History: MI5 has been a secret service for a hundred years, working behind the scenes to keep Britain safe from various threats, including global terrorism.
• 🎶 Evolution of Threats: The nature of threats has evolved over time, from the IRA bombings to the rise of al-Qaeda and the challenge of homegrown terrorism post-9/11.
• 🔍 Counterterrorism Efforts: MI5 has been at the forefront of counterterrorism efforts, uncovering numerous plots and working to prevent attacks on British soil.
• 🚁 International Cooperation: MI5 has collaborated with international agencies, such as the CIA, to share intelligence and respond to global threats.
• 📚 Unprecedented Access: Professor Christopher Andrew was given unprecedented access to MI5 files to write its authorized history, revealing both successes and failures.
• 🎥 Media Portrayal vs. Reality: The script dispels myths about MI5 and spy work, highlighting the teamwork and extensive resources required in real-life intelligence operations.
• 🤝 Double Agents and Deception: MI5's use of double agents, such as Juan Pujol (codenamed Garbo), played a crucial role in deceiving enemies during WWII.
• 😷 Alleged Complicity in Torture: MI5 has faced allegations of complicity in torture, which contradicts its established ethos and the belief that information gained under torture is unreliable.
• 🎩 The Cambridge Spies: The script discusses the infamous Cambridge Spies, who infiltrated British intelligence and passed on valuable information to the Soviet Union.
• 🏛️ Gibraltar Incident: The controversial shooting of three IRA members in Gibraltar by the SAS, in which MI5 was involved, led to questions about the use of lethal force and the 'shoot-to-kill' policy.
• 📈 MI5's Expansion and Budget: Post-9/11, MI5 doubled in size and its budget increased to hundreds of millions, reflecting the heightened importance of intelligence and counterterrorism work.

Q & A

How has MI5 evolved over the years in response to changing threats?

MI5 has adapted to emerging threats by changing its focus and doubling in size after 9/11, increasing its budget into the hundreds of millions and employing nearly 3,800 people. It has also evolved its methods and priorities, shifting from counter-espionage to counter-terrorism, particularly in response to the rise of global terrorism and the IRA's campaign of violence.

What was the significance of the 7/7 attacks to MI5?

The 7/7 attacks marked a turning point for MI5 as they highlighted the threat of homegrown terrorism and the need to focus on preventing domestic terrorism. The attacks also led to MI5 being criticized for not identifying and stopping the bombers, which emphasized the challenge of managing limited resources against a growing number of potential threats.

How did MI5 handle the threat of the Provisional IRA in the 1980s?

MI5 took the lead intelligence role against the Provisional IRA, particularly in Gibraltar. This culminated in Operation Flavius, where an MI5 surveillance team worked with Spanish police, leading to the controversial shooting of three IRA members by the SAS. The incident led to MI5 facing allegations of a shoot-to-kill policy.

What was the role of Anthony Blunt in MI5 during World War II?

Anthony Blunt was an MI5 officer who simultaneously reported to Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin due to his role as a Soviet spy. He passed on numerous documents, including information about the Enigma machine, to his Soviet handlers, which could have potentially changed the course of the war if the Germans had acted on this intelligence.

How did the Cambridge spies infiltrate British intelligence?

The Cambridge spies, including Donald MacLean, John Cairncross, and Kim Philby, exploited their positions in the British establishment and their intellectual connections to infiltrate British intelligence. Their network, known as the Magnificent Five, caused significant damage by passing on sensitive information to the KGB.

What was the impact of Peter Wright's allegations against Sir Roger Hollis?

Peter Wright's allegations that Sir Roger Hollis was a Soviet mole led to a damaging conspiracy theory within MI5 and the wider intelligence community. Wright's obsession with this theory, which was unsubstantiated, caused internal strife and public embarrassment for the British government when he published his claims in his book 'Spycatcher'.

How did MI5 handle the threat of al-Qaeda post-9/11?

Post-9/11, MI5 shifted its focus to countering the threat of al-Qaeda and global terrorism. This included monitoring known terrorists, foiling plots, and adapting to new forms of terrorism such as homegrown suicide bombings, which were highlighted by the 7/7 attacks in London.

What was the significance of the Gibraltar shootings in 1988 for MI5?

The Gibraltar shootings in 1988 were significant for MI5 as they led to allegations of a shoot-to-kill policy and damage to MI5's reputation. The incident also marked a turning point in the fight against the IRA, leading to MI5 taking a more central role in counterterrorism efforts.

What was the role of Juan Pujol, codenamed Garbo, in World War II?

Juan Pujol, codenamed Garbo, was MI5's most successful double-cross agent during World War II. He helped fool the Germans into believing the D-Day landings would occur at Pas de Calais instead of Normandy, contributing to the success of the Allied invasion.

What was the outcome of the IRA mortar attack on 10 Downing Street?

The IRA mortar attack on 10 Downing Street was a near-success in terms of causing significant harm, but ultimately failed due to the proximity of the mortar's landing point to the cabinet room. The attack led to MI5 taking over the lead intelligence role against the IRA on the British mainland.

What is the ethos of MI5 regarding the treatment of captured agents?

MI5 has historically maintained an ethos that information gained under torture is unreliable. During World War II, German agents were interrogated without physical abuse, reflecting a belief that beating a prisoner does not produce reliable information.

Outlines

00:00

🔍 Opening MI5's Secret Files

This segment introduces the secretive world of MI5, Britain's internal security service, which has historically operated behind the scenes to keep the country safe from threats like global terrorism. For the first time, MI5 opens its archives, revealing its role in preventing attacks and the mysteries surrounding its operations, such as alleged plots against the Prime Minister and the claim of a trade union leader being a KGB agent. The narrative highlights significant moments like the response to 9/11 and delves into the personal experiences of MI5's leaders, underscoring the agency's evolution in the face of changing global threats.

05:02

📘 MI5's Evolution and Public Scrutiny

This paragraph delves into MI5's growth and challenges over the years. With a significant budget and workforce, MI5's efforts in intelligence gathering are monumental, yet shrouded in secrecy. The story of Professor Christopher Andrew, tasked with writing MI5's authorized history, exemplifies the balance between transparency and secrecy. Through his extensive research, Andrew uncovered truths and myths surrounding MI5, contributing to a more nuanced understanding of the agency. Despite MI5's efforts to demystify its operations, public and historical scrutiny remains, highlighting the complex relationship between national security and public transparency.

10:04

🎖️ World War Efforts and Espionage

Focusing on MI5's role during the World Wars, this section underscores its strategic importance in counter-espionage and intelligence. Despite starting small, MI5's success against German spies during World War II is notable, particularly through Operation Double-Cross, which turned German agents into double agents. The narrative also touches on the agency's selective recruitment process and the effectiveness of its strategies, which significantly contributed to the Allied victory. Additionally, the revelation of internal breaches during the war adds a layer of complexity to MI5's history, showcasing the challenges of maintaining security within its ranks.

15:05

🕵️‍♂️ The Cold War and Internal Betrayals

This section explores MI5's tumultuous experiences during the Cold War, including the notorious betrayal by Anthony Blunt and others within the British intelligence community. It highlights the intricate web of espionage, where MI5 agents simultaneously served Soviet interests, severely compromising national security. The narrative reflects on the challenges of vetting and the impact of ideological motivations on loyalty, demonstrating how deeply Soviet infiltration went and the long-term implications for British intelligence and political integrity.

20:08

🚨 Controversy and Conspiracy Theories

Amidst a backdrop of internal and external threats, this paragraph sheds light on the paranoid atmosphere within MI5, fueled by figures like Peter Wright, who became obsessed with rooting out imagined Soviet moles. The segment also examines the impact of controversial figures and theories, such as the allegations against Sir Roger Hollis and Harold Wilson, on MI5's operations and reputation. These narratives illustrate the complex interplay of trust, suspicion, and political intrigue that has characterized MI5's history and challenged its effectiveness.

25:09

🔎 Scrutiny and Scandal

This section reveals the scandalous involvement of British figures with Soviet intelligence, as evidenced by MI5's files. The shocking allegations against Jack Jones as a KGB agent and the broader implications for British politics and trade unions are explored. Despite the damaging potential of these revelations, the narrative also emphasizes the complexity of espionage and the difficulty in discerning truth from deception. This part of MI5's history showcases the deep entanglements between British and Soviet interests during the Cold War, leaving a lasting impact on public perception and trust.

30:09

💣 The IRA Threat and MI5's Response

Highlighting MI5's role in countering the IRA's campaign of terror, this paragraph discusses the agency's strategic shifts and challenges. The narrative details the intricacies of operations like the controversial shooting in Gibraltar and the audacious attack on 10 Downing Street, illustrating MI5's central role in the British government's counterterrorism efforts. These events underscore the evolving nature of terrorist threats and MI5's adaptability in the face of such challenges, as well as the ethical and operational dilemmas encountered.

35:11

🌍 The New Age of Terrorism

This segment discusses MI5's confrontation with modern terrorism, particularly post-9/11 challenges posed by al-Qaeda and the emergence of homegrown threats. It reflects on MI5's initial underestimation of the Islamist terror threat and its subsequent efforts to adapt to this new form of warfare. The narrative also touches on the importance of intelligence sharing and international cooperation in combating terrorism, and the ongoing efforts to understand and mitigate the evolving threats.

Keywords

💡MI5

MI5, the Security Service of the United Kingdom, is depicted as a clandestine agency tasked with ensuring national security, primarily through counter-espionage and counter-terrorism. Its role, evolving over a century, emphasizes adapting to threats ranging from global terrorism to domestic radicalization. The script showcases MI5's transition from dealing with wartime espionage to contemporary issues like 9/11 and the rise of al-Qaeda, highlighting its pivotal role in safeguarding Britain.

💡Global Terrorism

Global terrorism is highlighted as a principal adversary in the modern world, presenting a significant challenge for MI5. The script underscores the agency's shift in focus following events like 9/11, which epitomized the international dimension of terrorism. MI5's engagement with global terrorism involves preventing attacks and dismantling networks, showcasing its frontline position in protecting national security against a complex, borderless threat.

💡Double-Cross System

The Double-Cross System, a British intelligence scheme during World War II, involved turning German spies into double agents. This strategy is celebrated in the script for its success in deceiving Nazi Germany about Allied invasion plans. It exemplifies MI5's innovative approaches to intelligence, leveraging espionage to mislead the enemy and significantly contributing to the war effort by ensuring the success of operations like D-Day.

💡Operation Overt

Operation Overt, as discussed in the script, was a pivotal counter-terrorist operation by MI5 to thwart a plan to detonate liquid explosives aboard transatlantic flights. This operation highlights the complex nature of modern terrorist plots and MI5's capabilities in disrupting them. It underscores the extensive surveillance and intelligence work necessary to prevent potentially devastating attacks, demonstrating the agency's adaptability to evolving terrorist methodologies.

💡Surveillance

Surveillance is a core component of MI5's operations, crucial for gathering intelligence on threats. The script details its use in monitoring potential terrorists and espionage agents, illustrating how surveillance techniques have been integral to thwarting attacks and espionage. It shows MI5's reliance on both physical surveillance and technological tools to keep abreast of threats, reflecting the balance between traditional methods and modern innovations in intelligence gathering.

💡Espionage

Espionage is a recurring theme, initially focusing on MI5's counter-espionage efforts during the world wars and Cold War, combating spies within Britain. The script delves into notorious cases of betrayal, like those of the Cambridge Five, highlighting the perennial threat of internal espionage. This context underlines the importance of vigilance and internal security within national intelligence operations.

💡IRA

The Irish Republican Army (IRA) is depicted as a domestic terrorist threat that MI5 has combated, particularly during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The script references MI5's role in operations like in Gibraltar, showing the agency's involvement in counterterrorism outside espionage. This illustrates the diversity of MI5's responsibilities in dealing with terrorism, both international and domestic, showcasing its adaptability to different forms of threats.

💡Counter-Terrorism

Counter-terrorism emerges as a central MI5 function, especially in the wake of global threats like al-Qaeda and ISIS. The script illustrates MI5's transition to focusing on preventing terrorist attacks, emphasizing the strategic shift required to address the modern landscape of terrorism. It reflects the agency's proactive stance in identifying and neutralizing threats before they materialize, underscoring the preemptive nature of contemporary intelligence work.

💡Al-Qaeda

Al-Qaeda is identified as a primary antagonist in the narrative, representing the quintessential global terrorist organization. The script mentions MI5's awareness of al-Qaeda prior to 9/11, highlighting the challenges in anticipating and countering the group's operations. This context emphasizes the complexity of the terrorist threat and the necessity for MI5 to adapt its strategies to confront evolving global networks.

💡Authorized History

The 'Authorized History' of MI5, as referenced, signifies the agency's decision to open its archives to an academic, allowing for a public account of its operations. This move, unprecedented for an intelligence agency, illustrates MI5's attempt to balance secrecy with public accountability. By shedding light on its past, MI5 aims to demystify its operations and address misconceptions, showcasing a shift towards greater transparency in intelligence work.

Highlights

MI5 has been a secret service working in the shadows for a hundred years, keeping Britain safe from threats like global terrorism.

MI5 has opened its files for the first time to reveal insights into secret operations and historical events, including allegations of plots against the Prime Minister.

Stephen Lander, head of MI5 during 9/11, speaks about the agency's role in countering global terrorism and the immediate response to the attacks.

Post-9/11, MI5 doubled in size and budget, focusing on uncovering terrorist plots to protect the UK from attacks like the 7/7 bombings.

MI5's files reveal the extent of their efforts in counter-terrorism, including the labor-intensive operation to thwart the 2006 liquid explosives plot.

The intelligence community's swift reaction to 9/11 included America's lockdown and cancellation of all transatlantic flights within 24 hours.

MI5's history of counter-espionage during World War II includes the successful Operation Double-Cross, which involved turning German spies into double agents.

The controversial case of Anthony Blunt, a Soviet spy within MI5, who passed on valuable intelligence to Stalin while reporting to Winston Churchill.

MI5 was penetrated by two of its own agents, Folkert van Koutrik and Jack Hooper, during World War II, who had previously worked for the Germans.

The allegations of a sixth mole in MI5, Sir Roger Hollis, were investigated but no concrete evidence of treason was found in the files.

The KGB had an operational file on Harold Wilson, a British Prime Minister, with hopes of recruiting him as an agent, but no evidence of successful recruitment was found.

Jack Jones, a respected trade union leader, was suspected of being a KGB agent, but his family disputes the claims based on the lack of solid evidence.

MI5's handling of the Gibraltar incident in 1988, where three unarmed IRA members were shot dead, led to controversy and allegations of a shoot-to-kill policy.

The IRA's mortar attack on 10 Downing Street in 1991 marked a turning point, leading to MI5 taking the lead intelligence role against the IRA on the British mainland.

MI5's role in facilitating back-channel conversations with the IRA, contrary to official policy, contributed to the peace process and the end of the Cold War.

The emergence of al-Qaida as a new adversary post-9/11 presented a significant challenge to MI5, as the threat shifted from foreign spies to homegrown terrorists.

MI5's ethos, established during World War II, emphasizes the importance of not torturing prisoners as the information obtained is unreliable.

The service's tradition of propriety and strong sense of right and wrong among its staff is considered a healthy and integral part of MI5's culture.

MI5's history shows a mixture of successes and failures, with the organization learning from past mistakes to better address future threats.

Transcripts

for a hundred years

mi5 has been a secret service working in

the shadows its officers and agents kept

Britain safe

[Music]

now the world is at war with global

terrorism and we are all on the front

line

mi5 stands between us and horrors like

7/7 but luma and intrigue surrounded

secret operations

[Music]

so now for the first time mi5 has opened

its files and we can discover more about

the allegations that they've plotted

against the Prime Minister or that a

famous trade union leader was a KGB

agent and why three terrorists were shot

dead in Gibraltar

[Music]

[Music]

our private secretary so I gotta head

round the door and said I think

something you need to see on the

television

so Steven Lander was head of mi5 when

9/11 changed the world he has never

spoken on television about the atrocity

nor his role as one of those leading the

counter attack against global terrorism

as we were standing looking at the

smoking tower it's pretty obvious to us

that this was our kinda and that's what

I said to the Prime Minister four

o'clock but I thought it was you BL u BL

was Osama bin Laden

suddenly under the blue skies of New

York Tara had a human face answer

Stephen and mi5 knew who he was they had

been watching al-qaeda since the

mid-1990s we knew the world had changed

because of the suicide bomber was the

beginning of a new world really

[Music]

the intelligence community and

politicians on both sides of the

Atlantic

reacted swiftly America went into

lockdown all transatlantic flights were

cancelled by one

within 24 hours a c-130 Hercules

secretly took off from RAF Brize Norton

bound for Andrews Air Force Base in

Maryland

[Music]

the three security agencies of the

British government were sending their

officers Liza my successor went with

chief in Esaias and the director of GCHQ

and they flew from the UK to us the

Americans had to be nervous letting any

aircraft into their airspace

even with f-16 escorting it to land in

the u.s. very important signal the

American community and government about

you guys the team went straight to CIA

headquarters in Langley in London so

Stephen attended a series of meetings at

number 10 the agenda how secure was

Britain after 9/11 I was Prime Minister

John Scalzi is that shermanology I see

and there was me sitting on the sofas

and we talked about whodunit what it

meant would the UK via targets yes

probably we talked about the training

camps in Afghanistan and how they were

sort of part of this conspiracy that's

where the planning had probably been

done and our concerns about you know it

was at the camps and when they might

come back trying to get your head round

what would this mean for us where we

going to do a lot of scenario planning

and nuclear bombs on westminster bridge

and all that sort of thinking

[Music]

since 9/11 mi5 has uncovered more than a

dozen plots to murder thousands of

innocent Britons but it's not the

successes we always hear about failures

are horribly and spectacularly public

and nature tourism is such that when

things go wrong it's jolly visible

because the bomb goes off or people are

killed or something atrocity within the

last decade mi5 has changed focus and

doubled in size after 9/11 it had to

today it has a budget running into

hundreds of millions of pounds and

employs nearly three thousand eight

hundred people none are identified

except the Director General it needs to

be a Secret Service to do its job all

the intelligence they gather is stored

in the registry deep in the basement of

Thames house mi5 s headquarters

almost a hundred years it has been

strictly off-limits to outsiders until

now one man professor Christopher Andrew

has been given unprecedented access to

mi5 files to write it's authorized

history but Andrew was an academic not a

spy he was proposed that I should join

mi5 while I was writing the history I

would never have proposed it but seemed

to me to make quite amount of sense if

you go in to write a history

warts-and-all

people are going to talk to you more

frankly if you're not an outside

contractor who is perceived as

fault-finding it was a fine balance that

he had to achieve he read thousands of

files over six years the difficulty was

to reveal the truth but protect

identities and necessary secrets

I did not have and I should not have had

the last word on what could be released

on what could not but every single

judgment that I arrived at whether it

was comfortable or not for mi5 is there

sir Steven Lander was the

director-general with the controversial

idea of publishing mi5 s history there's

been an awful lot of nonsense written

about mi5 over the years some of that's

helpful a little bit of myths never does

you any harm if you're in that sort of

business but we also got a lot of

criticism which was unjust who just

wasn't real so all those myths that

we've been putting up with you know the

Wilson plot or whether we didn't fecund

invested located in Mickey Mouse or John

Lennon or something all that stuff with

a nuisance to us and sort of held us

down for the first time the real spooks

can tell our own stories from the world

of spies that we only know from fiction

spies on film and TV are stone-faced

close-lipped glamorous they save the

world once an hour the reality isn't

quite the same television portrays

operations of being half dozen people to

cones or something running about you

can't do surveillance without lots of

people without teams working together so

the cult of the individual television

portrays is inaccurate

big investigations involve lots police

forces other people as well and

therefore your the idea that the whole

thing is down as of the Boston six

people is rubbish mi5 s files reveal

that one of the most potentially

dangerous terrorist conspiracies

happened in 2006

the most the important canter terrorist

operation in the whole of British

history sounds exaggerated that it was

not was operation overt and operation

overt discovered and nipped in the bud

at what would have been I think an

al-qaeda success in its own terms on the

scale of 9/11 the bombers planned to

blow up seven transatlantic jets and

murder thousands of passengers in a

coordinated attack to surpass neither

the plan was to use the flash units and

disposable cameras to detonate liquid

explosives in soft drink bottles plot

leader Abdullah Ahmed Ali was a British

born Muslim who'd attended terrorist

training camps in Pakistan with the

leaders of the 7/7 London bombings mi5 s

files show how spoiling the plot

stretched resources to the limit what

we're talking about is tens of thousands

of men and women hours what is achieved

is video footage of them actually

constructing the bombs martyrdom

statements that were obtained from the

Sun and some were again introduced in

evidence at the trial if you work out

how much work was involved I don't think

that any counter-terrorist operation in

British history has ever been as

labor-intensive as that much

[Music]

when mi5 began in earnest just before

the first world war

Vernon Cal its first director-general

had a staff of 16 including the

caretaker even so its success rate was

surprisingly high

[Music]

it was still a small organization when

world war ii broke out in 1939 but the

German threat was bigger this time the

result was a chaotic and ill planned

expansion friends are friends and those

with the right connections were hastily

hired for quite a long period people who

joined five join because they knew

somebody in it and they were recommended

so there was a sort of there were

personal relationships built up sort of

before you became a member of the

organization

ladies Cynthia posten daughter of the

Duke of Albemarle had been presented to

King Edward the eighth in 1936 before

the Duke and Duchess of York and the

Duke and Duchess of Kent well there were

what is described now as as upper-class

they all came from the top levels of

society

I'm a stepmother new severe ankle and I

went up for an interview at the War

Office and was interviewed by Miss

Dunstable she was an elderly lady

unmarried presumably and the next day

she gave me an assignation to go to

Wormwood Scrubs it was here that mi5

began planning operation double-cross

double cross was the most successful

deception in the entire history of

warfare all German spies who are landed

in Britain with the exception of one for

man who lands in Cambridge and commits

suicide all captured every single one of

them after capturing them they turned

most of them creating double agents who

fed misleading information back to their

German spy masters it mattered

enormously because Hitler bothered a lot

about the reports that came from his

agents in England all of whom he

believed to be genuine butuan German

spies all of whom in fact were mi5

agents and he based a lot of his plans

on information that came from these

spies which was quite untrue mi5 were

amazed by the incompetence of many

German agents they used rather odd and

not in Phibes opinion very high-class

agents they sent over a lot of thugs one

highly distinguished burglar who changed

sides just as well and v was surprised

they didn't use higher class agents they

were all sent by the up fair the Armed

Forces intelligence staff rather than by

the SS in toads and stuff which was a

much more formidable and much more able

body of men this was probably on the

Germans part of a mistake and from which

five benefited

mi5 s most successful double-cross agent

was a Spanish businessman Juan Pujol

codenamed Garbo after the film star

Garber helped fool the Germans into

believing the detai plan was to land in

pas de calais not Normandy after the war

Garber received an MBE from the Queen

he'd already been awarded the Iron Cross

by Hitler when Garbo gets the news that

he has been awarded the Iron Cross he

radios back to his German intelligence

controller at this moment I am so

overcome by emotion that I cannot put my

feelings into words why not he was

rolling around on the floor helpless

with laughter and so was his mi5 case

officer double-crossed shows the

extraordinary British talent for really

superior practical jokes but the outcome

was nearly not so comical mi5 files show

the tragedy was narrowly averted for the

first time it can be revealed the two

German agents did penetrate mi5 mi5 was

penetrated by two people who had a

previous record of working as their

agents one was a man called folkert fan

true trick and somebody called Jack

Hooper the two agents had been working

for mi6 in Holland their cover story was

that they were fleeing the German

invasion mi5 boarded and employed them

luckily they did not advance high enough

in mi5 to jeopardize double-cross

only after the war ended - the pair's

true allegiance come to light when

Wormwood Scrubs was bombed in 1940 mi5

moved to the more salubrious

surroundings of Blenheim Palace their

lady Cynthia met art historian mi5

officer and Soviet spy Anthony Blunt he

was a friend of my brother-in-law's and

you Dina Trinity and I used to meet him

and go out with him to lunch he went

around the Secretary's behaving like

Christopher Robin taking his cod liver

oil and saying things like that's what

Tiggers like it may sound like a pretty

feeble joke though but of the time it

was considered witty it was quite

incredible that blunt was ever accepted

into mi5 given his known communist

connections mi5 already had on record

that he had been to Russia he had

expressed to a number of people his

support for what was going on there and

he actually been expelled from a

military intelligence training course

but here's the problem only a year

before the outbreak of war mi5 only had

30 officers it had to expand

extraordinarily rapidly there wasn't a

proper vetting procedure in place blunt

said his communist interests were linked

to his art history studies he was

believed and lucky to

when Churchill demanded monthly

bulletins of mi5 activities guess who

got the job one most extraordinary

things about Anthony blunts wartime

career in mi5 is that he's reporting to

both Winston Churchill and to Joseph

Stalin Blount passed on so many

documents more than 1700 for years that

his Soviet masters thought him a double

agent they only changed their minds when

10 days before d-day blunt handed over

the complete landing and deception plans

it's all very well to argue that Britain

and the Soviet Union were on the same

side and therefore providing British

intelligence to the Russians is merely

providing intelligence to an ally it is

not as simple as that for a number of

reasons

and one of them is passing on the secret

and that we had broken the German codes

when the Allies captured a German Enigma

machine

they broke its secret code at Bletchley

Park it was one of the most closely

guarded secrets of the wall but blunt

told his Soviet masters about the

breakthrough we do know that the Germans

were able to read some Russian ciphers

now if in the military instructions that

got to Russian troops on the Eastern

Front there had been any reference to

material which could only have been

learnt from breaking German ciphers then

the Germans might have changed those

ciphers and that was an appalling risk

and that was a risk that was taken by

Antony blunt wouldn't have been able

Hitler to win the war but it would have

meant that he would have lost it a good

deal more slowly

after the war Blunt went back to being

an art historian and later surveyor of

the Queen's pictures

he wasn't publicly exposed as a Soviet

spy until 1979

I acted according to my conscience in

during this in nineteen when it was all

said it 536 and that meant de soir to

this country first as I've said it was I

believed it was the right thing in the

cause of enter fascism I now realized

Italy this is totally wrong but Blunt

wasn't working alone he was part of a

network of spies recruited at Cambridge

who infiltrated British intelligence

diverges Donald MacLean John can cross

and kim Philby along with blunt were

known to the KGB as the magnificent five

their tale of treachery is the stuff of

spy novels but what nearly brought the

service to its knees was the suggestion

of a sixth spy

Sir Roger Hollis later director general

of mi5 if he had been a traitor it would

have been the most devastating blow of

all one of the most destructive things

can happen in any organization is to

have a conspiracy theorist who becomes

obsessed by the hunt for imaginary

traitors that is what Peter Wright does

Peter Wright was the self-appointed

Witchfinder general within mi5 he became

convinced there was a soviet mole in the

highest ranks of mi5 his belief became

an obsession when I first joined I was

sent off to see this man he said I was

far too young to be involved in these

things and when I please clear off so I

instantly disliked him he was known as

being not poor he was one of those

people who think they're the only people

who understand something everybody else

reminded in business so he was always

stopping other people doing things as he

knew best we used to call him the KGB

rezident because he was doing more to

help the KGB than anybody else because

he stopped us sort of doing our job when

right retire to Tasmania his Vendetta

continued he went public and fed his

stories to a journalist right away you

could see he was a very devious

character but then all people in mi5 are

after you've got to be it's devious work

you're doing and anyone who said oh I

can't tell a lie I mean he is no good

now my father later

Chapman pincher helped write to find a

publisher for spy catcher it became an

international bestseller selling more

than 2 million copies the British

government's attempts to stop its

publication became a national

embarrassment

I don't feel a bit sympathetic Willie

Allen Peter Wright was a traitor in

their midst of a different kind of

traitor but he was warned the fact that

he did it for money rather than anything

else is horrific for him he caused havoc

externally by publishing the book

internally the day you retire you cease

to have any currency he's sort of

long-term impact was not as much just he

was a pain in the ass to deal with and I

met him but what did the mi5 files say

about Sir Roger Hollis is there any

evidence to show he was a traitor the

Hollis story was always a really stupid

story why because all the way during the

Second World War

Roger Hollis is saying look we can't

afford to start paying attention to the

Soviet target we can't afford to stop

meticulously recording the identities as

well members the British communists that

we come across this went far beyond the

needs of cover so actually he's somebody

who begins to fight the Cold War

even before of the Cold War in the KGB

headquarters in Moscow they were

confounded by the publicity surrounding

Wright and Hollis British intelligence

knew this because their agent told them

they remember sitting in their office or

the head of the British section of the

KGB and she was reading a British

newspaper accessible available for him

only because it was never sold in in the

streets as he was eating why is it there

speaking about Roger

olives such noses can't understand it it

must be some special English trick

directed against us

hidden in the thousands of mi5 files are

the names of other Britons who did spy

for the KGB some at the heart of the

British establishment the idea that a

future British Prime Minister could have

been a Russian spy is almost unthinkable

but some in Moscow and London thought

the unthinkable

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Harold Wilson was a frequent visitor to

Moscow as a junior politician and

businessman the Russians had

extraordinary and very foolish hopes for

Wilson but in the mid-1950s the KGB

opens what it called an agent

operational file on Harold Wilson and

he's given a code name the code name is

holding they actually hope to recruit

him it could be said that Wilson brought

suspicions on himself with his choice of

friends probably his closest friend in

the business world who was a man called

Joseph Kagan who manufactured League

anacs max which Wilson wore regularly

and who became thanks to Harold Sir

Joseph Kagan and later Lord Kagan now

between 1964 and 1971 Lord cake and met

a KGB officer every week who would come

around to his flat asked him for the

latest gossip no it's not likely that

state secrets were passed over but this

is a highly inappropriate friendship for

a prime minister

friendships like this brought Wilson to

the attention of mi5 Wilson's

extravagant praise of Soviet leader

Khrushchev made things worse later

Wilson became suspicious of mi5 was

interested in him and thought they were

leaking stories to the newspapers

he thought that mi5 was feeding with

this information and he also felt that

in the process mi5 were spying on him

and the bug destruction number 10 down

the street to add to Wilson suspicions

America's Secret Service were caught up

in the atmosphere of distrust there was

a problem with the CIA and that is there

was a man there called angleton who were

more prone to suspect people even than

Peter Wright was and he had an operation

there killed him out chief in which they

were looking at the possibility that the

British prime minister was a Soviet

agent and angleton became friendly would

right and so the two stoked each other

out on being reelected in 1974 Wilson

declared to a colleague there are only

three people listening you me and mi5 he

believed that behind the picture of one

of his most illustrious predecessors mr.

Cranston there was some kind of tiny

camera which was observing him he had

always been a conspiracy theorist and he

now begins to believe that the Security

Service is plotting against him he

reaches the stage and when he's going

into the gents in number 10 and put his

finger to his lips he would point to the

light fitting in the ceiling he would

turn on the taps in order to indicate

that it was probably bugged

this is the sad decline of one of the

ablest Prime Minister's that had ever

been in Britain Harold Wilson died in

1995 after suffering dementia only now

has Chris Andrew discovered in the mi5

files that perhaps Wilson's suspicions

had some substance he found a file on

one Norman John Worthington mi5 never

told how it was in the defender file on

him it was given the pseudonym of

Worthington and yet mi5 never

investigated Harold Wilson as such what

the file contained was material about

Harold Wilson's contacts related to the

fact that as we know from KGB archives

the KGB did attempt to recruit him as an

agent never had the slightest success in

doing so

Wilson was innocent but other labor

colleagues weren't John's Stonehouse a

junior minister is best known for faking

his own drowning leaving his clothes on

a Miami Beach and running away to

Australia with his mistress

the mi5 files reveal that for more than

ten years stone house was a Czech agent

he was questioned after a defector named

him but never prosecuted for lack of

admissible evidence

but mi5 s files have revealed a more

serious case of potential treachery this

time by a major trade union figure

former KGB officer Alek Gordievsky who

secretly worked for British intelligence

found his case file in the British

section of the KGB I looked through the

files I was a so-called agents some

agents were very weak doing very little

for the KGB but still it was the kind of

assets then we were supposed to run them

as agents as much as possible then there

was a fellow Jones

Jack Jones was a veteran of the

International Brigade in the Spanish

Civil War he went on to become leader of

the transport and general workers union

hugely popular and widely respected he

died in spring 2009 aged 96 having

become a much-loved champion of old age

pensioners in his retirement the

allegations that Jack Jones was a KGB

agent shocked his surviving family

his youngest son Michael is currently

clearing his father's south London flat

presentative work people I want to see

mr. Andrew must have realized that when

you revealed what's in mi5 files like

this with no real proof that the

nastiest sections of the gutter press in

this country about the seas on these

kind of canards and blow them up and you

know it's very distressing obviously not

just for me but for many members of the

family and I'm very good friends of

Jacob which he had very many of course

in this country because you know he

really did work all his life to try to

improve the conditions for all new

working people the book says that from

1964 to 1968 the KGB regarded Jack Jones

as a later KGB judgment not mi5 judgment

why did the KGB reach that conclusion

because during that period of four years

Jack Jones was willing to provide

confidential but not secret and

certainly not classified labour party

and trade union material to her contact

in the Soviet embassy for which the KGB

was ever so grateful when Czechoslovakia

sprog spring of 1968 was crushed by

Soviet tanks a disillusioned Jones

turned his back on the KGB

in 1982 elec Gordievsky was posted to

london there was a telegram please

resume the contacts with our old agent

Jake Jones so very unwillingly I visited

him ins his flat and invited him to a

restaurant and then I asked the head of

station should I give him money and he

knowing a little bit of Jones's

background said yes give him some cash

what is claimed is that Gordievsky

slipped him 215 pounds it's ridiculous

why my father would never take money for

anything like that

I mean twice turned down the offer of

being in the House of Lords he was

offered endless directorships of

companies because a feather his nest

over and over we could have been living

in a mansion house I showed him the list

of the three union leaders and asked him

to describe each of them who of them can

be recruitable for the KGB and she wrote

on this list who was recruitable for the

KGB she was absolutely proper and very

very vulnerable agents for the KGB

distinguished agent of the KGB

she was very respected by the KGB and

very very much loved by the department

because he was a dream of the KGB so

brilliant and so useful and so well

disciplined these are just reports from

a notorious double agent I don't know

why I should believe anything he says

really I mean he was obviously

professional lawyer

Gordievsky may yet drop another

bombshell

he claims that there is at least one

other important political figure from

that era whose Soviet contacts are

suspicious the security service has got

reasons to keep some names still secret

so spirits of Andrus book is 1,000 pages

but it's not the whole truth

it isn't probably on the sick waters of

the truth

until the late 1960s mi5 s resources had

been devoted to counter espionage

defending the nation from spies at home

abroad even within but then a new threat

emerged

the Provisional IRA began a campaign of

shootings and bombings across the United

Kingdom repeatedly striking of the heart

of the British establishment

the lead Intelligence role in Britain

was run not by the service but by the

Metropolitan Police

but mi5 did have the lead role in

Gibraltar

so the biggest-ever deployment till that

point of mi5 against the IRA takes place

not in the United Kingdom but in

Gibraltar

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in February 1988 an mi5 surveillance

team was working with Spanish police on

operation Flavius the events which

followed became an international

controversy the flames were found by a

TV documentary death on the rock mi5 was

caught up in allegations of a shoot to

kill policy the files show that Siobhan

O'Hanlon a known Provisional IRA

explosives expert was spotted crossing

the Spanish border into Drupal 'te an

mi5 surveillance map survives of her

precise route shows her going into the

Gibraltar Cathedral to light a candle

say a prayer

she believed in the Justice of her

course

Oh Hanlon was on her own surveillance

mission

the IRAs target was the Royal Gibraltar

regiments changing of the guard ceremony

mi5 s files show that O'Hanlon watched

the ceremony then excitedly phoned an

emic an unknown IRA hitman

then she headed back across the border

but when she's back in Spain she sparks

Spanish surveillance so she goes back to

Island and that saves her life according

to the files Siobhan was replaced by

Mairead Farrell mi5 s roles to

coordinate intelligence plan a response

to the IRA team and guide and advise the

police as the operation unfolded events

reached a climax on Sunday March the 6th

1988 at 2:25 that afternoon Farrell and

McCann were observed crossing La Linea

checkpoint on foot by an mi5

surveillance team a third terrorist

Shawn savage drove across the border

unnoticed later the three met in a park

at around 3:40 an SAS team intercepted

and shot all three dead did the soldiers

give a warning they didn't give them the

option of surrendering line ago or

defending themselves they just killed

him and I think that was not that was

not a good thing I don't think it was

right and proper the mi5 files paint a

picture of the SAS team facing a classic

dilemma they said they couldn't risk the

parked car being a car bomb or they I

are a team

drawing weapons but it turned out that

the IRA team was unarmed and there was

no bomb in their car what you have to

say is there were plenty of

opportunities to arrest those IRA

members before they got into job rota

and since they were unarmed could they

have been taken without shooting perhaps

and the final thing you've got to ask is

do you employ the SAS if you want people

to be taken alive I'm entirely satisfied

from looking at files that this was not

shoot to kill if there had been any

deliberate intention to shoot to kill

then press lines would have been

prepared to explain why it was that

they'd been killed one of the reasons

for the confusion afterwards is that

there was absolutely no government line

on why these three people had been shot

which is why ministers contradict

themselves the following day if they've

been a deliberate policy the story would

have been worked out in advance I think

one of the problems that Christopher

Andrew has got with this book is that he

is has

Orion who tells the truth but he's right

in the history of an institution an

organization that doesn't always tell

the truth in fact most organizations

don't they have this thing called the

institutional truth it's not what

happened it's what the organization

wants the rest of the world to think

happened indeed they may persuade

themselves it happened but it didn't an

inquest absolved the SAS of any

wrongdoing later the European Court of

Human Rights ruled the killings

unnecessary mi5 felt damaged by the

Gibraltar incident because if you are

accused in a BAFTA winning film of

operating a shoot-to-kill policy and

many people believe that then you put

your reputation and your morale is

necessarily affected three years after

the Gibraltar shootings another IRA

operation in the heart of the British

government put mi5 in a central

counterterrorism role in an audacious

attack the IRA fired mortars at 10

Downing Street just as Prime Minister

John Major was holding a cabinet meeting

major said afterwards that he had been

told that if the mortar which was fired

from a white van on Horse Guards Evanier

had got ten foot placing they would have

been deaths in the cabinet room and he

was very close to being the biggest

success in the entire history of Irish

Republican terrorism it was a turning

point major was very very annoyed he

reached the conclusion that it was time

for the lead intelligence role against

the IRA on the British mainland to be

transferred to mi5 for the first time

soon afterwards it emerged that majors

government was involved in back-channel

conversations with the IRA contrary to

official policy the files in mi5 s

headquarters confirmed that a number of

its officers were instrumental in making

these talks happen we won't these

discussions they were really important I

think because they started the process

or they reinforced the process of

Originals thinking about politics and

thinking about the potential for

political gains absent violence this

will be the image Remembered in history

the austere unionist

and shin fade leaders applauding the

same thing with Irish terrorists laying

down their arms in favor of the ballot

box and the cold war over mi5 was

looking at an uncertain future in the

late 1990s

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then a new adversary appeared bigger

than any that had gone before

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when 9/11 shocked the world al-qaida was

already on mi5 s radar but no one was

prepared for suicide bombers using

planes the service was slow copying on

to al-qaeda

so was the whole of Whitehall so was the

whole of the media in fact mi5 had

already foiled an al-qaeda inspired plot

without fully realizing it so far as we

know the first Islamist bomb factory

almost established in Britain happened

over a year before 9/11 fortunately the

man who was seeking to establish it who

was simply called my newell aberdeen was

under surveillance he was caught in

operation large he was arrested he is

now spending a long time in prison at

that stage we were rather thinking about

foreign nationals coming into the

country because that's what we here to

see avidin was of Bangladeshi origin but

a British citizen the rules of

engagement were changing and a new

threat was emerging

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the events of 7:00 7:00 sharp at mi5 and

the police counterterrorism unit they

had not expected homegrown suicide

bombers it became clear within a day or

two that what we were looking at was

British suicide bombers a completely new

challenge for us and one of the biggest

changes in terms of directing a response

to counterterrorism now what we see is

just simply a determination to kill as

many people as possible that seems to be

the ambition of terrorists both here and

overseas and the casualty toll is

immeasurably higher than it was from the

Irish terrorist threat thing about the

IRA is they always wanted to go and have

a Guinness they weren't you know martyrs

so you could you could take some ranging

shots as to what they might do which

were easier than current targets if we

can learn anything from history

it's that al-qaeda and those groups

actually repeat they're targeting they

repeat their attack methods they've

tried it before they tried it in 2006

and I have no doubt at all that they

will try it again after seven seven came

criticism why hadn't mi5 identified and

stopped the Bombers the Intelligence and

Security Committee concluded that the

number of potential terrorists was

greater than the resources mi5 had to

deal with a threat

for years on mi5 is being called to

answer another allegation complicity in

torture Binyam Mohamed el Habashi an

Ethiopian born UK resident claims he was

tortured in Pakistan and Morocco and

that his torturers received questions

and materials from British intelligence

the allegations are still unproven but

of true run contrary to an mi5 ethos

established during the Second World War

German agents were interrogated at Camp

Oh - OH

in Surrey run by Colonel Robin Stevens

known as 10i he was called deny because

he always wore a monocle

he had the manners and the appearance of

a Prussian sergeant major but as the

people okay me and tell them they were

reptiles he was good to treat them as

reptiles unless it would work with him

he had one cast-iron rule which he

insisted on all his staff following you

must never actually touch a prisoner any

sort of beating him up he's absolutely

out of the question

quite right - because if you once start

beating a man up people tell you

anything you like to get you to stop

beating him up doesn't mean that what he

tells you is true

Tinh I believed information gained under

torture was not reliable and that ethos

seems as old as the service itself in

one of the questions of course that

crops up from time to time is we want to

get as much as we can out of captured

agents should we torture them and the

answer is no repeatedly in the mi5 files

why do I believe these files wealth

because they were written I know from

some of the things that were written in

them by people who had not the slightest

idea that there was the slightest

possibility that what they wrote would

ever become no mi5 files were not to

become now at any point full-stop

ever it is certainly the case that

people who joined the service are

expected to have strong views about

propriety

generally speaking you couldn't get them

to do something naughty because I

wouldn't do it they'd say no no that's

not proper and that's a good thing it's

healthy and the staff sort of own sense

of what's right and wrong is a very in

strong part of the services tradition

the final word lies with the police and

the courts but it might be one of those

controversies that even the fires cannot

let arrest after six years studying its

secrets Christopher Andrew believes the

files don't just have lessons for mi5 I

think that the old saying that those who

do not understand past mistakes are

jolly likely to repeat them happened in

the case of mi5 as it happened in the

case of British government time after

time after time after a hundred years

mi5 is proud of its history but

realistic about its future some of the

things we've done have been first class

and some of the things haven't been

first class you know kind of get all the

judgments right you're not gonna get the

intelligence you need on every case so

you expect not to win every war as we're

not doing every pattern just win the

wars

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