Spies Throughout The Ages

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30829, 14 August 1965, Page 4

Spies Throughout The Ages

A History of Modern Espionage. By Allison Ind. Hodder and Stoughton 288 pp. In this exciting and enlightening book, Colonel Allison Ind discusses the vast and relatively unknown field of espionage. He brings to the subject the insight of the professional and a very readable style. In the first chapter, intelligence and counter-intelligence are defined—a difficult task, for the terminology is variable and contradictory, and the terms embrace all manner of activities, some of which are common to both intelligence (“the collection, evaluation and processing of information”) and counterintelligence (the protection of our own secrets.) It is interesting to note that over 90 per cent of all intelligence work is done quite openly by hundreds of specialists engaged in the dull routine of compiling a mass of information. The author points out the universality of espionage and

its roots in antiquity. Through the centuries the rise and fall of succeeding nations has had some relativity to their intelligence systems. He estimates that there may currently be as many as 300,000 Russian agents, of all types, in the U.S.A, it is dangerous and foolish to show naivete in the face of these facts. Such naivete was shown by Secretary of State Henry L. Stimson in 1929, when, on discovering that the United States had an efficient organisation for cipher cracking, dissolved it immediately in righteous indignation. Such behaviour, he believed, was underhand and ungentlemanly. Partly in consequence of this action, the United States was caught completely off guard in 1941. Since that day her intelligence apparatus has been born and has grown and matured with the startling rapidity necessary for national survival. The book deals with many fascinating aspects at espionage: ingenious and deadly

gadgets worthy of use by James Bond, complex network systems, methods of training agents, and secret “post-boxes,” among others. But above all, it is concerned with the human beings involved. Ultimately, it is in the motives and frailties and loyalties of a country’s agents that the key to success or failure lies. In general, spies may be classified in three groups. At the top are the tough professionals, trained for many years and absolutely reliable and resourceful; then there are the ideological converts, who have received a certain amount, of training but are liable to crack under tension; finally there are those who are recruited to betray their own country, vulnerable because of secret weaknesses or avarice or resentment against their own government. For the first type of spy, of whom Lonsdale was an example, Colonel Ind shows considerable respect. The last category is perhaps deplorable—although Colonel Ind does not presume to judge his fellow men. After all, both contenders in the cold war make use of such men and women. As the title indicates the book consists largely of thrilling stories of spies throughout the ages, from Gideon and Mithridates IV to Philby, from Madame de Pompadour to Vassall. Any country gains enormous benefits from having a spy in the right place at the right time—and the disaster of not having one there can be proportionately great. Colonel Ind, who speaks with unquestionable authority, states that if only the British had had a spy operating among the Turks at Gallipoli, they would have realised that one more day’s siege would probably have led to success. The author evaluates the scale and efficiency of the Russian system as very impressive indeed. But no estimate is provided of the West’s position in the Cold War. That is classified information.