No More For The Road

[lordroel]

Apr 18, 2018 12:51:05 GMT Dan said:

For all the names that have been thrown around in the post war histories, none are held, unfairly, with more derision than that of Harold Wilson. Despite the smears thrown at him from certain quarters, he was not a Soviet mole or agent, there were many around him that, unknown to Wilson, and ironically, each other in the main, were indeed agents of the Soviet Union. Along side Wilson, it was a surprise that such dyed in the wool Socialists like Anthony Wedgewood Benn had not been turned, yet that did not stop him from being unofficially sent into exile during the "Years of Change", (or "The Purge Of Innocents" - depending on which side you fall).
It seems that the defection of a disgruntled Scientific Intelligence Officer from SIS to the CIA in 1970, was the nudge that set the dominos falling. In the early days, Sir Roger Hollis as head of MI5 and Sir Harold Philby as head of SIS, were able to minimise the damge done by the defection of Peter Wright, indeed, the two believed that they had not just dealt with the situation at home, but suitably blackened Wright's name with Philby's long time freind and CIA director James Angleton.
Angleton on the other hand, had begun to suspect that things were amiss as early as 1967 after their own sources in Moscow began to pick up chatter regarding double agents. Nothing regarding this came from the intelligence sources shared by the British which again raised suspicions. However, the CIA believed that the actions of British Intelligence in dealing with Chinese Communist intelligence rings, and their ruthless efficiency in dealing with Maoist insurgencies in South East Asia very successfully allayed a number of fears.
The CIA's sources in Moscow began to go quiet in early 1969 and seemed to be completely silenced by spring of 1970. American Intelligence were in the dark as to why until Wright's defection shed some light, and the 1972 defection of Major Anatoly Shaburidze shed a most unwelcome light on their fates.

Major Anatoly Shaburidze, originally a small village near Tiflis, Georgian SSR, had served in the NKVD during the Second World War as a Battlefield Commissar, following his regiment from Georgia, through the Caucases and Ukraine and finally into Austria for the end of the war. It was here, when advanced elements of his regiment met up with the American Army that the disenchantment with the Soviet system began. This was compounded shortly before his return to the Soviet Union. An "error in paperwork" saw him arrested and questioned at great length over blackmarket activities, while he was not "Extensively Interrogated", a common euphimism for torture, it was enough of a black mark on his record to stymie a so far, successful career within the NKVD, and later, the KGB. Instead, the Major was assigned to the records division, first in Vienna and later in Moscow. .

Ironically it was this posting which prevented Shaburidze from becoming involved in the Post Stalin power struggles, and also gave him access to some of the most valuable intelligence resources available.
As he languished in the records department, approaching retirement and having been passed over for promotion multiple times, he came to a decision that he would gain his revenge on the system that had oppressed him for so long, (the irony of his position would only strike him later on).
Shaburidze began to take copies of documents, and at the same time, began scheduling documents for destruction, claiming them damaged and that copies had already been made. Over the course of 18 months, until the end of 1971, the Major had ammassed over 3000 documents, a mixture of photographs of documents and originals detailing a range of topics from defenses in the Far East against Chinese attack, grain forecasts for the 1972/73 period and a series of documents regarding Soviet Intelligence activities abroad.

In the Spring of 1972, he recieved permission to visit Finland in order to watch Central Army Ice Hockey team play a freindly match against the Finnish National team in Helsinki. With the files hidden inside the chassis of his car, (one of the privilidges of his position), and travelling with 2 other KGB Officers, (who were unaware of his purpose), Anatoly Shaburidze set off on the 1000km drive to Helsinki. The story of the journey itself can be found in the book "Greatest Escapes Of All Time" By Edward Hamilton, (2015, Penguin), however, after arriving, and before the game itself, Shaburidze presented himself to the American Embassy and greated with increduality until the contents of the files were read. Within 24 hours, he found himself onboard a jet bound for Langley in Virginia and an extensive debreif.

There were many files of interest to Angleton and the CIA, however the main ones concerned "Johnson", "Hicks", "Homer", "Stanley", "Hobson" and "Williams".
The files indicated that they were Soviet agents planted into the highest levels of British foreign and domestic intelligence and also within the government itself. Within an hour, Angleton had drafted a note to President Nixon, advising of "unforseen, and disadvantageous intelligence situation", and that "immediate insulation of American interests" had begun.

What this entailed in the short term was the compartmentalising of all intelligence operations, and all material had to go through vetting before being shared with another nation. In particular, British intelligence noticed a change in the quantity of information, however the quality appeared to be good. At the other end, Moscow had given no indication that they were aware of the defection or the effects there of to their British Agents, expecting them to discover this on their behalf from the Americans.
The move to isolate the information left both London and Moscow in the dark for a differing period of time.
While the CIA began work on steps to clean up the mess that had occurred, no one quite foresaw what this plan would lead to.

From 'The Lion, The Bear and the Eagle - Intelligence Failures of The Cold War'. Clancy, Thomas, (Vauxhall Press, 2012)

Nice update Dan.

[James G]

Just casually going to watch a game of ice hockey and the world changes.
I like it. I like how you used that!

Are the Wilson smears deliberate misinformation or just bad luck for him? The archivist defector is one of the best running defectors - an agent-in-place is always the best IMHO - that an intelligence agency can get, I think. They know so much and while it may not be up to date, the old stuff can go towards putting the missing pieces into the jigsaw when it comes to seeing the whole picture for what it is.

[James G]

Oh... I forgot.
Tom Clancy!

[Dan]

The Wilson smears are by and large deliberate mis-information, how and why will be covered later and will form a big chunk of the reaction.

And yes, Thomas Leo Clancy Jr. OTL wrote a lot of very well received non-fiction books on the military, ITTL, his novels don't do quite as well, however his academic work is seen as being field leading, (and I totally didn't rip off "The Bear And The Dragon" for the ITTL title of this book... well maybe a little. And by a little I mean a lot, let's say... repurposed).

[James G]

Poor Harold.
Couldn't you have got 'Rabbit' in that title too!?

[Dan]

February 1974 saw Harold Wilson returned as Prime Minister of Great Britain with a small, but workable majority, propped up by a resurgent SNP. There was a price, there was always a price. For the Scots it meant supporting a revision of the Barnett formula, for the government, it meant a referendum on Scottish Devolution. The SNP pitched the Barnett revision cleverly as the price of the referendum, with the tone that devolution would mean more control and the ability to challenge the Barnett calculation from a position of strength. The referendum was scheduled for the summer of 1976, and from the outset, the SNP and other Scots Nationalists campaigned hard claiming that a "Yes" would see the shackles of London loosened enough to cast free sooner rather than later. The Conservatives in Scotland were split between the Unionist wing and the Nationalist wing. The Unionist campaigning for a "No" vote, with the Scottish Edition of the Sun even going as far as to describe the campaign as "Fear and Loathing in Edinburgh". The Scotsman in particular threw it's weight behind the "Yes" campaign dedicating over two years of editorials to support the case for devolution in areas as diverse as Economics, Equal Rights, (or a curtailed version there of), Sports and even Comedy, (pointing out that the young firebrand comedians such as Billy Connolly and Rob Coltrane were hamstrung by the "Alba-phobic" BBC).
The BBC in Scotland continued with coverage that was described by the "Yes" campaign as "The propaganda arm of the government and it's unionist allies" and by the "No" campaign as "Typical of lackies of the SNP", and by everyone else as remarkably balanced.

While there were a number of scuffles and the occasional disturbance at the various marches in favour or against devolution, there appeared to be no organised violence. Even the Glasgow "Ice cream wars" seemed to have calmed for the period of the referendum. And so the vote itself passed off with little trouble.
The result sent shock waves throughout the country. Far from being a close run thing with "No" taking the result as was expected, the "yes" campaign came away with a resounding victory. On a turnout of 68% of the electorate in Scotland, "yes" polled 61% of the vote, while "No" took 38% of the valid votes. Less than 0.13% of votes counted were spoilt or otherwise ineligible.

In London, The Times led with "Requiem for the Union", The Express leading with "Rebuild the Wall", while the Guardian led with a piece asking if Devolution was right for England, Wales and Northern Ireland to create a Federal Britain under the Crown. The Sun continued it's schizophrenic approach, the English Edition calling the Scots "Traitors" while the Scots edition ran with the headline of "Freedom". All of which missed, (excepting the Guardian), that this was not an independance vote, but simply for the creation of a Scots Assembly with limited law making powers.
It was decided, that for the interim, each of the 33 counties in Scotland would nominate an Assembly member from the ruling party of the county council to sit in the inaugrial session, and would draw up plans for the first Scottish Assembly Elections to be held in June of 1977. In a bill passed by the Westminster Parliament, and recieving Royal Assent in September 1976, it was fixed that the Scottish Assembly would be comprised of 129 members selected by Proportional representation, and June 2nd 1977 would be the date of the first election.

The Welsh Nationalist Party, Plaid Cymru saw their opportunity to push for their own assembly, however if the response from Westminster was muted, the response from the Welsh country itself was positively silent. At their highest point, the campaign for a Welsh Assembly managed 41% support in polls, and by the end of 1978 the campaign was dropped as support levelled off around 28%.

In Europe and the United States, the "British Situation" was debated hotly for different reasons. In Langley especially, but increasingly in Washington, the nature of the Soviet Penetration of the British Government, not just the intelligence agencies, was debated hotly in closed sessions. President Carter, often thought to be soft on foreign affairs began to ask what could be done if the British were indeed compromised. Angleton had already begun to ask such questions, and if the suspected identities of "Johnson", "Hicks", "Homer", "Stanley", "Hobson" and "Williams" could be confirmed, then it was likely such action would have to be taken. Of greatest concern amongst the military heads in the US, and increasingly in Europe was the condition of the British Army.

The British Army had seen a number of changes, from 1975, while they could not have a Union, the rules regarding politicisation of the Army had changed somewhat with a minority left wing element becoming apparent, especially in recruits from the west Midlands, Liverpool, (mostly joining the Irish Regiments), Yorkshire and the North East - all areas of low employment and rising poverty. This came to affect the Infantry mainly, and disproportionately the County Regiments associated with those areas. The Royal Airforce was far less affected by this, and the Royal Navy virtually unaffected. Ironically this had little effect on recruitment or discipline, especially peacetime discipline, nor in the growing commitment to Northern Ireland where an upswing in violence towards the Catholic population from militant unionists fearful of a forcible union with the Republic of Ireland, was taking place.

However, with their own issues with the KGB and STASI backed Red Army Faction, the Bundesnachrichtendienst, (BND), once they had recieved their own warnings from the CIA, began to keep a closer eye on British Military activities, something not lost on the Army Intelligence Corps, something fed back to the Ministry of Defence back in Whitehall, and a noticable chill began to be felt as the British Military missions in Europe and North America began to notice increased, but not yet intrusive additional surveilance of their activities.

Late in 1977, President Carter and James Angleton met in private in an off the record meeting. There are no direct accounts of what was discussed, only passing mentions in the official biography of James Angleton suggest the contents of such a meeting, however, it is very likely that Britain and the Soviets was discussed, and from January 1978, the Americans began taking action.

[James G]

That was a surprise with the Scottish vote. I know some of the history with the first vote but they way you wrote it left me (pleasantly) surprised.
Spying on the British Army? Does that include making friends, because friends can be useful in having someone to share problems with and thrash out solutions... as they tell you all that they know.

[Dan]

Pretty much, yes. While the Americans are pulling back from contact, the BND, while increasing surveillance are also sounding out various officers, NCOs and soldiers, ready to turn them into assets if/when the time comes.

I'm on a training course this week so the start of the next part will be delayed a little bit.

[James G]

Off on a spy course? James Bond or Johnny English?

[Dan]

lol - far less interesting Java coding for beginners.

[lordroel]

Apr 27, 2018 11:25:49 GMT Dan said:

lol - far less interesting Java coding for beginners.

Never done that, sounds hard.

[Dan]

Apr 27, 2018 11:29:50 GMT lordroel said:

Apr 27, 2018 11:25:49 GMT Dan said:

lol - far less interesting Java coding for beginners.

Never done that, sounds hard.

I thought that too. We had a really good instructor. It also helps it was only a basic course.

[Dan]

Codenamed KNIGHTWATCH, the CIA began to monitor the British Press. In particular, they began to watch for stories relating to the government and the opposition parties. To carry this out, they had enlisted the help of two people, the former editor of the Washington Journal, and a Professor of linguistics from Stanford.
The brief was simple - produce a series of news articles that could pass for having been written by members of the British Press. While wags in London would later quip that "simply rolling your face on a type writer would give you a Sun story", (referring to the British tabloid newspaper), it was these apparently simple tabloid stories that they had the greatest difficulty with.
In an interview with NBC shown in May 1987, (recorded the month before his death from Lung Cancer), Angleton stated that the purpose of KNIGHTWATCH wasn't to place stories directly into the press, but instead to decipher how to construct the stories they would release in the UK in order for them to be picked up by the largest share of the press. Indeed, the issue with the tabloid stories was not resolved until close to the end of the project, when the deputy editor of the World Weekly News brought in, unknowingly to him), to assist.
In April 1978 the results of KNIGHTWATCH were presented to a closed session of the recently formed Senate Inteligence Overwatch Committee. After explaining the outline of the operation, the committee gave authorisation for the plan, now named OPERATION KNIGHTFALL, to begin.

At first, nothing appeared to happen. A few stories appeared in the European press, nothing serious, but with enough hints. Even so, a few of the broadsheets covered the coverage as it were.
Soon stories began appearing in the British press of tip offs regarding junior ministers or diplomats who had been seen with Soviets, either in Britain or abroad, and in one case, a suitably grainy photograph of what appeared to be a junior diplomat in Austria handing an envelope to another person claimed to be a Soviet spy. At first it was played down by the government with either "No comment" and later, after a suitably deniable briefing where it was alleged that the person in question was in fact an intelligence officer speaking to one of their agents, this was expanded to "We do not discuss ongoing intelligence operations".
This did not stop a rising star in the Conservative party, a recently elected former Royal Navy Captain, Peter Singlewood, using parliamentary priviledge, to not only state that this was incorrect, but to accuse the Government and the Intelligence service of being riddled with Soviet spies. This led to a period of ridicule for Singlewood, who had to fight off an effort to deselect him from within his local party shortly afterwards.

It was the satirical magazine, Private Eye that began looking at the coverage in depth through journalist Paul Foot, nephew of the Government minister, Micheal Foot. The investigation soon discovered the source of the articles, however rather than just going straight ahead and publishing, Foot also looked into the facts of the stories and began to discover an alarming series of coincidences that gave them significant credence. Private Eye gave no hint of what it had and what was coming until, after nearly a year of investigation, the full expose was published in April 1979, just a month before the General Election. Within a week, both the Times and the Express ran their own stories, largely cribbed from the Eye, (something settled out of court in 1982 giving the Eye a significant financial boost), letting the who affair explode into the public eye.

The effect on the results of the general election were not as dramatic as certain parties, foreign and domestic, had hoped, however it left Moscow in a blind panic. Would this be the cause beli that the Americans would use to declare war on them? More damagingly, would they look to halt grain shipments or block oil sales through OPEC? While there was no overt action, the KGB began making plans to extract the more useful agents, and decide which could be sacrificed, and oficers in place in various places around the world were given orders, akin to those that would have been issued in the event of war, to look at tying up "loose ends". In terms of the effect on the British election, while Labour were still the largest party, they could not command a majority, even if they could secure a coalition with the Scottish National Party and the small handful of independents in the house. At the same time, neither could the Conservative Party command a majority on their own or with a coalition after the Liberal Party refused point blank to support them. The labour party still had a majority over the Conservatives of 6 MPs, and so, after coalition talks broke down, Harold Wilson travelled to the Palace and began a minority government.

Seeing the expose of the Soviet penetration as a vindication of his views, Singlewood again went on the attack, suggesting this time that if agents of the Soviets could be unmasked, then the death penalty be applied to those "convicted of treachery, let them hang and no man should feel fear or remose for doing so". This time, his vitriol found fertile ground, and soon found himself, while not elevated to the Front Benches, a popular figure with the right wing of the party and with certain elements of the press. It is alleged that the, at least temporary softening of his rhetoric, (from "hang them" to "they should face the full weight of justice"), was a direct result of meetings with members of the 1922 comittee, which later resulted in his promotion to the front benches as Shadow Minister of Defence, a senior role for a comparatively junior member of parliament. However, it was the party leader at the time, Margaret Thatcher that seemed to keep Singlewood under control, for a given value of control, as he was used again and again as the leader's attack dog.

It was in this setting that the follow up piece by Paul Foot was published, and immediately hit with a Defence Advisory Notice by Wilson's government. It was in here that Foot revealed that up to 63 people within the government, civil service, military and civil service were suspected by the CIA of being Soviet spies. No names were mentioned, but enough was present that those that actually were Soviet Agents knew they had been made. Private Eye, unusually, respected the D notice, for this article, however, made a point of publishing the edition with the column space that should have been taken up with the article, replaced with a single type written letter D surrounded by a sea of blank news print.

Within hours, questions were raised in the House of Commons, Shadow Home Secretary William Whitelaw, Shadow Defence Minister Peter Singlewood, and Back bench MP Airey Neave asked a series of very pointed questions, with Neave asking: "Since the Prime Minister issued his previous Defence Advisory notice in 1965, and failed to provide the House with a satisfactory explanation, will he end that habit, and explain why this magazine article regarding the rather shocking alleged penetration of our government, has been censored? Surely, were it false, a libel suit would be appropriate, and if not, then the honourable member opposite may find he has a number of very serious questions to answer in front of some very serious men".
The following morning, the Private Eye article ran in full in the Times, and within a day, republished around the world.

The fuse had been lit.

[Dan]

Another quick update:

The fall out from the Private Eye article was almost immediate.
Questions to the House asking how this had come to pass? Did the Prime Minister know who these men were? How long had the Soviets been at the heart of British Government?
The questions that appeared in the press, and worse, in the Letters columns of the press were far, far worse. The more reasoned tone suggested that "a thorough review should commence and a jolly good rethink of our security" should take place, while at the other end of the scale, where it was suspected that the writers were only one step away from being banned from using anything more pointed than a crayon, screams of War, Treason and death to all spies came thick and fast, including some agitating that a state of war should exist between Britain and Russia for this flagrant violation of British sovereignty.

This could not have happened at a worse time. Britain was involved in a trade dispute with Iceland over fishing rights, the so called "Cod Wars". Three years previously, Iceland had threatened to leave NATO should a 200 nautical mile economic zone not be declared around Iceland. Although a compromise agreement had been made between Britain and Iceland at 150nm, Icelandic politicians continued to lobby for the full 200nm and British vessels were routinely harassed by Icelandic boats, or ordered to leave the area under threat of arrest by Icelandic Fisheries protection boats. Repeated draw downs of Britain's armed forces had left the Royal Navy with no big gun battleships, only one aircraft carrier whose capabilities were dated, 3 nuclear Submarines, two of which were in port in Fastlane, for services and repairs to critical systems and a fleet of anti-submarine destroyers and coastal defence boats.
It was during one such confrontation that, responding to reports of a British Fishing Trawler in distress, HMS Kent, the last of three County Class Destroyers steamed into the situation. The official report stated that upon contacting the Trawler, the Kent was advised that the Icelandic vessel was operating outside of the 150nm limit. A quick Navigational check appeared to confirm this, and after hailing the Icelandic vessel, (the virtually brand new ICGV Týr), and receiving no response, the Captain ordered that a shot be fired across the bows of the Icelandic vessel. The Icelandic vessel then appeared to line up the Kent to make a simulated ramming attack on the British boat before turning away and withdrawing. During this action, the fishing trawler Bonnie Lass was lost, however her crew were recovered. Some damage was suffered by HMS Kent to her screws after Icelandic vessels let their nets deliberately drift into our course

This narrative may have been accepted at home, were it not for a film crew on board a Norwegian trawler filming a documentary. The Norewegian captain advised the film crew they were going to offer assistance, and being much closer than the Kent, were less than half a mile away from the action, arriving after the Icelandic boat, and before the Royal Navy boat.

The sound engineer stayed close to the radio room and took a recording of the conversation that took place prior to their arrival on station.

[0915HRSz]
[Bonnie Lass] Mayday! Mayday! This is Bonnie Lass out of Aberdeen reporting the loss of our engine. We are taking on water and are declaring an emergency. Over"
[Godmundsdottir] "Bonnie Lass, Bonnie Lass, this is FV Godmundsdottir, we have advised the coastguard, they have a vessel on the way. Do you need any assistance clearing the water? Over"
[BL]"Godmunds Daughter, Godmunds Daughter, this is Bonnie Lass, That's negative at the moment, we have the hand pumps going, give the boys some exercise, but we should be OK until we get the engines going again. Over"
[Gd] "Understood Bonnie Lass, let us know if this changes. Over"
[BL] "Will do, Bonnie Lass Out"
[0958HRSz]
[Týr] "Attention Bonnie Lass, this is Icelandic Coast Guard Vessel Týr, do you still have an emergency situation? Do you still require assistance? Over"
[BL] "Hello Coast Guard Tire, we still have an emergency situation, looks like our Engine is down. Over"
[Týr] "Understood Bonnie Lass, we can take you under tow to Vik for repairs if required, our ETA to you is 1 hour and 11 minutes. If you require eveacuation, we can have a helicopter to you in 30 minutes. Over"
[BL] "Roger that tire, we will advise"
[1057HRSz]
[Týr] "Hello Bonnie Lass, this is ICGV Týr, we have a visual on you now, what is your suitation? Over"
[BL] "Hello Týr, we have kept the bilges under control, however our engine is out of action over, can you provide assistance to land? Over"
[Týr] "That's afir(broadcast interrupted by 11 seconds of static and electronic squall), Hello Bonnie Lass, did you copy our last? Over"
[BL] "Hello Týr, negative, ple(broadcast interrupted by a further 11 seconds of static).
(short pauses, approximately 30-45 seconds between static bursts)
[Týr] "Hello Kent, Hello Kent, this is ICGV Týr, please advise your intentions in Icelandic waters? Over"
[Týr] "Hello Kent, Hello Kent, please respond, this is the ICGV Týr and you are in Iceland... HMS Kent, HMS Kent cease fire immediately, we are in Iclenadic waters responding to a mayday call, cease fire, cease fire"!
[BL] "HMS Kent, this is Bonnie Lass, what the bloody hell are you playing at you prize bampots? We have taken damage from your shelling, stop bloody shooting you fucking morons"
[Týr] "Hello Kent, Hello Kent, please change course, you are on a collision course. We are assisting Bonnie Lass with a mayday situation, please acknowledge"
[Týr] "Hello Kent, please acknowl(15 seconds of static).
[BL] "Hello Týr, please be advised, we have taken on water and are preparing to abandon ship, we've had to cut our nets, but it looks like the current is taking them towards you, advice change course to port. Launching flares, maybe that will get the idiot's attention. Over"
[Týr] "Understood Bonnie Lass, we will adjust course and maintain station in case we're needed. Good luck and God speed Bonnie Lass, Over".
[BL] "Thanks Týr, good luck to you too, Bonnie Lass Out"

On deck, the camera man and presenter, watched in amazement as the Royal Navy ship fired it's guns at the Icelandic ship, with shells landing in the water, the first salvo landing near the fishing vessel and the second barely overshooting the Icelandic Coastal Vessel. The Icelandic ship attempted to continue it's course to the fishing vessel, however, after a few minutes, peeled off before the British ship, manouvered between the fishing vessel and the Icelandic boat shortly after the fishing trawler had fired a distress flare, the wash of the warship, proving the final strw and forcing the crew, already wearing survival suits, into the sea.
This footage, along with the recorded radio messages went world wide, being seen as far away as Australia, and commented as a damning indictment of the fall of the Royal Navy and Britain's decline as a world power.

Coincidentally, not long after this, In July 1979, the first defections began.

[James G]

Very good series of events leading up to a major crash.
I like the D-Notice issue with Private Eye: reminds me of The State of Play.
Finally, finally, the UK has woken up. It hasn't gone perfect and the world isn't all rosy either.
I like it.