The Big Breach - Index of

The Big Breach; From Top Secret to Maximum SecurityCompliments of http://www.192.com`No, no, it's OK,' STEENBOX casually replied. `They're friends of mineand they already know that you are Kenneth's successor.'There was clearly no point in pretending to Whitehall officials thatinformation from STEENBOX was CX, as it was being passed to me with theblessing of the VIth army command. They were just using her and me as adirect route to disseminate their propaganda into Whitehall. I sent aseries of telegrams to String Vest arguing my case, but he would havenone of it.`We are convinced that STEENBOX is reporting without the knowledge andapproval of her superiors,' String Vest wrote in one telegram, withoutsubstantiating his position with evidence, `and her information isvaluable CX.' String Vest's intransigence was due to new obligations hewas under as the P officer for the Balkans. A year earlier, underpressure from the Treasury, MI6 had admitted a team of specially vettedmanagement consultants to look at productivity. They treated CX andagents as widgets and introduced an `internal market' system. P4 wasgiven targets for how much CX his section had to produce per month andhow many agents it had to cultivate and recruit per quarter. In thelast six months of 1993, he had to have CX-producing agents in theSerb, Croat and Muslim factions of Bosnia, and one under cultivation ineach. If STEENBOX was written off through my argument, then he would bebehind on this target. Rather than do that, he preferred to distributeher propaganda as CX.String Vest was equally adamant that I should attempt to recruit JohnVucic, a young Australian-Croat who was working in the headquarters ofthe Bosnian-Croat faction in the town of Posusje. Vucic was a 26-yearoldsecond-generation Croat accountant from Sydney, who worked as aclerk in the headquarters. Vucic had good access and would be a usefulsource if he could be recruited. String Vest was adamant that I shouldtry. `As an Australian national, you should play on his Anglophilianinterest in cricket to pursue a recruitment,' he wrote in one telegram.String Vest ignored my protests that Vucic was more extreme than Attilathe Hun, resolutely defending human rights abuses by his belovedCroatian people. String Vest was blatantly ignoring my judgement as theofficer on the ground so as to satisfy targets imposed by facelessmanagement consultants.`Slow down a bit, Tosh,' I urged. `Baz'll be effin' and blindin' atyou, trying to keep up on these roads.' Tosh lifted off slightly, but Iknew that I'd have to remind him again ten minutes later. The heavilyladen comms-wagon with its underpowered diesel engine struggled at thebest of times to keep up with the powerful V8 Discovery, but with theimpetuous Tosh at the wheel Baz and Jon's job would be harder. We werehurrying into Sarajevo with a busy few days ahead of us. I'd beenunable to get into the city for the past ten days through a combinationof circumstances. The Serb besiegers had shut down completely thesporadically open land route into the city after a tizz with the FrenchUNPROFOR contingent; then the airfield had been shut through heavy fog,and when that lifted, the Hercules that I was about to board at Splitwent unserviceable on the runway.DONNE was long overdue for a debrief and String Vest had been sendingincreasingly irate telegrams of complaint. Also, two senior FCOpage- 119 - To purchase the original limited edition hardback version of this bookplease call 08000 192 192 or go to http://www.192.com