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MI6 – Life And Death In The British Secret Service by Gordon Corera
The Blurb On The Back:
The story of MI6 is the story of the human factor that lies at the heart of spying. From shadowy work in the bars of post-war Vienna to recent high-tech missions in Iraq and Libya, secret agents are forced to play a bewildering variety of roles: as psychiatrists, confidants and interrogators. From the spymasters in London and the agents they run to their elusive enemies, relationships are what drive espionage. These thrilling and often moving stories illustrate the dangers and moral ambiguities that come with working for British intelligence and reveal how the fictional worlds of Bond and le Carre have been drawn from reality and have in turn shaped the real world of spies.
Grand dramas such as the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall and the September 11th attacks provide the backdrop for these stories of the men and women who have spied, lied and in some cases died in the service of the state.
BBC security correspondent, Gordon Corera’s book is a broad-brush summary of MI-6’s operations and internal struggles from 1949 and the intensification of the Cold War through to the modern War on Terror. Weighing in at over 400 pages, it’s a surprisingly quick read with Corera packing in a lot of information without ever bogging down or making it seem turgid.
The book begins with the initial post World War II espionage skirmishes in Vienna and moves on to the implications of the Burgess, Maclean and Philby treachery (particularly Philby, whose betrayal of Albanian missions led to the loss of many lives). I thought that the Philby sections were perhaps the most perfunctory in the book as they cover a lot of old ground particularly if you’ve watched the recent documentary: Kim Philby: His Most Intimate Betrayal, which is more interesting in terms of analysing the effect on Nicholas Elliott and his career.
More interesting to me was the chapter looking at British operations in the Congo, which I had not previously been aware of – especially the work of Daphne Park (the only female operative in the book and a woman who knew to take her closest secrets to the grave). Corera does well in summarising the political situation in the Congo at this time and the events that led to the coup and it was both fascinating and horrifying to see the role played by Britain and the USA in bringing events about. Also good were the chapters dealing with the running of Russian double-agents and the efforts made to bring them in once their activities were blown. Corera does well at showing the characters and egos in operation and in explaining the dark art of how to turn an agent and how to check and confirm the information they provide, especially in the increasing paranoia working within MI6 as a result of Philby et al.
I wanted more of the build up to events in Afghanistan and the Middle East, mainly because Corera’s summary of the history of CIA operations there and the strained relationship with Britain is so fascinating, as is the information failure that led to the invasion of Iraq.
Ultimately this isn’t an academic book but if you have an interest in espionage or the Cold War then there’s a lot here to learn and keep you entertained. I’d definitely check out Corera’s other work.
The Verdict:
BBC security correspondent, Gordon Corera’s book is a broad-brush summary of MI-6’s operations and internal struggles from 1949 and the intensification of the Cold War through to the modern War on Terror. Weighing in at over 400 pages, it’s a surprisingly quick read with Corera packing in a lot of information without ever bogging down or making it seem turgid.
The story of MI6 is the story of the human factor that lies at the heart of spying. From shadowy work in the bars of post-war Vienna to recent high-tech missions in Iraq and Libya, secret agents are forced to play a bewildering variety of roles: as psychiatrists, confidants and interrogators. From the spymasters in London and the agents they run to their elusive enemies, relationships are what drive espionage. These thrilling and often moving stories illustrate the dangers and moral ambiguities that come with working for British intelligence and reveal how the fictional worlds of Bond and le Carre have been drawn from reality and have in turn shaped the real world of spies.
Grand dramas such as the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall and the September 11th attacks provide the backdrop for these stories of the men and women who have spied, lied and in some cases died in the service of the state.
BBC security correspondent, Gordon Corera’s book is a broad-brush summary of MI-6’s operations and internal struggles from 1949 and the intensification of the Cold War through to the modern War on Terror. Weighing in at over 400 pages, it’s a surprisingly quick read with Corera packing in a lot of information without ever bogging down or making it seem turgid.
The book begins with the initial post World War II espionage skirmishes in Vienna and moves on to the implications of the Burgess, Maclean and Philby treachery (particularly Philby, whose betrayal of Albanian missions led to the loss of many lives). I thought that the Philby sections were perhaps the most perfunctory in the book as they cover a lot of old ground particularly if you’ve watched the recent documentary: Kim Philby: His Most Intimate Betrayal, which is more interesting in terms of analysing the effect on Nicholas Elliott and his career.
More interesting to me was the chapter looking at British operations in the Congo, which I had not previously been aware of – especially the work of Daphne Park (the only female operative in the book and a woman who knew to take her closest secrets to the grave). Corera does well in summarising the political situation in the Congo at this time and the events that led to the coup and it was both fascinating and horrifying to see the role played by Britain and the USA in bringing events about. Also good were the chapters dealing with the running of Russian double-agents and the efforts made to bring them in once their activities were blown. Corera does well at showing the characters and egos in operation and in explaining the dark art of how to turn an agent and how to check and confirm the information they provide, especially in the increasing paranoia working within MI6 as a result of Philby et al.
I wanted more of the build up to events in Afghanistan and the Middle East, mainly because Corera’s summary of the history of CIA operations there and the strained relationship with Britain is so fascinating, as is the information failure that led to the invasion of Iraq.
Ultimately this isn’t an academic book but if you have an interest in espionage or the Cold War then there’s a lot here to learn and keep you entertained. I’d definitely check out Corera’s other work.
The Verdict:
BBC security correspondent, Gordon Corera’s book is a broad-brush summary of MI-6’s operations and internal struggles from 1949 and the intensification of the Cold War through to the modern War on Terror. Weighing in at over 400 pages, it’s a surprisingly quick read with Corera packing in a lot of information without ever bogging down or making it seem turgid.