The Big Breach - Index of

The Big Breach; From Top Secret to Maximum SecurityCompliments of http://www.192.comstaff are secretaries, clerks, guards, cooks, drivers, cleaners andmechanics.About half of the IB and most of the support staff are based in London.Their main task is to support those in the field, plan operations,liaise with foreign intelligence services and distribute intelligenceto decision-makers in Whitehall. MI6's intelligence `product' is knownas CX, an anachronism from the earliest days of MI6 when the Chief, `C'in popular fiction, was Mansfield Cummings. Then the service was sosecret that intelligence reports were not distributed outside MI6 andso were marked `Cummings Exclusively', abbreviated to CX. Intelligenceis worthless if it is not passed on to decision-makers, and nowadays CXreports are disseminated far more widely to `customers'. The FCO andthe MOD are the most important, but any government department canreceive CX if the material is relevant to them. Even some large Britishcompanies, such as British Aerospace, BP and British Airways, have MI6liaison officers who receive relevant CX.IB officers working in British embassies overseas under cover asdiplomats gather the majority of CX. These officers normally work in asmall, discreet cell within the embassy, known as the `station'. Thestation has its own highly secure communications with Head Office andonly MI6 staff are allowed access to its rooms. These rooms arefrequently swept for listening devices and in many stations there is aspecial `safe-speech' room where important meetings are held.There are about 50 stations around the world. The size of the stationreflects the importance of the host country to Britain's interests.Those in the spy capitals of the world - Geneva, Moscow, Vienna, NewYork and Hong Kong - may contain up to five IB, three or four GS andperhaps half a dozen secretaries. Most stations in Western Europe aretwo- or three-man stations, while third world stations usually consistof only one officer and a secretary. However there are exceptions.Jakarta, for example, has a three-man station because Indonesia is agood customer for Britain's weapons industry, and Lagos is a three-manstation by virtue of British interests in its oil industry. The head ofstation, usually a senior officer in his 40s working under cover as anFCO Counsellor, is normally `declared' to the secret service of thehost country, and much of his work is in liaison. The other officersare mostly `undeclared' and may spend part of their time spying againstthe host country.Certain stations exist primarily to spy against the host country -Moscow and Beijing, for example. Others do not spy against the host atall. Austria has no secrets of interest to Britain, but MI6 maintains alarge Vienna station to spy on the Iranian and Russian communities, thearms trade and the International Atomic Energy Agency which is based inthe outskirts of the city. Likewise, the New York station existsentirely to run agents in the United Nations.The stations are administered and serviced from Head Office in London.Each has its own `Production' or `P' officer who determines thestation's strategy and targets, oversees and plans operations, andadministers the budget. `Requirements' or `R' officers distribute theintelligence production to customers. These P and R officers areorganised in pyramidal structures into `controllerates', which haveeither a regional or functional focus.page- 37 - To purchase the original limited edition hardback version of this bookplease call 08000 192 192 or go to http://www.192.com