MI6 and the Machinery of Spying: Structure and Process in Britain's Secret Intelligence

by Davies; Philip H.J.

• ISBN13: 9780714683638
• ISBN10: 0714683639
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2004-12-02
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

MI6 and the Machinery of Spyingtraces the development of the agency's internal structure from its inception until the end of the Cold War. The analysis examines how its management structure has been driven by its operational environment on the one hand and its position within the machinery of British central government on the other. Close attention is paid to the agency's institutional links to its consumers in Whitehall and Downing Street, as well as to the causes and consequences of its operational organization and provisions for counter-espionage and security. The book presents a detailed response to assertions that the SIS was historically chronically mismanaged and badly organized, and to claims that it is unaccountable to political and public oversight. It also argues that where SIS activities have resulted in public disasters and scandals the reason has usually been less its lack of accountability and control than the very high degree of control and direction exercised by opportunisticpoliticians and the senior Civil Servants.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
Origins and the First World War, 1903-18	p. 26
The inter-war years, 1919-39	p. 56
War without and within, 1939-45	p. 98
A new kind of war, 1946-56	p. 175
To the end of the Cold War and after, 1956-95	p. 251
Machineries of government and intelligence	p. 318
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.