The Circus: Mi5 Operations, 1945-1972 [Paperback]

Nigel West (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Select Magazines (September 1984)
• ISBN-10: 0812880714
• ISBN-13: 978-0812880717
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #613,298 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born in Lambeth, Nigel West was educated at a Roman Catholic monastery and London University. While still a student he worked as a researcher for the authors Ronald Seth and Richard Deacon, who both specialised in security and intelligence issues.

In 1977 Nigel joined BBC TV's General Features Department to make television documentaries, and he worked on the SPY! and ESCAPE! series. His first book, written with Richard Deacon, was based on the first series and was entitled SPY! Thereafter he was commissioned to write a wartime history of the Security Service, MI5, which was published in 1981, and since then he has averaged one book of non-fiction a year, including The Secret War for the Falklands released in January 1997.

He has concentrated on security and intelligence issues and his controversial books invariably hit the headlines. He was injuncted by the Attorney-General in 1982 and was served a Public Interest Immunity Certificate signed by the Home Secretary in 1987. He was voted 'The Experts' Expert' by a panel of other spy writers in the Observer in November 1989 and The Sunday Times has commented:

'His information is so precise that many people believe he is the unofficial historian of the secret services. West's sources are undoubtedly excellent. His books are peppered with deliberate clues to potential front-page stories.'

Nigel West often speaks at intelligence seminars and has lectured at both the KGB headquarters in Dzerzhinsky Square and at the CIA headquarters in Langley. He is now a member of the faculty at the Centre for Counterintelligence & Security Studies in Washington DC (www.cicentre.com).

His greatest coup was tracking down the wartime double agent GARBO, who was reported to have died in Africa in 1949. In fact West traced him to Venezuela, and they collaborated on GARBO, published in 1985. He was also the first person to identify and interview the mistress of Admiral Canaris, the German intelligence chief, and he was responsible for the exposure of Leo Long and Edward Scott as Soviet spies.

His recent titles include Crown Jewels, based on files made available to him by the KGB archives in Moscow; VENONA, which disclosed the existence of a GRU spy-ring operating in London throughout the war, headed by Professor J B S Haldane and the Hon. Ivor Montagu: and The Third Secret, an account of the CIA's intervention in Afghanistan. In Mortal Crimes, published in September 2004, investigates the scale of soviet espionage in the Manhattan Project, the Anglo-American development of an atomic bomb.

In 2005 he edited The Guy Liddell Diaries, a daily journal of the wartime work of MI5's Director of Counter-Espionage. He also published a study of the Comintern's secret wireless traffic, MASK: MI5's Penetration of the Communist Party of Great Britain, and a counter-intelligence textbook, The Historical Dictionary of British Intelligence.

He has lectured at the Smithsonian institute in Washington DC, speaks regularly for Hilton Special Events, on the QE2 and QM2, and for Seabourn, Regent Crystal Cruises. His topics include: GARBO: The Spy Who Saved D-Day; VENONA: The Greatest Secret of the Cold War; The Cambridge Five: The True Story of Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean, Kim Philby. Anthony Blunt and John Cairncross; Double Agents of World War II; The History of the British Secret Intelligence Service; James Bond: The Fact and fiction of 007; Combatting Terrorism: How the IRA were beaten in Northern Ireland; Enigma: Bletchley Park and the Codebreakers; Molehunt: The Search for Soviet Spies.

In 2003 Nigel West was awarded the US Association of Former Intelligence Officers' first Lifetime Literature Achievement Award.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An intriguing survey of the spying landscape of the period, May 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Circus: MI-5 operations 1945-1972 (Hardcover)

Just like the title implies, Mr. West paints a sometimes comical, sometimes tragic portrayal of the circus-like "intelligence" blunders of the British Mi5 operations of the post-WWII period. There are three most interesting thoughts brought forth. One is the sheer quantity of cases of betrayal. In a practical sense, one may then wonder whether active espionage is worthwhile at all, since it appears to become a means of facilitating espionage against the nation engaged in active espionage in the first place. Secondly, one can picture the agonizing and miserably twisted lives that the individuals involved lead - something that only LeCarre's purported 'fictional' accounts can do justice. Espionage, counter-espionage, secrecy, years of covert operations, etc.; all these are foreign and seem to run counter to the most basic and endemic of human traits. Lastly, perhaps the most contradictory aspects of the whole spying business: the question of "what the real truth is". Is "Agent X" really a double agent, sanctioned by the head of F-branch, but because of the extreme secrecy required, not even the head of Mi5 has knowledge of the operation (or so it is thought). More importantly, does the other side know the real story, and are they feeding "Agent X" useless information and what information is our agent feeding his other side's counterpart ... but on a more important note, is the head of Mi5 a sleeper mole from the other side??!! Superposed on this logical absurdity, is the fact that as soon as the service finds out whether an agent has homosexual proclivities the truth becomes crystal clear ... of course ...

An interesting and eye-opening book - a good survey of the espionage landscape which should prompt the reader to seek out other books on some of the many cases discussed in "The Circus." I am disappointed in Mr. West from the point of view he did not delve deeper in the details and background of the cases. Perhaps he may regale us with more of his insights (if he is still alive!)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Brief History of MI5, June 30, 2005

By 

Acute Observer (By the Shore NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Circus: Mi5 Operations, 1945-1972 (Paperback)

This book has a history of MI5 from 1945 to 1973. MI5 is the secret agency that handles counter-espionage in British territories. MI6 handles espionage or "intelligence" in foreign countries. Chapter 1 tells about their operations in the last year of WW II. The Labor government, remembering the Zinoviev Letter, put a regular policeman in charge. Chapter 2 tells how an "autobiography" can be created and published for political purposes. And how decryption of Soviet messages pointed to spies, but this decryption had to be kept secret. New security checks were started for civil servants, and improved. The policy of American anti-imperialism in the 1950s annoyed the British. Chapter 3 tells how the defection of the Petrovs was used for advantage in the national election (p.89). Success came from secret wiretaps on Soviet cables. Pages 106-7 tell how information from Washington got a conviction in Britain! One of the greatest sources of information came from a KGB defector who identified MI6 traitors (Chapter 5). While MI5 had run the successful double-cross system against Germany, it was less successful against the Soviets. Did the KGB have agents there?

Chapter 6 tells how MI5 used Stephen Ward to supply girls, then abandoned him when he outlived his usefulness. This caused the Profumo Scandal and the fall of the MacMillan government. [Was there more to this story than given here?] The effects of other Soviet defectors are explained in Chapter 7. The KGB could reveal a spy when it suited their purposes. The leak about a defector was assumed to come from the KGB; but in fact it came from the CIA (p.189)! The hunt of Soviet moles is continued in Chapter 8. Better background investigations could have eliminated the spies. The unsuccessful search for a Soviet mole caused problems for MI5. In Chapter 9 new officials continued the hunt for a suspected traitor, going back to World War I when there was a large number of new people after the Bolshevik Revolution. One retired MI6 officer sold information to the Abwehr in the 1930s (p.229). Suspicion fell on a retired Deputy Director General, but no proof was found. There is the curious case where the KGB kidnapped a Soviet physicist in Britain (pp.269-270). One example of recruitment through blackmail is on page 271. The defection of Soviet military officers in 1968 was followed by the suicides of West German military officers (pp.273-274). Did Lord Mountbatten plan a coup d'etat against the Wilson government (p.286)?

Chapter 10 ends this story, explaining the decisions in appointing a new Director-General of MI5 (p.297). The 'D' branch found most of its spies from defector's stories, few from their investigations. {How does this compare to other services?] There were two types of spies. Those who were ideologically motivated had researchable connections. Opportunists for money are harder to find. The author contrasts Britain to the United States (pp.306-307). Other Western intelligence agencies had self-destructive mole hunts (p.309), but MI5 was reluctant to admit the possibility of a problem. A bureaucratic institution will hide its problems. The KGB are masters at decoy and deception to protect their valuable agents (pp.310-311). Will we see an updated version?