Counter-Espionage By U.K. Embassy Men

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29972, 6 November 1962, Page 13

Counter-Espionage By U.K. Embassy Men

(A'.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

LONDON, November 4. British agents "planted” tn embassies abroad had fed false information to Moscow after allowing themselves to be recruited by Russian intelligence, the “Sunday Telegraph” said today. In several cases embassy employees who had reported Russian attempts to compromise or blackmail them had been used for counterespionage purposes. Senior British intelligence officers had known for some time that Russia had been seeking out men with possible homosexual tendencies. The Russians had been so well informed that they had some time known in advance the identity of possible recruits before they left Britain to take up posts behind the Iron Curtain. This information had been sent to Moscow by Russian agents in Britain.

George Blake, the double spy serving 42 years’ gaol, had given Moscow detailed lists of men likely to be sent abroad on diplomatic missions.

The Admiralty spy, William Vassal!, just starting an 18-year term, had been encouraged to find out as much as he could about the

drinking habits, sexual inclinations and political views of people likely to be sent abroad.

The “Daily Telegraph” said deliberate "plants” had been arranged in embassies abroad to obtain a more intimate knowledge of current Russian spying techniques. Some men who had reported Russian overtures had been flown back to Britain immediately without any recriminations but others had been used for counter-espionage.

The Labour Opposition on Friday made an all-out attack on the Government over the Admiralty spy case. Labour’s defence spokesman, Mr Patrick Gordon Walker, said the record of Vassal! ’»as “really hair-raising.” He told the House of Commons that he hoped the First Lord of the Admiralty (Lord Carrington) would resign if an inquiry found his department guilty of negligence.