Special Operator : The Rise and Fall of a Cut Price Spy

Eighteen years of electronic spying around the world - one man’s sometimes serious, sometimes light hearted view of ‘The Game’ commencing with his 1950s recruitment into the little known Y Service. The action leads us first of all to Hong Kong there to intercept the radio communications of Chinese Communist military units. Such covert employment was not all work and no play and details of some ‘off duty’ time enjoying the sights, sounds and other nefarious delights to be experienced in the Colony are touched upon. A complete change of climate takes the author and two colleagues to Berlin, during the Cold War the spy capital of the world. Once in situ they were to search the ether and report on Soviet and other eastern Bloc Diplomatic and Illegal radio transmissions. The procedures used by Soviet agents were different from the norm of radio traffic and for interest are described in detail. A brief encounter in a bar specifically for the use of the intelligence community in Berlin with one of, if not the most famous, spy of the 20th Century gives another insight into that twilight, secret world. After a most interesting and revealing two and a half years in Berlin the scene changes yet again to the Southern Hemisphere, this time on assignment to the Australian Defence Signals Bureau in Melbourne. Here the author was employed as an analyst of intercepted signals traffic supplied by a 'Third Party' on the island of Taiwan. The final overseas tour was to last four years, a full eighteen months longer than a normal overseas tour of duty in the RAF. This took place during 'Confrontation', the 1963 – 1966 so-called undeclared war between Indonesia and the newly formed state of Malaysia. Operational details of a mobile unit specially formed to cover this conflict and staffed by a number of Special Operators/Indonesian linguists are explained in some depth. Much of the time was spent living under canvas on the Malay Peninsular, in Borneo and in the New Territories of Hong Kong where Special Operators with a Chinese Language qualification were also employed. On returning to the UK in 1968 the author had the misfortune to find that he had a so far undetected Soviet Spy as a colleague. This traitor was subsequently unmasked, charged, tried and sentenced at the Old Bailey to 21 years in prison. As a result of this episode the author, who had been the line manager of this Spy suffered from the unwelcome attentions of the security services that were to lead to him having to leave the world of electronic espionage and eventually the RAF.

kelling5.0 out of 5 starsfor good measure, that could well have come from an ...3 January 2016Format: Kindle Edition|Verified PurchaseThis is a must read for those who have an interest in the secret world ofSIGINT ( Signals Intelligence ). Although books on the subject arealready in circulation,few if any cover the work of the SpecialOperators in such depth. Those were the people who were trained tointercept the raw signals traffic from which the intelligence was madeavailable to the security services ( MI5, MI6, ) the Government andMilitary Commanders. Chris Boyd knows his subject well and takes thereader on a roller coaster of a ride through the world of spies andspying,as seen and experienced through his own eyes. His story haselements in it of an Indiana Jones adventure,with splashes of humour,for good measure,that could well have come from an episode of the sitcom'It ain't Half Hot Mum'. More than anything though the book goes a longway in acknowledging the important role played by the Special Operatorsfrom all three services in protecting our country. Highly recommended.

5.0 out of 5 starsBRAVO Sir!12 May 2016Format: Kindle Edition|Verified PurchaseMy initial impressions, upon reading up to his arrival in Singapore.

Albeit self publishing, this book has given the author the opportunity to notonly record for posterity an important time in his life, but that ofpost war Britian. It's an historical record of not only the author'sexperience, but generally of those he also served with along hiscareer, he has lived and experienced these memories and they should beshared, this is the "Great" missing from Britian nowadays. The unsunghero's. This type of story usually only told to family members.

Plucked from a boy entrant, the vulnerablitiy of not knowing where his futurelay, wanting to experience the far distant places dangled in front ofhim upon enlisting in military service. One has to bear in mind the ageof the author at the outset and as his story progresses. I am enjoyingthoroughly and look forward to continuing my read.

4.0 out of 5 starsIt really was like that3 February 2016Format: Kindle Edition|Verified PurchaseThis book will be of interest to most people with a forces background(especially RAF), including the families who accompanied them on various postings abroad. The writer was a colleague and personal friend of myfather and his time in Hong Kong and Singapore evoked many memories,happy and otherwise. Working class men in 1950s HK were a long way fromhome with no skype or email to keep in quick touch with their families.Even phones were difficult. Consequently, the touching tale of Brummie's mother's bread and butter pudding, arriving in HK after several weeks'travel by ship, reminded me of my own family food parcels. The techiedetails would probably have earned the author some roubles during theCold War years, which brings me to the rather embittered tone of thefinal chapter. My "civilian" friends at the time generally did notbelieve the atmosphere of Big Brother control that affected even forces' children. If you are non-forces yourself, or if the name "DougBrittain" means nothing to you, you might find Chris Boyd's suspicionsthat his phone was tapped, even after he left the service, simply forhaving a German wife and appearing to have more worldly goods than hissalary would justify, hard to believe. You might dismiss his suspicionsas paranoia. I don't - as a very trivial example, my father's concernfor his career meant he banned me (aged 14) from writing to the ChineseLegation to demand my free copy of Chairman Mao's little red book.Another forces friend was advised never to tell her schoolfriends thather father was in Signals - "just say RAF, no more". Finally, ChrisBoyd's description of how he received his BEM, which should have been amatter of pride, shows the RAF of the Cold War years in a very poorlight indeed.

5.0 out of 5 starsBought this book so l would have more idea of ...9 November 2016Format: Paperback|Verified PurchaseBought this book so l would have more idea of the work my late husband work.Although a different era etc some of their reminiscences overlapped. Abig thank you for book version