Molehunt: Searching for Spies in Mi5 - Hardcover

West, Nigel

3.71

17 ratings by Goodreads

9780688076535: Molehunt: Searching for Spies in Mi5

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 068807653X ISBN 13: 9780688076535

Publisher: William Morrow & Co, 1989

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An intelligence expert probes the involvement of British intelligence agents in spy rings, questioning the activities of top officials and describing the plots, molehunts, and cover-ups surrounding their deeds

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From Publishers Weekly:

The concept of the deep-cover agent with seemingly impeccable credentials was, according to West, almost unknown in England until the Burgess-MacLean-Philby defections rocked the British establishment, virtually paralyzing its counterintelligence apparatus, and leading to internal-security investigations of previously unthinkable suspects. In this densely packed, clarifying study, the author traces the course of the great "molehunt" that lasted several years and reached its apparent climax in the highly publicized suspicion that Sir Roger Hollis, director of the British Security Service from 1956 to '65, was a Soviet agent. He agrees with the prevailing view that, of Hollis and his deputy, Graham Mitchell, "one was certainly a traitor." In his detailed review of the evidence, West ( The Sigint Secrets ) all but proves that Hollis, though perhaps incompetent, was innocent of treason. Although less surehanded in his exploration of the evidence against Mitchell, he nevertheless exposes the remarkable series of setbacks that occurred under Mitchell's tenure as a deputy-director of M15 and his attempts to gloss over them. Photos.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal:

Spy buffs are fascinated by the possiblity that the highest-ranking traitor within British intelligence has never been identified. All the suspects are now dead, but books such as this still top England's best-seller lists. First published in 1987, this revised U.S. edition details the decades-long hunt begun after the flight of Burgess and Maclean in 1951. Peter Wright's Spycatcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer (Viking, 1987) suggested that MI5 head Roger Hollis was the top Soviet mole. John Costello's Mask of Treachery ( LJ 12/1/88) nominated Guy Liddell. The author, an espionage historian, makes a case for Graham Mitchell, Hollis's deputy. This range of candidates reflects the shaky, circumstantial basis for each theory. This book is intriguing, nonetheless, and is suitable for larger espionage collections.
- Gregor A. Preston, Univ. of California Lib., Davis
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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