The Big Breach - Index of

The Big Breach; From Top Secret to Maximum SecurityCompliments of http://www.192.comusually spends a few months on attachment to the relevant P desk andmight even do the job full-time for a year or so. He will read indetail the files of all the station agents - CX agents, OCP keepers,liaison officers, facilities agents - and will learn the administrativebackground of the station - its budget, its targets for the year ahead,the CX requirements. He will meet the relevant desk officers in the FCOto get up to speed with the political situation in the country andusually takes advanced FCO courses in politics and economics. Theresult is that he is already thoroughly familiar with the station'swork and the host country before he even packs his bags.Shortly before leaving for the station, the officer also undertakes`refresher' training down at the Fort. The course consists of furthertradecraft instruction, especially in anti-surveillance; moreinstruction in photography; and a brush-up in small-arms and selfdefencetraining. There is also a course in defensive drivingtechniques given by Royal Military Police instructors on the runway ofthe HMS Daedalus naval airfield near the Fort, encompassing fastdrivingtechniques such as hand-brake turns and J-turns. (Hire cars,rather than the Fort's pool cars are used, because it is not unheard offor over-enthusiastic novices to rip tyres off them or even overturnthem.) Officer's spouses are also invited to attend a week-long courseat the Fort, as it is useful to have a trained second pair of eyesduring anti-surveillance runs. The course also allows partners tounderstand the profession better - the divorce rate in MI6 is highbecause of the demanding and secretive work.For some postings, even more specialised training is required. Forexample, Andrew Markham, my IONEC colleague, was selected for theORCADA slot in Bonn. This was a deep cover job, running MI6's mostimportant agent in Germany, a high-ranking official in the ministry offinance. In return for a substantial salary, ORCADA provided five-starCX on the German economy and interest rate movements, enabling theChanceller of the Exchequer and the Governor of the Bank of England toadjust Britain's interest rates and economy to best advantage. TheORCADA posting was so sensitive that only the ambassador in Bonn andH/BON were briefed and no one else in the embassy was even aware thatMarkham was from the `friends' (FCO-speak for MI6). Markham thus had tolearn to become a thoroughly convincing diplomat to fool his FCOcolleagues, so he attended the FCO pre-posting training courses inaddition to all his MI6 courses, and in order to debrief ORCADAeffectively he also attended advanced lectures at the London School ofEconomics and did an extended attachment with the Treasury.It was thus highly unusual when Fowlecrooke told me that he would giveme only two weeks to prepare for the posting in Bosnia. There would beno time for any language instruction or any of the normal courses. Itwas just enough time to read the station files, have a couple ofmeetings with String Vest and take a one-day refresher course on theBrowning down at the Fort.String Vest explained that my cover was not in the usual diplomaticslot in an embassy, the scenario for which we trained on the IONEC, butas the mysteriously entitled `civil adviser' to Brigadier John Reith,the commander of the British UNPROFOR contribution in Split on theDalmatian coast. It was a flimsy, ill-considered cover-story whichfooled nobody. As I was to find out, every one of my contacts in Bosniapage- 110 - To purchase the original limited edition hardback version of this bookplease call 08000 192 192 or go to http://www.192.com