21. The Cambridge Spies

The Cambridge Spies

(This entry is a summary of a talk given on July 8, 2010by Nigel West on board Queen Mary 2, headed from New York to Southhampton, UK. Disclaimer: Any errors or omissions in the following are totally my own and should not be attributed to Nigel West.)

Kim Philby was born 1908 in India. He joined the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) in 1941. In time he was posted to Istanbul, and, in 1949, to Washington, DC. His cover was blown by Anthony Burgess and Donald Maclean. These three, plus John Cairncross and Anthony Blunt comprised what became known as “The Cambridge Five.”

Philby came under suspicion in November, 1951 with the disappearance of Burgess and Maclean, and serious suspicion in 1953, so serious that he defected to the Soviet Union. He died in 1959.

Philby was not recruited at Cambridge University. He was the son of a famous father, the Arabist, explorer, and author, with whom he enjoyed cordial, if distant relations. It was his father who gave him the nickname Kim, alluding to the Kipling story. St John Philby was rumored to have gone in for spying himself. He did resign from government service in 1924 as a protest against pro-Zionist policy, renounced his status as a British subject, and lived as an Arab. Some authors list him incorrectly as Sir John Philby, mistaking his name St. John (pronounced in British English as Senjen) for Sir John.

Philby was a brilliant young man who soon came into huge responsibilities. His father, St. John, married an Indian woman, so Philby was of mixed race, a factor that ultimately had a strong effect on him. Given the British class system there is no way he would have been able to rise to the top of that system. Philby could never have risen to head MI-5 because of his Indian ancestry, his communist leanings, and his wife who was an alcoholic. Further, he had a painful stutter (which oddly, seemed to make him attractive to women.)

He attended Trinity College at Cambridge. He joined the Socialist Party. After graduation he went to Vienna, and then returned to the UK. He became enamored with the Communist Party of the UK (CPUK), but was turned down by the Party. He was able to get in touch with a Soviet agent who was able to get him into the Party later.
An NKVD agent, Otto Deutsch, recruited Philby “in the name of world peace.” Deutsch was an illegal resident in London. By the way, he was a neighbor of Agatha Christie.

Deutsch was a psychologist and wrote profiles of targets for recruitment. He knew very well how to appeal to each target for recruitment. Further, he tried to guide the careers of his recruits in specific directions. He developed a strong relationship with Philby. Philby, in turn, became a talent spotter, and Guy Burgess was one who Philby recommended. Anthony Blunt was also recruited by Philby, as was Donald Maclean. Blunt was also a talent spotter and recruited John Cairncross, a brilliant young Scot.

The NKVD had a path for Philby. They needed him in Spain as a free-lance journalist. Actually, the NKVD wanted to assassinate Franco. That never came off, and Philby never knew of the plot. In Spain, Philby began to contribute to the London Times. Eventually he was made a correspondent.

At the end of the Spanish Civil War, Philby returned to the UK. In WWII he was sent to France by the government, and had access to classified material.
Under Stalin, a paranoid dictator, huge purges of anyone who might challenge him were carried out. NKVD agents were recalled to Moscow and most of them were executed. Philby discussed this with Deutsch’s replacement who revealed that he too was being recalled. That he was willing to go, even in the face of probable death, impressed Philby.

Philby urged to join the government in cyber service. He was sent to the Government Code and Cypher School (GCCS) for an interview. The Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) is a British intelligence agency responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance to the UK government and armed forces. Based in Cheltenham, it operates under the guidance of the Joint Intelligence Committee. However, GCCS would not offer Philby a job since he was “so qualified.” He finally got a job teaching Spanish refugees how to do propaganda. He had no stutter at all when speaking Spanish. Finally in 1941 he got an offer to join the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS).

The British Radio Security Service collected an enormous amount of German traffic, and easily broke the hand cipher they were using. This made it easier to read the corresponding machine ciphers. Most were about German agent movement in Europe. Section V was created as a signals intelligence organization. Philby got this job (in the Siberian section) V-D. He worked very hard and had a natural talent. He was promoted to head a new section – the anti-Soviet section (IX).

In 1949 Philby was posted to Washington. He was briefed on BRIDE (which was the code name for Venona traffic.). BRIDE fingered Ted Hall (Los Alamos) and Klaus Fuchs (also Los Alamos) two people in the Manhattan Project.

Philby was at a huge disadvantage going to Washington. He was supposed to have an NKVD (illegal) contact but did not get one. As a result he had no chance to warn the NKVD about Venona. Anthony Burgess somehow didn’t get the message that this should be taken seriously. The Soviet’s denied having any knowledge of Venona.

No signal ever came to Philby. The new Rezident was a music professor, and lost all interest in continuing his work. In 1951 Philby got word that Venona would get Donald Maclean. Philby warned him, and he subsequently disappeared. Burgess went with him. This implicated Philby, and began to unravel the entire pattern of his life.