148-748: British Security Co-ordination ( BSC ) was a covert organisation set up in New York City by the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) in May 1940 upon the authorisation of the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill . Its purpose was to investigate enemy activities, prevent sabotage against British interests in the Americas, and mobilise pro-British opinion in the Americas. As a 'huge secret agency of nationwide news manipulation and black propaganda',
296-781: A camp run by SOE in Oshawa in Canada. In early 1942, Donovan's organisation became the Office of Strategic Services . SOE and OSS worked out respective areas of operation: OSS's exclusive sphere included China (including Manchuria ), Korea and Australia, the Atlantic islands and Finland. SOE retained India, the Middle East and East Africa, and the Balkans. While the two services both worked in Western Europe, it
444-517: A code name , and has been adhered to by all subsequent directors of SIS when signing documents to retain anonymity. The service's performance during the First World War was mixed, because it was unable to establish a network in Germany itself. Most of its results came from military and commercial intelligence collected through networks in neutral countries, occupied territories, and Russia. During
592-563: A British special operations flight to airlift a captured V-2 Rocket with the assistance of the Polish resistance. Notably, Polish secret agent Jan Karski played a crucial role in delivering the first Allied intelligence on the Holocaust , providing the British with harrowing information about Nazi atrocities. Moreover, through a female Polish agent, the British established a channel of communication with
740-555: A beginning of a shift in British foreign policy, Prime Minister Chamberlain announced in the House of Commons that "any threat to the vital interest of France" would lead to a British declaration of war. One of MI6’s most successful operations before the war started in April 1939 when an Australian businessman living in London, Sidney Cotton , who was already engaged in aerial photographic espionage for
888-506: A blind eye to some of SOE's questionable activities. With other military headquarters and commands, SOE cooperated fairly well with Combined Operations Headquarters during the middle years of the war, usually on technical matters as SOE's equipment was readily adopted by commandos and other raiders. This support was lost when Vice Admiral Louis Mountbatten left Combined Operations, though by this time SOE had its own transport and had no need to rely on Combined Operations for resources. On
1036-460: A branch office, formally titled " British Security Coordination ," and headed by Canadian businessman Sir William Stephenson . Their office, located at Room 3603, 630 Fifth Avenue , Rockefeller Center , coordinated the work of SOE, SIS, and MI5 with the American FBI and the Office of Strategic Services . As with its leadership and organisation, the aims and objectives of SOE changed throughout
1184-630: A café in Venlo almost on the German border to meet a representative of the Wehrmacht generals, but the meeting proved to be an ambush as instead a party of the Sicherheitsdienst officers crossed over the border. The SS shot and killed a Dutch intelligence officer, Dirk Klop, who assisted with settling up the meeting and kidnapped Best and Stevens at gunpoint. The Venlo incident made the British government wary for
1332-470: A commando and parachute training school numbered STS 102 at Ramat David near Haifa . This school trained agents who joined SOE from among the armed forces stationed in the Middle East, and also members of the Special Air Service and Greek Sacred Squadron . A commando training centre similar to Arisaig and run by Fairbairn was later set up at Oshawa , for Canadian members of SOE and members of
1480-470: A large number of training, research and development or administrative centres. It was a joke that "SOE" stood for "Stately 'omes of England" , after the large number of country houses and estates it requisitioned and used. The establishments connected with experimentation and production of equipment were mainly concentrated in and around Hertfordshire and were designated by roman numbers. The main weapons and devices research establishments were The Firs ,
1628-408: A long-standing tradition of insurgency organizations, which had been passed down through generations. These organizations maintained networks in emigrant Polish communities in Germany and France. A substantial part of the Polish resistance activity was clandestine and involved the establishment of cellular intelligence networks. The occupation of Poland by Nazi Germany also placed the Polish people in
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#17330856033421776-570: A major part in MI(R)'s and SOE's early operations. He also put into practice many of the lessons he learned from the IRA during the Irish War of Independence . The organisation of SOE continually evolved and changed during the war. Initially, it consisted of three broad departments: SO1 (formerly Department EH, which dealt with propaganda); SO2 (formerly Section D, operations); and SO3 (formerly MI R, research). SO3
1924-539: A major role in the "Dutch War Scare" when it reported to London that Germany was about to invade the Netherlands with the aim of using the Dutch airfields to launch a strategic bombing campaign that would achieve a "knock out blow" by destroying London along with the rest of Britain's cities. The intelligence behind the "Dutch War Scare" was false, intended to achieve a change in British foreign policy and had its desired effect on
2072-510: A meeting took place without police presence. There, the two SIS agents were duly abducted by the SS. In 1940, journalist and Soviet agent Kim Philby applied for a vacancy in Section D of SIS, and was vetted by his friend and fellow Soviet agent Guy Burgess . When Section D was absorbed by Special Operations Executive (SOE) in summer of 1940, Philby was appointed as an instructor in black propaganda at
2220-765: A position there. He was able to alert the NKVD about all British intelligence on the Soviets—including what the American OSS had shared with the British about the Soviets. Despite these difficulties the service nevertheless conducted substantial and successful operations in both occupied Europe and in the Middle East and Far East where it operated under the cover name Inter-Services Liaison Department (ISLD). In August 1945 Soviet intelligence officer Konstantin Volkov tried to defect to
2368-508: A propaganda organisation known as Department EH (after Electra House , its headquarters), run by Canadian newspaper magnate Sir Campbell Stuart . Later that month, the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS, also known as MI6) formed a section known as Section D (the "D" apparently standing for "Destruction") under Major Lawrence Grand, to investigate the use of sabotage, propaganda, and other irregular means to weaken an enemy. In
2516-702: A regular appointment in the Royal Engineers . (Both Grand and Holland eventually attained the rank of major-general .) However, Holland's former deputy at MI(R), Brigadier Colin Gubbins , returned from command of the Auxiliary Units to be Director of Operations of SOE. One department of MI(R), MI R(C), which was involved in the development of weapons for irregular warfare, was not formally integrated into SOE but became an independent body codenamed MD1 . Directed by Major (later Lieutenant Colonel) Millis Jefferis , it
2664-803: A result of his hard work, and appointed Sir Charles Hambro , head of Hambros Bank , to replace him. He also transferred Jebb back to the Foreign Office. Hambro had been a close friend of Churchill before the war and had won the Military Cross in the First World War . He retained several other interests, for example remaining chairman of Hambros and a director of the Great Western Railway . Some of his subordinates and associates expressed reservations that these interests distracted him from his duties as director. Selborne and Hambro nevertheless cooperated closely until August 1943, when they fell out over
2812-586: A result, MI6's number one priority with regard to Germany was collect intelligence on the Luftwaffe, the branch of the Wehrmacht that British decision-makers feared the most. To assist with studying German industrial production, the Industrial Intelligence Center under Desmond Morton was founded in 1934 with a special mandate to study German aircraft production. However, Admiral Sinclair complained in 1935 that MI6's annual budget for operations around
2960-589: A single sabotage organisation. On 16 July, Hugh Dalton , the Minister of Economic Warfare , was appointed to take political responsibility for the new organisation, which was formally created on 22 July 1940. Dalton recorded in his diary that on that day the War Cabinet agreed to his new duties and that Churchill had told him, "And now go and set Europe ablaze." Dalton used the Irish Republican Army (IRA) during
3108-611: A spy, how to make contact with, and worm vital information out of unsuspecting experts". It was not until the Second World War that the "methodical training" of agents that has been the hallmark of British intelligence started. A number of MI6 agents like MI5 agents were former colonial police officers while MI6 displayed a strong bias against recruiting men with university degrees as universities were considered within MI6 to be bastions of "effete intellectualism". Claude Dansey , who served as
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#17330856033423256-515: A traitor, but he was exonerated by a war crimes court, and some have claimed he was acting under secret orders from SOE or MI6. SOE was also far ahead of contemporary attitudes in its use of women in armed combat. Although women were first considered only as couriers in the field, or as wireless operators or administrative staff in Britain, those sent into the field were trained in the use of weapons and in unarmed combat. Most were commissioned into either
3404-549: A transmitter for it to communicate with the UK which was operated under the code name " Hydra " at Camp X , BSC's Special Training School No. 103, a Second World War paramilitary installation in Whitby, Ontario for training covert agents in the methods of "secret warfare". The Hydra station was established in May 1942 by engineer Benjamin deForest Bayly ; he also invented a very fast coding/decoding machine for telegraph transmissions labelled
3552-430: A unique position to gather intelligence on the enemy, as they were often used as forced laborers across the continent. This proximity to key locations and military installations allowed them to provide valuable insights to the British intelligence services. The liaison between the British and Polish intelligence was facilitated by SIS (Secret Intelligence Service) officer Wilfred Dunderdale . The reports exchanged between
3700-483: A vital basis for the later British continuation of the war effort. During the war, British cryptologists decrypted a vast number of messages enciphered on Enigma. The intelligence gleaned from this source, codenamed " Ultra " by the British, was a substantial aid to the Allied war effort. Sinclair died on 4 November 1939, after an illness, and was replaced as C by Lt Col. Stewart Menzies (Horse Guards), who had been with
3848-584: A way to keep Russia in the war, but Reilly soon became involved in a plot to overthrow the Bolsheviks. After the war, resources were significantly reduced but during the 1920s, SIS established a close operational relationship with the diplomatic service. In August 1919, Cumming created the new passport control department, providing diplomatic cover for agents abroad. The post of Passport Control Officer provided operatives with diplomatic immunity . Circulating Sections established intelligence requirements and passed
3996-818: Is the current chief of SIS. Command and control over SIS is done through by four main government entities: the Central Intelligence Machinery, the Ministerial Committee on the Intelligence Services, the Permanent Secretaries' Committee on the Intelligence Services, and the Joint Intelligence Committee. The Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) assesses the intelligence gathered by the GCHQ , MI5 , and SIS and presents it to
4144-694: Is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom , tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligence on foreign nationals in support of its Five Eyes partners. SIS is one of the British intelligence agencies and the Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service ("C") is directly accountable to the Foreign Secretary . Formed in 1909 as the foreign section of
4292-526: Is to collect Britain's foreign intelligence . It provides the British government with vital intelligence regarding foreign events and informs concerning global covert capabilities to uphold national interests, security and protect the country's economic well-being. SIS works with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and therefore falls under the supervision of the Foreign Secretary . SIS officers and agents engage in operations and missions all around
4440-587: The Deuxième Bureau was recruited to fly missions over Germany. Under the cover story that he was a sales agent for a dummy corporation, the Aeronautical Research and Sales Corporation, Cotton flew over Germany, Italy and the Italian colony of Libya in his Lockheed 12A aircraft, taking numerous high-quality aerial photographs of German and Italian military bases that proved immensely useful for Britain during
4588-616: The Admiralty and the War Office to control secret intelligence operations in the UK and overseas, particularly concentrating on the activities of the Imperial German government. The bureau was split into naval and army sections which, over time, specialised in foreign espionage and internal counter-espionage activities, respectively. This specialisation was because the Admiralty wanted to know
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4736-627: The Allied invasion of Italy , personnel from Massingham established forward stations in Brindisi and near Naples . A subsidiary headquarters, initially known as "Force 133," was later set up in Bari in Southern Italy , under the Cairo headquarters, to control operations in the Balkans, including Greece , and Northern Italy . An SOE station, first called the "India Mission," and subsequently known as "GS I(k),"
4884-976: The First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY) or the Women's Auxiliary Air Force . Women often assumed leadership roles in the field. Pearl Witherington became the organiser (leader) of a highly successful resistance network in France. Early in the war, American Virginia Hall functioned as the unofficial nerve center of several SOE networks in Vichy France . Many women agents such as Odette Hallowes or Violette Szabo were decorated for bravery, posthumously in Szabo's case. Of SOE's 41 (or 39 in some estimates) female agents serving in Section F (France) sixteen did not survive with twelve killed or executed in Nazi concentration camps. Most of
5032-599: The Gestapo , the Nazi secret police, with "the exchange of information about communism" as late as October 1937, well into the Nazi era; the head of the British agency's Berlin station, Frank Foley , was still able to describe his relationship with the Gestapo's so-called communism expert as "cordial". In 1936, in a sign that he lacked confidence in his own agents, Sinclair founded the semi-autonomous Z section under Claude Dansey for economic intelligence about Germany. Working alongside
5180-604: The Government Code and Cipher School , until in November 1940 it was decided that it was unwise to conduct codebreaking and explosives experiments on the same site. The establishment moved to Aston House near Stevenage in Hertfordshire and was renamed Station XII . It originally conducted research and development but from 1941 it became a production, storage and distribution centre for devices already developed. Station XV, at
5328-442: The Irish War of Independence as a model for the organisation. Sir Frank Nelson was nominated by SIS to be director of the new organisation, and a senior civil servant , Gladwyn Jebb , transferred from the Foreign Office to it, with the title of Chief Executive Officer. Campbell Stuart left the organisation, and the flamboyant Major Grand was returned to the regular army. At his own request, Major Holland also left to take up
5476-751: The Iron Gate on the River Danube . MI(R) meanwhile produced pamphlets and technical handbooks for guerrilla leaders. MI(R) was also involved in the formation of the Independent Companies , autonomous units intended to carry out sabotage and guerrilla operations behind enemy lines in the Norwegian Campaign , and the Auxiliary Units , stay-behind commando units based on the Home Guard which would act in
5624-739: The Neutrality Acts of 1930s . William Stephenson was sent to the US by the head of SIS to see if it could be rekindled to an extent that SIS could operate effectively in the US. While J. Edgar Hoover was sympathetic, he could not go against the State Department without the President's authorisation; he also believed that if it was authorised, it should be a personal liaison between Stephenson and himself without other departments being informed. However, Roosevelt endorsed co-operation. Stephenson's deputy at BSC
5772-425: The Partisans and Chetniks . However, in 1944 SOE and OSS successfully pooled their personnel and resources to mount Operation Jedburgh , providing large scale support to the French Resistance following the Normandy landings . SOE had some nominal contact with the Soviet NKVD , but this was limited to a single liaison officer at each other's headquarters. After working from temporary offices in Central London,
5920-431: The Princess Hotel in the Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda to become a censorship centre (after initially operating at Prospect Camp . All mail, radio and telegraphic traffic bound for Europe, the U.S. and the Far East were intercepted and analyzed by 1,200 censors, of British Imperial Censorship , part of British Security Coordination (BSC), before being routed to their destination. With BSC working closely with
6068-557: The Rockex . Camp X had been established in December 1941 by Stephenson to train Allied agents in methods of clandestine operations; many graduates would be dropped behind enemy lines in Europe by SOE. The British novelist William Boyd , in a 2006 article for The Guardian , stated that although the total number of BSC agents operating in the US in the early 1940s is unknown, he estimated there were at least "many hundreds" and had seen "the figure of up to 3,000 mentioned". Noël Coward saw Stephenson, colloquially known as "Little Bill", at
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6216-399: The Secret Service Bureau , the section grew greatly during the First World War officially adopting its current name around 1920. The name "MI6" originated as a convenient label during the Second World War , when SIS was known by many names. It is still commonly used today. The existence of SIS was not officially acknowledged until 1994. That year the Intelligence Services Act 1994 (ISA)
6364-454: The Special Operations Executive (SOE) and was a channel for communications and liaison between US and British security and intelligence organisations. BSC used a number of legitimate outlets for its work. In 1940, a German agent, Gerhard Alois Westrick , who was cultivating support and possible sabotage among American oil companies, was effectively exposed through news articles placed in the New York Herald Tribune . A wave of public outrage
6512-483: The Thatched Barn near Borehamwood , was devoted to camouflage , which usually meant equipping agents with authentic local clothing and personal effects. Various sub-stations in London were also involved in this task. Station XV and other camouflage sections also devised methods of hiding weapons, explosives or radios in innocuous-seeming items. Agents also needed identity papers, ration cards, currency and so on. Station XIV, at Briggens House near Roydon in Essex,
6660-431: The US Department of State . Stephenson and Hoover did not see eye to eye but had cooperated in a number of operations against espionage activities by Nazi Germany in the US. The British hired Americans despite promising otherwise. The Americans who were recruited in the BSC were given British identification numbers beginning with the digits 4 and 8, apparently representing the 48 states. In 1939, Stephenson arranged for
6808-445: The Ultra material collected by the Government Code & Cypher School , MI6 became, for the first time, an important branch of the government. Extensive breaches of Nazi Enigma signals gave Menzies and his team enormous insight into Adolf Hitler 's strategy, and this was kept a closely held secret. In 1940, the British intelligence services entered into a special agreement with their Polish counterparts. This collaboration between
6956-408: The "ultimate potential enemy". The memo noted that Germany had the world's second largest economy (being exceeded only by the economy of the United States), was a world leader in science and technology, and was capable of moblising millions of men for war. However, it was generally believed in the United Kingdom at the time that the arms race before 1914 had caused the Great War, and consequently there
7104-424: The 14th Army take over all intelligence operations in Burma with both SIS and SOE agents to be subordinate to the 14th Army under the grounds the Army was more capable of running intelligence operations in southeast Asia than MI6. Menzies who fiercely defended the prerogatives of MI6 was able to block this proposal despite the way it was universally accepted by officers serving in the China-Burma-India theater that SIS
7252-446: The American Embassy, which then showed the letter to the President of Brazil, Getúlio Vargas . LATI's operations in Brazil were confiscated and its personnel interned - the airline ceased transatlantic flights in December 1941. Brazil broke off relations with the Axis and joined the Allies in 1942. Secret Intelligence Service The Secret Intelligence Service ( SIS ), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6 ),
7400-491: The Americas, and mobilise pro-British opinion in the Americas. BSC also founded Camp X in Canada to train clandestine operators and to establish (in 1942) a telecommunications relay station, code name Hydra, operated by engineer Benjamin deForest Bayly . SIS operations in Asia were hindered by the fact that Europeans tended to stick out in Asia along with an inability to recruit Asian agents. The SOE had more success in both recruiting agents in Asia and in sending agents into
7548-432: The Axis and occupied nations, such as Operation Anthropoid , the assassination in Prague of Reinhard Heydrich . In general also, SOE's objectives were to foment mutual hatred between the population of Axis-occupied countries and the occupiers, and to force the Axis to expend manpower and resources on maintaining their control of subjugated populations. Dalton's initial statement about outline of methods to be used by SOE's
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#17330856033427696-412: The Axis forces; its importance would increase after the US entry into the war in 1941. The Italian airline LATI operated a transatlantic service - between Rome and Rio de Janeiro - which was a conduit for high-value goods (platinum, mica , diamonds, etc.), agents and diplomatic bags . London instructed the BSC to do something about that. The airline had connections with the Brazilian government through
7844-414: The Axis. It employed known homosexuals, people with criminal records (some of whom taught skills such as picking locks), those with bad conduct records in the armed forces, Communists, and anti-British nationalists. Some of them might have been considered a security risk, but no known case exists of an SOE agent wholeheartedly going over to the enemy. The Frenchman, Henri Déricourt , is widely regarded as
7992-573: The Axis. The organisation directly employed or controlled more than 13,000 people, of whom 3,200 were women. Both men and women served as agents in Axis-occupied countries. The organisation was dissolved in 1946. A memorial to those who served in SOE was unveiled in 1996 on the wall of the west cloister of Westminster Abbey by the Queen Mother , and in 2009 on the Albert Embankment in London, depicting Violette Szabo . The Valençay SOE Memorial honours 91 male and 13 female SOE agents who lost their lives while working in France. The Tempsford Memorial
8140-461: The BSC influenced news coverage in the Herald Tribune , the New York Post , The Baltimore Sun , and Radio New York Worldwide . The stories disseminated from the organisation's offices at Rockefeller Center would then be legitimately picked up by other radio stations and newspapers, before being relayed to the American public. Through this, anti-German stories were placed in major American media outlets to help turn public opinion. Its cover
8288-409: The British Embassy in Riga on 9 October 1924 who forwarded it to London. The Zinoviev letter played a key role in the defeat of the minority Labour government of Ramsay MacDonald and the victory of the Conservatives under Stanley Baldwin in the general election of 29 October 1924. It has been established the MI6 leaked the Zinoviev letter to the Daily Mail , but it remains unclear if MI6 was aware that
8436-409: The British ambassador to Germany from 1937 to 1939, was actively hostile towards MI6 running agents out of the British embassy in Berlin as he made it clear his belief that espionage against Germany would hamper the "general settlement" he was seeking with the Reich . The focus on collecting intelligence on German aircraft production led MI6 to be confused about the wider strategic question of what were
8584-409: The Chamberlain government. The Deuxième Bureau had manufactured the story as a way to force Britain to make a stronger commitment to defend France. The "limited liability" rearmament policy pursued by the Chamberlain government had intentionally starved the British Army of funds to rule out the "continental commitment" (i.e. Britain sending a large expeditionary force) from ever being made again, with
8732-435: The Committee is responsible specifically with ensuring the Committee's monitoring and oversight over intelligence data are conducted effectively and responsibly. Permanent and temporary sub-committees and working groups are constituted by the Committee, to carry out its duties responsibly. HM Treasury has directed the security and intelligence agencies to prepare financial statements for each financial year in accordance with
8880-411: The FBI, the censors were responsible for the discovery and arrest of a number of Axis spies operating in the US, including the Joe K ring . It was through the BSC that the British acquired the powerful "Aspidistra" transmitter that was used for propaganda by the Political Warfare Executive (PWE), BBC overseas broadcasts and by the Royal Air Force (RAF) in the war against Germany. BSC also sourced
9028-405: The German intelligence service, the Abwehr , had been bribed into working for Czechoslovakia. Thus most of what MI6 knew about German plans during both the Sudetenland crisis and the Danzig crisis came from the Czechoslovak military intelligence, which continued to run Thümmel even after the dissolution of Czecho-Slovakia in March 1939 and a government-in-exile was set up. Sir Nevile Henderson ,
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#17330856033429176-444: The Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000. Due to security concerns, the Government does not publish these financial statements which are audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General and then shown to the chair of the Public Accounts Committee in accordance with the Intelligence Services Act 1994 . The annual Parliamentary financial statements for 2021–2022 indicated that the combined British intelligence services spending
9324-429: The ISA allows it to carry out operations only against persons outside the British Islands . Some of SIS's actions since the 2000s have attracted significant controversy, such as its alleged complicity in acts of enhanced interrogation techniques and extraordinary rendition . Since 1994, SIS headquarters have been in the SIS Building in London , on the South Bank of the River Thames . The main mission of SIS
9472-404: The Japanese-occupied areas in China and southeast Asia, which caused tensions with MI6 who were jealous of the ability of the upstart SOE to do what they could not. SOE was more open to recruiting from within the Commonwealth, recruiting Chinese-Canadians and Australian-Chinese, to operate behind the Japanese lines under the grounds Asian agents would less likely to be arrested by the Kempeitai ,
9620-411: The MI6 Deputy Chief in World War II wrote: "I would never willing employ an university man. I have less fear of Bolshies and Fascists than I have of some pedantic, but vocal university professor". The debate over the future structure of British Intelligence continued at length after the end of hostilities but Cumming managed to engineer the return of the Service to Foreign Office control. At this time,
9768-435: The Middle East and Balkans were controlled from a headquarters in Cairo , which became notorious for poor security, infighting and conflicts with other agencies. It was eventually named, in April 1944, "Special Operations (Mediterranean)," or SO(M). Shortly after the Allied landings in North Africa , a station code named "Massingham" was established near Algiers in late 1942, which operated into Southern France . Following
9916-531: The President's son-in-law, and it was supplied, despite the US State Department protests, by Standard Oil in the US, making official channels ineffective. To curtail LATI's activities, the BSC decided that the Brazilians themselves would have to take measures - sabotage would be only a temporary inconvenience. Accordingly, the BSC constructed a forged letter of such accuracy that its authenticity could not be questioned even under forensic examination. The letter purported to come from LATI's head office to an executive of
10064-432: The Provisional government in Petrograd and signed an armistice with Germany. The main objective for the British was to keep Russia in the war, and MI6's two chosen instruments for doing so were Sidney Reilly , who despite his Irish name was a Russian-Jewish adventurer, and George Alexander Hill , a British pilot and businessman. Officially, Reilly's mandate was to collect intelligence about the new regime in Russia and find
10212-593: The SIS bomb five ships in Italy in 1947–48 to prevent them being used by the refugees, and set up a fake Palestinian group to take responsibility for the attacks. However, some in SIS wanted the policy to go further, noting that "intimidation is only likely to be effective if some members of the group of people to be intimidated actually suffer unpleasant consequences" and criticising the decision to not take stronger action against Exodus 1947 (which was, instead, seized and returned to mainland Europe). Special Operations Executive Special Operations Executive ( SOE )
10360-545: The SIS report directly. The Foreign Secretary appoints the head of SIS , to oversee SIS daily management and work. The Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service has a twofold responsibility within SIS. Internally, they oversee the continuous gathering of intelligence from agents, which involves making complex decisions about risk, resource allocation, and technological adaptation. In today's interconnected, data-driven world, maintaining secrecy and conducting undercover operations have become increasingly challenging. Externally,
10508-400: The SOE's training establishment in Beaulieu, Hampshire . In May 1940, MI6 set up British Security Co-ordination (BSC), on the authorisation of Prime Minister Winston Churchill over the objections of Stewart Menzies. This was a covert organisation based in New York City, headed by William Stephenson intended to investigate enemy activities, prevent sabotage against British interests in
10656-758: The Second World War, the name MI6 was used as a flag of convenience, the name by which it is frequently known in popular culture since. In the immediate post-war years under Sir Mansfield George Smith-Cumming and throughout most of the 1920s, SIS was focused on Communism, in particular, Russian Bolshevism. Examples include a thwarted operation to overthrow the Bolshevik government in 1918 by SIS agents Sidney George Reilly and Sir Robert Bruce Lockhart , as well as more orthodox espionage efforts within early Soviet Russia headed by Captain George Hill. Smith-Cumming died suddenly at his home on 14 June 1923, shortly before he
10804-531: The UK, offering the names of all Soviet agents working inside British intelligence. Philby received the memo on Volkov's offer and alerted the Soviets, so they could arrest him. In 1946, SIS absorbed the "rump" remnant of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), dispersing the latter's personnel and equipment between its operational divisions or "controllerates" and new Directorates for Training and Development and for War Planning. The 1921 arrangement
10952-460: The US and could expect sympathy and support from German and Italian immigrants, but the authorities there had no remit or interest in activities that were not directly against US security. Stephenson's report on the American situation advocated a secret organisation acting beyond purely SIS activities and covering all covert operations that could be done to ensure aid to Britain and an eventual entry of
11100-543: The US into the war. Stephenson was given this remit and the traditional cover of appointment as a 'Passport Control Officer' which he took up in June 1940. Although the existing setup in New York was lacking, Stephenson could call upon his personal liaison with Hoover, the support of Canada, the British ambassador, and his acquaintances with US interventionists. The office, which was established for intelligence and propaganda services,
11248-488: The Z section was the British Industrial Secret Service headed by a Canadian businessman living in London, William Stephenson that recruited British businessmen active in Germany for intelligence about German industrial production. For intelligence on German military plans, MI6 largely depended upon Czechoslovak military intelligence from 1937 onward as Paul Thümmel , aka "Agent A-54", a senior officer in
11396-653: The aims of German foreign policy. On 18 September 1938, a memo entitled "What Shall We Do?" written by Malcolm Woollcombe, the chief of the Political Intelligence, declared that the best way of resolving the Sudetenland crisis was for the Sudetenland to be peacefully annexed to Germany. The report concluded that allowing the Sudetenland to be annexed would allow Britain to finally discover "what really legitimate grievances Germany has and what surgical operations are necessary to recify them". In January 1939, MI6 played
11544-501: The anti-Nazi chief of the Abwehr, Admiral Wilhelm Canaris . This alliance allowed for the exchange of critical intelligence information and further strengthened the cooperation between the British and Polish intelligence services during this pivotal period in history. 1939 saw the most significant failure of the service during the war, known as the Venlo incident for the Dutch town where much of
11692-426: The autumn of the same year, the War Office expanded an existing research department known as GS (R) and appointed Major J. C. Holland as its head to conduct research into guerrilla warfare . GS (R) was renamed MI(R) in early 1939. These three departments worked with few resources until the outbreak of war. There was much overlap between their activities. Section D and EH duplicated much of each other's work. On
11840-659: The broadcasts to be directly monitored. For a period, the station was unwittingly the agent of BSC; after the US entered the war, the WRUL operation was turned over to US control. Although the British and Americans were co-operating at the Prime Minister - President level at the time, the arrival of "British spies" in the United States infuriated J. Edgar Hoover , the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation , and displeased
11988-541: The cabinet ministers, who in turn, enable the government's policies to help achieve national security and defence. The JIC also reports the intelligence analysis, based on SIS gatherings, to the Cabinet Office itself. Committee members are required to bring the reports and findings to their perspective ministers and departments, so as to make appropriate assessments that help in planning, preparing operational activities, planning or making policy decisions. The Chairman of
12136-427: The chief also operates as a secret diplomat, tasked with maintaining vital alliances that support intelligence cooperation. Additionally, they may need to establish discreet communication channels with countries where traditional diplomatic relations are delicate. Successfully navigating these dual roles requires a nuanced understanding of both internal operations and international relations. Since 2020, Sir Richard Moore
12284-550: The company stationed in Brazil. The contents included disparaging references to the Brazilian president and to the US, and implied connections with a fascist opposition party in Brazil, the Party of Popular Representation (founded in 1945). Following a "burglary" of the executive's house, a photostat of the letter was placed with an American Associated Press reporter, who immediately took it to
12432-595: The complaints over impropriety at SOE's Cairo headquarters during 1941 and partly because both the supreme command in the Mediterranean and SOE's establishments were split in 1942 and 1943, leading to divisions of responsibility and authority. There was tension between SOE and SIS, which the Foreign Office controlled. Stewart Menzies , the chief of SIS, was aggrieved to lose control of Section D. Where SIS preferred placid conditions in which it could gather intelligence and work through influential persons or authorities, SOE
12580-571: The control of the Allied theatre commands. Relationships with Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force in north-west Europe (whose commander was General Dwight D. Eisenhower ) and South East Asia Command (whose commander was Admiral Louis Mountbatten, already well known to SOE) were generally excellent. However, there were difficulties with the Commanders in Chief in the Mediterranean, partly because of
12728-456: The creation of secret armies which would rise up to assist the liberation of their countries when Allied troops arrived or were about to do so. It was recognised that acts of sabotage would bring about reprisals and increased Axis security measures which would hamper the creation of underground armies. As the tide of war turned in the Allies' favour, these underground armies became more important. At
12876-402: The criminal underworld. Some of them were recruited by word of mouth among the acquaintances of SOE's officers, others responded to routine trawls of the armed forces for people with unusual languages or other specialised skills. In most cases, the primary quality required of an agent was a deep knowledge of the country in which he or she was to operate, and especially its language, if the agent
13024-476: The end of July 1940 when on a world entertainment and propaganda tour. He wrote that the "suite in the Hampshire House with the outsize chintz flowers crawling over the walls became pleasantly familiar to me..." and that Stephenson "had a considerable influence on the next few years of my life". Stephenson offered him a job but was overruled by London. South America was an important neutral source of trade for
13172-505: The event of an Axis invasion of Britain, as seemed possible in the early years of the war. On 13 June 1940, at the instigation of newly appointed Prime Minister Winston Churchill , Lord Hankey (who held the Cabinet post of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster ) persuaded Section D and MI(R) that their operations should be coordinated. On 1 July, a Cabinet level meeting arranged the formation of
13320-1003: The field underwent commando training at Arisaig in Scotland, where they were taught armed and unarmed combat skills by William E. Fairbairn and Eric A. Sykes , former Inspectors in the Shanghai Municipal Police . Those who passed this course received parachute training by STS 51 and 51a situated near Altrincham , Cheshire with the assistance of No.1 Parachute Training School RAF, at RAF Ringway (which later became Manchester Airport ). They then attended courses in security and Tradecraft at Group B schools around Beaulieu in Hampshire. Finally, depending on their intended role, they received specialist training in skills such as demolition techniques or Morse code telegraphy at various country houses in England. SOE's Cairo branch established
13468-572: The former diplomat Fitzroy Maclean or the classicist Christopher Woodhouse ) were commissioned only during wartime. Several of SOE's agents were from the Jewish Parachutists of Mandate Palestine , some of whom were émigrés from countries in Europe. Thirty-two of them served as agents in the field, seven of whom were captured and executed. Exiled or escaped members of the armed forces of some occupied countries were obvious sources of agents. This
13616-618: The general election of that year by leaking the so-called Zinoviev letter to the Daily Mail , which published it on its front page on 25 October 1924. The letter, which was a forgery, was supposedly from Grigory Zinoviev , the chief of the Comintern, ordering British Communists to take over the Labour Party. The Zinoviv letter, which was written in English, came into possession of the MI6 resident at
13764-519: The government level, SOE's relationships with the Foreign Office were often difficult. On several occasions, various governments in exile protested at operations taking place without their knowledge or approval, provoking Axis reprisals against civilian populations, or complained about SOE's support for movements opposed to the exiled governments. SOE's activities also threatened relationships with neutral countries. SOE nevertheless generally adhered to
13912-530: The government regarding Germany was for MI6 to collect intelligence about German rearmament in order to establish the level of British rearmament that was be pursued in response. British decision-makers were especially concerned about the prospect of German strategic bombing of British cities as contemporary experts vastly exaggerated the power of strategic bombing to kill millions within a few days. Harold Macmillan later recalled: "We thought of air warfare in 1938 rather as people think of nuclear warfare today". As
14060-631: The headquarters of SOE was moved on 31 October 1940 into 64 Baker Street (hence the nickname "the Baker Street Irregulars " ). Ultimately, SOE occupied much of the western side of Baker Street. "Baker Street" became the euphemistic way of referring to SOE. The precise nature of the buildings remained concealed; it had no entry in the telephone directories, and correspondence to external bodies bore service addresses; MO1 (SP) (a War Office branch), NID(Q) (Admiralty), AI10 (Air Ministry), or other fictitious bodies or civilian companies. SOE maintained
14208-501: The home of MD1, formerly MIR(C), near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire (although this was not formally part of SOE), and Station IX at The Frythe , a country house (and former private hotel) outside Welwyn Garden City where, under the cover name of ISRB (Inter Services Research Bureau), SOE developed radios, weapons, explosive devices and booby traps . Section D originally had a research station at Bletchley Park , which also held
14356-531: The intelligence back to its consumer departments, mainly the War Office and Admiralty . Recruitment and the training of spies in the interwar period was quite casual. Cumming referred to espionage as a "capital sport", and expected his agents to learn the "tradecraft" of espionage while on their missions instead of before being dispatched on their missions. One MI6 agent Leslie Nicholson recalled about his first assignment in Prague: "nobody gave me any tips on how to be
14504-623: The letter was a forgery at the time. With the emergence of Germany as a threat following the ascendence of the Nazis , in the early 1930s attention was shifted in that direction. In 1934, a defense requirements commitment that consisted of Sir Robert Vansittart of the Foreign Office, Sir Warren Fisher of the Treasury, General Sir Maurice Hankey of the Committee for Imperial Defense, and the three service chiefs produced an influential memo that labelled Germany
14652-596: The majority of military spending being devoted the RAF and the Royal Navy. As such, Britain simply did not possess the military force to save the Netherlands, leading to urgent requests being made to Paris to ask if France would be willing to assist with the defence of the Netherlands. In response, the French replied that Britain would need to do more for France if the British wanted the French to do something for them. On 6 February 1939 in
14800-748: The maritime strength of the Imperial German Navy . This specialisation was formalised before 1914. During the First World War in 1916, the two sections underwent administrative changes so that the foreign section became the section MI1(c) of the Directorate of Military Intelligence . Its first director was Captain Sir Mansfield George Smith-Cumming , who often dropped the Smith in routine communication. He typically signed correspondence with his initial C in green ink. This usage evolved as
14948-665: The much feared Japanese military police. In 1944, about 90% of the human intelligence in Burma came from the SOE while 70% of the human intelligence in Malaya, Thailand and French Indochina came from the SOE. General William Slim , the GOC of the 14th Army, complained about the low quality of SIS intelligence in late 1943 as he stated that the intelligence he received from MI6 was "far from being complete or accurate". In late 1944-early 1945, Slim attempted to have
15096-469: The necessary laws, regulations and funding needed to keep the SIS operating and to conduct its activities. Under these rules, SIS is accountable to the government of the time and the SIS carry out their work in accordance to the government's foreign policy . The Prime Minister is ultimately responsible for intelligence and security, with day-to-day ministerial responsibility with the Foreign Secretary , to whom
15244-456: The newly created American organisation, the Office of Strategic Services . A variety of people from all classes and pre-war occupations served SOE in the field. The backgrounds of agents in F Section, for example, ranged from aristocrats such as Polish-born Countess Krystyna Skarbek , and Noor Inayat Khan , the daughter of an Indian Sufi leader, to working-class people such as Violette Szabo and Michael Trotobas , with some even reputedly from
15392-450: The operation took place. Agents of the German army secret service, the Abwehr , and the counter-espionage section of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD), posed as high-ranking officers involved in a plot to depose Hitler . In a series of meetings between SIS agents and the 'conspirators', SS plans to abduct the SIS team were shelved due to the presence of Dutch police. On the night of 8–9 November,
15540-753: The organisation was known in Whitehall by a variety of titles including the Foreign Intelligence Service , the Secret Service , MI1(c) , the Special Intelligence Service and even C's organisation . Around 1920, it began increasingly to be referred to as the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), a title that it has continued to use to the present day and which was enshrined in statute in the Intelligence Services Act 1994. During
15688-517: The other hand, the Admiralty objected to SOE developing its own underwater vessels, and the duplication of effort this involved. The Royal Air Force, and in particular RAF Bomber Command under "Bomber" Harris were usually reluctant to allocate aircraft to SOE. Towards the end of the war, as Allied forces began to liberate territories occupied by the Axis and in which SOE had established resistance forces, SOE also liaised with and to some extent came under
15836-690: The other hand, the heads of Section D and MI(R) knew each other and shared information. They agreed to a rough division of their activities; MI(R) researched irregular operations that could be undertaken by regular uniformed troops, while Section D dealt with truly undercover work. During the early months of the war, Section D was based first at St Ermin's Hotel in Westminster and then the Metropole Hotel near Trafalgar Square . The Section attempted unsuccessfully to sabotage deliveries of vital strategic materials to Germany from neutral countries by mining
15984-498: The outbreak of war), the rest were various civil servants , lawyers, or business or industrial experts. Most of the members of the council, and the senior officers and functionaries of SOE generally, were recruited by word of mouth among public school alumni and Oxbridge graduates, although this did not notably affect SOE's political complexion. Several subsidiary SOE stations were set up to manage operations that were too distant for London to control directly. SOE's operations in
16132-557: The question of whether SOE should remain a separate body or coordinate its operations with those of the British Army in several theatres of war. Hambro felt that any loss of autonomy would cause a number of problems for SOE in the future. At the same time, Hambro was found to have failed to pass on vital information to Selborne. He was dismissed as director, and became head of a raw materials purchasing commission in Washington, D.C. , which
16280-452: The resistance networks which SOE formed or liaised with were controlled by radio directly from Britain or one of SOE's subsidiary headquarters. All resistance circuits contained at least one wireless operator, and all drops or landings were arranged by radio, except for some early exploratory missions sent "blind" into enemy-occupied territory. SOE wireless operators were also known as "The Pianists". At first, SOE's radio traffic went through
16428-503: The rest of the war with any more contact with the Wehrmacht generals. During the Second World War the human intelligence work of the service was complemented by several other initiatives: GC&CS was the source of Ultra intelligence, which was very useful. The chief of SIS, Stewart Menzies , insisted on wartime control of codebreaking, and this gave him immense power and influence, which he used judiciously. By distributing
16576-510: The rule, "No bangs without Foreign Office approval." Early attempts at bureaucratic control of Jefferis's MIR(c) by the Ministry of Supply were eventually foiled by Churchill's intervention. Thereafter, the Ministry co-operated, though at arm's length, with Dudley Newitt's various supply and development departments. The Treasury were accommodating from the start and were often prepared to turn
16724-416: The selection and training of agents. Sections, usually referred to by code letters or groups of letters, were assigned to a single country. Some enemy-occupied countries had two or more sections assigned to deal with politically disparate resistance movements. (France had no less than six). For security purposes, each section had its own headquarters and training establishments. This strict compartmentalisation
16872-465: The service since the end of World War I. On 9 November 1939, MI6 was embarrassed by the Venlo incident . The Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, was unenthusiastic about the prospect of war, and clung to the hope all through the Phoney War that the Wehrmacht generals would overthrow Hitler, after which the war would end. Two MI6 officers, Sigismund Payne Best and Henry Stevens had been dispatched to
17020-623: The two nations played a significant role in shaping the course of World War II. In July 2005, the governments of the United Kingdom and Poland jointly produced a comprehensive two-volume study that shed light on their bilateral intelligence cooperation during the war. This study, which unveiled information that had been classified as secret until that point, was known as the Report of the Anglo-Polish Historical Committee. The report
17168-518: The two parties included critical information such as advance warnings of the ' Afrikakorps' departure for Libya, insights into the readiness of Vichy French units to either fight against the Allies or switch sides during Operation Torch , and early warnings regarding both Operation Barbarossa and Operation Edelweiss , the German Caucasus campaign . Polish-sourced reporting on German secret weapons began in 1941, and Operation Wildhorn enabled
17316-625: The war, MI6 had its main European office in Rotterdam from where it coordinated espionage in Germany and occupied Belgium. A crucial element in the war effort from the British perspective was the involvement of Russia, which kept millions of German soldiers that would otherwise be deployed on the Western Front, engaged on the Eastern Front. On 7 November 1917 the Bolsheviks under Vladimir Lenin overthrew
17464-454: The war, although they revolved around sabotaging and subverting the Axis war machines through indirect methods. SOE occasionally carried out operations with direct military objectives, such as Operation Harling , originally designed to cut one of the Axis supply lines to their troops fighting in North Africa. They also carried out some high-profile operations aimed mainly at the morale both of
17612-517: The war. On 26 and 27 July 1939, in Pyry near Warsaw , British military intelligence representatives including Dilly Knox , Alastair Denniston and Humphrey Sandwith were introduced by their allied Polish counterparts to their Enigma-decryption techniques and equipment, including Zygalski sheets and the cryptologic " Bomba ", and were promised future delivery of a reverse-engineered, Polish-built duplicate Enigma machine. The demonstration represented
17760-625: The world was equal to the cost of maintaining one destroyer in home waters, and that the demands placed upon his service exceeded its budget. The focus on the Luftwaffe along with MI6's relatively small budget led to constant complaints from both the War Office and the Admiralty that MI6 was neglecting both the German Army and the Kriegsmarine . The Asian branch of the SIS was known as the "Cinderella branch" owing to its neglect by London. MI6 assisted
17908-430: The world. The SIS regularly cooperates and works with MI5 and GCHQ regarding domestic and cyber intelligence. SIS has three primary tasks: The impact and success in these situations helps to prevent hostile influence, keep the UK's defences on alert to reduce serious and organised crime, and to detect violations of international law. SIS is governed under the laws of the United Kingdom . The government sets
18056-461: Was "industrial and military sabotage, labor agitation and strikes, continuous propaganda, terrorist attacks against traitors and German leaders, boycotts and riots." Dalton's early enthusiasm for fomenting widespread strikes, civil disobedience and sabotage in Axis-occupied areas had to be curbed. Thereafter, there were two main aims, often mutually incompatible; sabotage of the Axis war effort, and
18204-427: Was Australian-born British intelligence officer Dick Ellis . The pair had been introduced by Sir Ralph Glyn . Ellis said Stephenson 'had been providing a great deal of information on German rearmament to Mr Churchill at that time he was not in office [prior to May 1940] but was playing quite an important role in providing background information to members of [the] House of Commons who were much more concerned with what
18352-742: Was a British organisation formed in 1940 to conduct espionage , sabotage and reconnaissance in German-occupied Europe and to aid local resistance movements during World War II . SOE personnel operated in all territories occupied or attacked by the Axis powers , except where demarcation lines were agreed upon with Britain's principal Allies , the United States and the Soviet Union . SOE made use of neutral territory on occasion, or made plans and preparations in case neutral countries were attacked by
18500-521: Was a belief that British rearmament would increase international tensions and would make a war more likely than less likely. On the converse, there was the possibility if Germany rearmed while Britain did not, it would leave the Reich in a strong position to launch a war. It was decided that British rearmament would be linked to the extent of German rearmament with British rearmament to be reactive rather than preemptive. The primary request from decision-makers in
18648-461: Was appointed director, he formalised some of the administrative practices which had grown in an ad hoc fashion and appointed an establishment officer to oversee the manpower and other requirements of the various departments. The main controlling body of SOE was its council, consisting of around fifteen heads of departments or sections. About half of the council were from the armed forces (although some were specialists who were only commissioned after
18796-431: Was authored by leading historians and experts who were granted unprecedented access to the archives of British intelligence. One of the most remarkable findings was that 48 percent of all reports received by British secret services from continental Europe during the years 1939–45 had originated from Polish sources. This significant contribution from the Polish intelligence was made possible by the fact that occupied Poland had
18944-496: Was due to retire, and was replaced as C by Admiral Sir Hugh "Quex" Sinclair . Sinclair created the following sections: * Section D to conduct political covert actions and paramilitary operations in time of war. Section D would organise the Home Defence Scheme resistance organisation in the UK and come to be the foundation of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the Second World War. In 1924, MI6 intervened in
19092-505: Was expected that SOE would be the leading partner. In the middle of the war, the relations between SOE and OSS were not often smooth. They established a joint headquarters in Algiers but the officers of the two organisations working there refused to share information with each other. In the Balkans, and Yugoslavia especially, SOE and OSS several times worked at cross-purposes, reflecting their governments' differing (and changing) attitudes to
19240-433: Was followed by Weldrick's expulsion from the US and the forced resignation of the head of Texaco ( Torkild Rieber ). Through third parties, BSC developed the independent and non-profit WRUL shortwave radio station foreign-language broadcast capability and then fed it stories it wanted disseminated worldwide. The station had a large number of listeners who corresponded with the station, which made it possible for reactions to
19388-453: Was happening than the administration [of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain] seemed to be at the time... I introduced him to my own channels, to heads of intelligence. And that led to his being asked if he was going to America... if he would do what he could to reestablish a link between security authorities here and the FBI.’ The liaison was necessary because Britain's enemies were already present in
19536-643: Was headed by Icelandic-Canadian industrialist William Stephenson . Its first tasks were to promote British interests in the United States, counter Nazi propaganda , and protect the Atlantic convoys from enemy sabotage . The BSC was registered by the State Department as a foreign entity. It operated out of Room 3603 at Rockefeller Center and was officially known as the British Passport Control Office from which it had expanded. BSC acted as administrative headquarters more than operational one for SIS and
19684-622: Was intended to create unrest and turbulence, and often backed anti-establishment organisations, such as the Communists , in several countries. At one stage, SIS actively hindered SOE's attempts to infiltrate agents into enemy-occupied France . Even before the United States joined the war, the head of the newly formed Office of the Coordinator of Information (COI), William J. Donovan , had received technical information from SOE and had arranged for some members of his organisation to undergo training at
19832-810: Was introduced to Parliament, to place the organisation on a statutory footing for the first time. It provides the legal basis for its operations. Today, SIS is subject to public oversight by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal and the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament . The stated priority roles of SIS are counter-terrorism , counter-proliferation , providing intelligence in support of cyber security , and supporting stability overseas to disrupt terrorism and other criminal activities. Unlike its main sister agencies, Security Service (MI5) and Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), SIS works exclusively in foreign intelligence gathering;
19980-517: Was involved in the exchange of nuclear information. As part of the subsequent closer ties between the Imperial General Staff and SOE (although SOE had no representation on the Chiefs of Staff Committee ), Hambro's replacement as director from September 1943 was Gubbins, who had been promoted to Major-general . Gubbins had wide experience of commando and clandestine operations and had played
20128-510: Was located at The Firs in Whitchurch, Buckinghamshire and nicknamed "Churchill's Toyshop" from the Prime Minister's close interest in it and his enthusiastic support. The director of SOE was usually referred to by the initials "CD". Nelson, the first director to be appointed, was a former head of a trading firm in India, a back bench Conservative Member of Parliament and Consul in Basel , Switzerland, where he had also been engaged in undercover intelligence work. In February 1942 Dalton
20276-567: Was originally the home of STS38, a training facility for Polish saboteurs, who set up their own forgery section. As the work expanded, it became the central forgery department for SOE and the Poles eventually moved out on 1 April 1942. The technicians at Station XIV included a number of ex-convicts. The training establishments, and properties used by country sections, were designated by Arabic numbers and were widely distributed. The initial training centres of SOE were at country houses such as Wanborough Manor , Guildford . Agents destined to serve in
20424-451: Was particularly true of Norway and the Netherlands. In other cases (such as Frenchmen owing loyalty to Charles de Gaulle and especially the Poles), the agents' first loyalty was to their leaders or governments in exile, and they treated SOE only as a means to an end. This could occasionally lead to mistrust and strained relations in Britain. The organisation was prepared to ignore almost any contemporary social convention in its fight against
20572-448: Was quickly overloaded with paperwork and was merged into SO2. In August 1941, following quarrels between the Ministry of Economic Warfare and the Ministry of Information over their relative responsibilities, SO1 was removed from SOE and became an independent organisation, the Political Warfare Executive . Thereafter, a single, broad "Operations" department controlled the Sections operating into enemy and sometimes neutral territory, and
20720-427: Was removed as the political head of SOE (possibly because he was using SOE's phone tapping facility to listen to conversations of fellow Labour ministers, or possibly because he was viewed as too "communistically inclined" and a threat to SIS). He became President of the Board of Trade and was replaced as Minister of Economic Warfare by Lord Selborne . Selborne in turn retired Nelson, who had suffered ill health as
20868-487: Was set up in India late in 1940. It subsequently moved to Ceylon so as to be closer to the headquarters of the Allied South East Asia Command and became known as " Force 136 ." A "Singapore Mission" was set up at the same time as the India Mission but was unable to overcome official opposition to its attempts to form resistance movements in Malaya before the Japanese overran Singapore . Force 136 took over its surviving staff and operations. New York City also had
21016-591: Was so effective that in mid-1942 five governments in exile jointly suggested that a single sabotage organisation be created, and were startled to learn that SOE had been in existence for two years. Four departments and some smaller groups were controlled by the director of scientific research, Professor Dudley Maurice Newitt , and were concerned with the development or acquisition and production of special equipment. A few other sections were involved with finance, security, economic research and administration, although SOE had no central registry or filing system. When Gubbins
21164-512: Was streamlined with the geographical, operational units redesignated "Production Sections", sorted regionally under Controllers, all under a Director of Production. The Circulating Sections were renamed "Requirements Sections" and placed under a Directorate of Requirements. Following the Second World War, tens of thousands of Holocaust survivors attempted to reach Palestine as part of the Aliyah Bet refugee movement. As part of British government efforts to stem this migration, Operation Embarrass saw
21312-419: Was the British Passport Control Office. BSC benefitted from support given by the chief of the US Office of Strategic Services , William J. Donovan (whose organisation was modelled on British activities), and US President Franklin D. Roosevelt who was staunchly anti-Nazi. The declaration of war upon Germany by the British in September 1939 forced a break in liaison between SIS (MI6) and the FBI because of
21460-474: Was to pass as a native of the country. Dual nationality was often a prized attribute. This was particularly so of France. In other cases, especially in the Balkans, a lesser degree of fluency was required as the resistance groups concerned were already in open rebellion and a clandestine existence was unnecessary. A flair for diplomacy combined with a taste for rough soldiering was more necessary. Some regular army officers proved adept as envoys, and others (such as
21608-481: Was unsuitable to operating in that part of the world. MI6 was able to keep operating in Asia by making the argument that the SOE was only a temporary organisation that was to be disbanded after the war ended while MI6 was the permanent intelligence service that would continue after the war, and that to exclude MI6 from Asia would weaken British intelligence in the post-war world. In early 1944, MI6 re-established Section IX, its prewar anti-Soviet section, and Philby took
21756-401: Was unveiled in 2013 by the Prince of Wales in Church End, Tempsford, Bedfordshire , close to the site of the former RAF Tempsford . The organisation was formed from the merger of three existing secret departments, which had been formed shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War. Immediately after Germany annexed Austria (the Anschluss ) in March 1938, the Foreign Office created
21904-404: Was £3.44 billion, with some $ 1.09 billion being further allocated to staff pay and agents and a further £636 million allocated to capital spending. The following legislation regulates the SIS: Oversight is undertaken by Parliament through the following organisations: The service derived from the Secret Service Bureau, which was founded on 1 October 1909. The Bureau was a joint initiative of
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