GCHQ

by Richard Aldrich

  Trades Union Congress (TUC) 416, 417, 419, 426, 427, 509

  Travis, Edward 27, 28, 36, 43, 48, 49, 53, 56, 60, 67–9, 69, 92, 94, 101, 121

  Trawlerman (DIS computer scheme) 527–8

  Trend, Burke 221, 240, 241, 242, 269–70, 288, 322–3, 354, 364

  Trevor-Roper, Hugh 221

  Tromsø 134

  Truman, Harry S. 73, 85, 91, 101, 108, 109, 116

  TRW Inc (telecoms company) 377

  Tryst operation (British Embassy intercepts in Moscow) 280–1

  ‘Tunny’ (German cypher machine) 28, 349

  Turing, Alan 2, 25, 27, 349, 492

  Turkey 52, 109, 131–2, 157, 268, 269, 299–319, 325–8, 330–1, 334, 338, 357, 423, 472; Air Force 312–13, 313; Army 315; Foreign Ministry 312–13

  Turkish People’s Liberation Army (TPLA) 300, 303–19

  Turkish People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) 300, 308–10, 312

  Turnbull, Andrew 524

  Turner, Charles 312–16, 318

  TUSLOG (US Logistics Organisation in Turkey) 302

  Tuxedo (British nuclear weapons stockpile in Cyprus) 163

  25 Mayo (Argentine aircraft carrier) 404

  Typex (UK cypher machine) 56, 98

  Tyuratam (Soviet Union) 306

  U-2 spy planes 142, 226, 292, 296, 332, 471

  UK-USA Technical Conference (1946) 95

  Ukraine 472, 533

  UKUSA (UK-USA signals intelligence agreements) 7, 213, 241, 273, 376, 577; combined comsec/sigint agencies 242; and deterioration of Anglo-US relationship 285; development of 89–95; and elint 111; existence of 1948 aagreement 577; and GCHQ 95–9, 222; and Hong Kong 152; and Israel 471; and Korea 99–101; and satellite collection 437–8; second-party members 444, 447; standardisation of equipment in 424; third-party members 209, 447, 452; and tightening of security 381; value of British Empire to 149

  Ultra (WWII decrypts) 1, 24, 26, 32–8, 41, 42, 43, 57, 59, 60, 62, 72–3, 113, 354, 362, 363

  Underwater Development Establishment 145

  Unit 8200 (Israel sigint agency) 470

  United Nations 66, 295, 336, 445–6, 472, 523–4; Monitoring, Inspection and Verification Commission 520; Protection Force 472; Security Council 517, 522; Security Council Resolution 1373 511–12; Special Commission (UNSCOM) 470–1

  United States; and Cold War espionage 8; Communications Intelligence Board 97, 152; cyphers worked on by GC&CS 17, 29; Department of Defense 295; Division of Scientific Intelligence 322; Europe Command 180; Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board 263; Information Service 305; National Photographic Intelligence Center 296; National Reconnaissance Office 449, 458; National Security Council 334; and proposed German-Mexican alliance 15; and UKUSA intelligence treaty 89

  University of Pennsylvania 426

  Unye (Turkey) 313, 316

  US Air Force 96, 101, 129, 152; 47th Radio Squadron 118; Griffiss Air Force Base (New York) 292; Johnson Air Force Base (North Carolina) 293; Security Service 118, 120, 301; Strategic Air Command 272

  US Army 39, 40, 42, 43, 44, 52, 74–5, 77, 91, 94, 99, 102, 336, 413, 474; Intelligence Support Activity 452; Marines 525; Security Agency 99, 152, 302, 345–6; Seventh Army Corps 467; Special Forces 249; US Army Air Force 110–11

  US Navy 39, 40, 42, 43, 75, 91, 97, 99, 143, 207; US Naval Intelligence 157; Radio Research Station Program 262; Security Group 115, 301; Sixth Fleet 323–4; USS Belmont 260; USS Cochino 112–17, 135; USS Georgetown 260; USS Jamestown 260; USS Liberty 260, 263–4; USS Muller 260; USS Oxford 260; USS Pueblo 260, 264; USS Stickleback 143; USS Tusk 114–15; USS Valdez 260, 605; USS Vincennes 408

  USM-49 (US sigint base in Turkey) 303

  Vampire (UK intercept unit) 474, 534

  ‘Vasiley’ (KGB officer) 232–4

  Vass, Sir Douglas 423

  Vassall, John 226, 238

  Vatican 52

  Venona project (intercepted Russian messages) 445–6; and Anglo-American collaboration 72, 78–80; and British Commonwealth 85–8; exploitation of reprinted pages 74–5; and exposure of agents 80–8; extreme secrecy of 73, 77–8; first code-breaks 75–6; and global sigint 90, 94, 98; and Manhattan Project 76; size and importance of 72–3; Soviets alerted to work on 73, 80–1

  Vernon, Mike 422, 423

  Viehoff (Germany) 50

  Vienna 169, 170–1, 172, 372, 373, 375, 376

  Vienna Summit (1961) 180

  Vietnam 153, 167, 168, 178, 203, 376, 446

  Vietnam War 123, 243, 252, 269, 271–2, 277, 279–80, 298, 356, 387

  Virgin 545

  Vladivostok 129

  Voice of Egypt (radio station) 156

  Wait, Dave 385–6

  Wal Bin Chang 153

  Waldegrave, William 429

  Walker, John 264, 377, 384, 447

  Walker, Walter 165, 166

  War Office 22

  War on Terror 533, 539–40

  Warsaw Pact 114, 244, 245, 247, 248, 251, 253, 257–8, 319, 321, 369, 402, 465

  Washington 7, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 47, 57, 64, 74, 77, 82, 83, 90, 92, 96, 97, 99, 101, 102, 111, 119, 121, 143, 151, 157, 203, 205, 212, 243, 253, 292, 325, 329, 335, 355–6, 381, 413

  Watchkeeper 450 drone 536

  Watergate House (London) 15–16

  Watergate scandal (1973) 4, 279, 288, 290, 293, 297, 298, 325–6, 356

  Wavendon Manor (radio station, Buckinghamshire) 49

  weapons of mass destruction (WMD) 516, 520, 523, 526, 528–31

  Weatherill, Bernard 459

  Weinberger, Casper 441

  Weisband, William 80–1, 169

  Welchman, Gordon 25, 26, 27, 43, 57, 61, 64, 65, 362–3, 364, 387

  Wenger, Joseph 42, 53, 79, 95, 243

  West Germany 345, 442, 447–9, 455–6

  West Irian 167

  West, Lord 544

  West, Nigel 88

  Western Union 240

  Whaddon Hall (Buckinghamshire) 23, 57, 181

  Wharfe, Ken 483

  White, Ray 501

  White, Sir Dick 142, 176, 181, 187, 225, 241–2, 243, 245, 246, 264, 285–6, 353, 354, 364, 453

  Whitelaw, Willie 404, 426, 427

  Wieck, George 214

  Wiesbaden (Germany) 158

  Wigg, George 227–8, 240

  Wilkes, Detective Sergeant 378

  Wilkinson, Peter 206

  Williams, Sir Anthony 392–3

  Wilson, Edmund 42, 54, 57, 68, 576

  Wilson, Harold 225; and Anglo-US relations 356–7; antagonism towards the press 239, 242; and Chevaline project 440; and Cyprus problem 325, 329; and Diego Garcia 338; fascinated and terrified by intelligence and espionage 3, 168, 226–7, 357; and Radcliffe Committee 239–40; and Skynet 438; and U-2 flights from Cyprus 295–6; and Vietnam War 277

  Wilson, Jim 292

  Wilson, Richard 527

  Winnifrith, John 418

  Winterbotham, Frederick 35, 354

  Wolfenden, Jack 383

  Woodward, Admiral Sandy 402–3, 407, 408, 410–11

  Wormwood Scrubs prison 238, 385–6

  Wreford-Brown, Christopher 404–5

  Wright, Georgina 317

  Wright, Peter 216, 223, 224, 267, 363, 492, 538, 587–8

  Wyllie, Sean 490

  Y services (armed forces listening units) 26–7, 33–5, 63, 68, 103, 111, 117, 411

  Yarallakos (Cyprus) 320, 328

  Yardley, Herbert O. 38

  Yemen 148, 163–4

  Yom Kippur War (1973) 277, 290–5, 320, 337, 387

  York, Duchess of 482

  Young, Courtney 86

  Yugoslavia 256, 257, 284, 471–5, 503, 512, 534

  Yunnan (China) 151

  ‘Yuri’ (KGB officer) 231–3

  ‘Zhora’ (Weisband’s code name) 80–1

  Zimmermann, Phil 490–1

  Zimmermann Telegram (1917) 15

  Zinnia (missile-detection system) 322–3

  Zinser, Aguilar 519–20

  Zionist movement 97, 109 />
  Zircon project (GCHQ sigint satellite) 415, 438, 442–3, 449–50, 458–61

  Acknowledgements

  On 9 December 1993 the Lord Chancellor, Lord Mackay of Clashfern, introduced the Intelligence Services Act in the House of Lords. He declared that the declassifying of hitherto highly secret documents on intelligence was part of the new accountability of the British intelligence services. Lord Mackay also emphasised that government had ‘released a number of previously withheld government records’ as an important component of the new commitment to openness – and planned to release more: ‘Things have moved on. The climate has changed. Greater openness has gained momentum.’ Initially, I greeted these words with profound scepticism. However, by the late 1990s it was clear that the authorities had been as good as their word. Remarkable historical materials were making their way to the National Archives at Kew, where they could be viewed by ordinary mortals. A number of Whitehall departments, most notably the Treasury under Gordon Brown, were very generous in releasing material on GCHQ. Overwhelmingly, the present study is based on this newly declassified material. Without this commendable shift towards openness and the generous new release of hitherto highly secret documents on GCHQ by many departments of state, this book would not have been possible.

  Because the work stretches back over more than a decade, I happily find myself in the debt of a wide array of individuals and institutions, and it is a pleasure to have the opportunity to offer my thanks here. For legal reasons I have chosen not to interview former British officials; however, I have occasionally spoken to ‘friends and allies’, and indeed ‘rivals’, overseas. The study has been compiled from open sources, and no classified material has been utilised. In a sense it is no more, and no less, than a summation of the documents about GCHQ that the various authorities have chosen to place in the public domain. Errors, of course, remain entirely my own, and given that I am writing about a secret agency from unsecret sources, there are likely to be more than a few. Those who wish to write to me with comments or corrections are most welcome, and I can be reached at r.j.aldrich@warwick.ac.uk or at the Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL.

  Many academic friends and colleagues have guided me to documents or commented on early findings. I would particularly like to thank David Alvarez, Peter Catterall, Philip Davies, Stephen Dorril, David Easter, David Edgerton, Geoffrey Elliott, Ralph Erskine, Rob Evans, John Ferris, M.R.D. Foot, Stevyn Gibson, Roy Giles, Michael Goodman, Chris Grey, David Hamer, Michael Handel, Michael Herman, Peter Jackson, Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones, Matthew Jones, Sheila Kerr, Paul Lashmar, Julian Lewis, W. Scott Lucas, Paul Maddrell, Sir David Omand, Martin Rudner, Len Scott, Mark Seaman, Michael Smith, David Stafford, Andy Sturdy, Stephen Twigge, Wesley K. Wark, Donald Cameron Watt and John W. Young. I am also fortunate to enjoy the company of a number of very talented research students and research fellows whose input has been invaluable.

  On a project such as this, the assistance of departmental record officers and official historians is especially important. I would like to thank the many individuals who have declassified material for me, allowed me sight of documents, or simply explained the meaning of documents to me. I would like to thank Christopher Simpson at the Attorney General’s Office; Alan Glennie, Brian Hogan and Shumailla Moinuddin at the Cabinet Office; Gill Bennett, Lynsey Hughes, Janet James, Penny Prior, Duncan Stewart, Stuart Taylor and Stephen Twigge at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office; Iain Goode, Simon Marsh and Steve Roper at the Ministry of Defence; Rosemary Banner, Ashley Britten, Darren Creamer, Francis Houston, Kate Jenkins and Sean Molloy at the Treasury; Patrick Driscoll at Treasury Solicitors. Ray Nolan at the Ministry of Defence needs to be singled out for a special mention, having tirelessly reviewed no fewer than 166 files for me. Tessa Stirling, the head of the Historians and Openness Unit at the Cabinet Office, has been notably generous with her time, allowing me to inspect additional material on site at the Cabinet Office.

  I have enjoyed kind assistance with my many queries from the GCHQ historians at Cheltenham, including the current incumbent and his immediate predecessor, whom I shall refer to here only as the mysterious ‘M’. For much of the duration of this project the GCHQ historian was the late Peter Freeman, who was always encouraging, and I regret he did not see its completion. Chris Wilson in the GCHQ press office has been helpful with more recent queries. The archivists of SIS and MI5 have also assisted at various points. David Hatch, the historian at NSA’s Center for Cryptologic History, has also been kind in answering questions.

  Armies of archivists and librarians – tireless in their efforts – have extended their kindness, and cannot all be named here. In Washington, I would like to mention Nicholas Scheetz at the Special Collections Center, the Lauinger Library at Georgetown University; and Lia Apodocia and Jeffrey M. Flannery at the Library of Congress together with Dane Hartgrove, Will Mahoney, Kathy McCastro, Ed Reese and the legendary late John E. Taylor at NARA. Above all it is the staff of the National Archives (Public Record Office), overworked and often confronted with an irascible researcher, but unfailingly courteous and helpful, who have facilitated this book. The University of Warwick has provided a friendly environment during the years over which this study was completed, and also hosts the wonderful Modern Records Centre, under the direction of Helen Ford, with its collection of GCHQ trade union materials. The Warwick Institute of Advanced Study provided a constant stream of visiting fellows and research colloquia with their fresh inspirations. I would like to thank the Director, Margot Finn, and her colleagues for all their kindness.

  Early research was begun under the auspices of a British Academy Large Grant in 2003 which funded lengthy trips to the United States, Australia and Canada. Lee, Al and Della offered a happy home in Rock Creek Park while I was working in Washington. University House at ANU was a wonderful home in Canberra, and the Canadian Association for the Study of Intelligence and Security has made each visit to Ottawa a joy. The American dimension was also made possible by an earlier American Studies Fellowship supported by the American Council of Learned Societies, the British American Studies Association and the Fulbright Programme. Most importantly, a year of study leave supported by the University of Warwick allowed the book’s completion.

  There are a few individuals to whom I owe a particularly heavy debt of gratitude. My literary agent, Andrew Lownie, deserves special thanks for his faith in this project and for his unique sense of timing. Richard Johnson, Martin Redfern and his colleagues at HarperCollins have been especially supportive and forbearing during a process that has taken longer than we had hoped. Robert Lacey, David Havilland and Barry Holmes have run an expert eye over advanced drafts. Matthew Aid, Christopher Andrew, Peter Hennessy and Cees Wiebes have offered crucial assistance and constant inspiration. Above all, I owe an enormous debt to my family for their encouragement over the years. My brother James cast his critical eye over the final draft. My children, Nicholas and Harriet, deserve special thanks for their wonderful musical distractions and theatrical diversions during the book’s progress. As ever my wife Libby offered boundless love, support and sound advice on a project that seemed to have no end.

  Richard J. Aldrich

  March 2010

  By the same author

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  Espionage, Security and Intelligence in Britain, 1945–70 (editor)

  Intelligence and the War Against Japan: Britain, America and the Politics of Secret Service

  The Clandestine Cold War in Asia, 1945–65 (editor, with G. Rawnsley and M.Y. Rawnsley)

  The Hidden Hand: Britain, America and Cold War Secret Intelligence

  Secret Intelligence: A Reader (with Christopher Andrew and Wesley K. Wark)

  Copyright

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  Copyright © Richard J. Aldrich 2010

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