| Mask: MI5's Penetration of the Communist Party of Great Britain Contributor(s): West, Nigel (Author) |
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ISBN: 0415351456 ISBN-13: 9780415351454 Publisher: Routledge OUR PRICE: $161.50 Product Type: Hardcover Published: July 2005 Annotation: "MASK" is the codename for one of the most sensitive, long-term sources ever run by any British intelligence organization. It concealed the existence of a radio interception programme operated by the Government Code and Cipher School (GC&CS) which succeeded in monitoring, and reading, large quantities of encrypted wireless traffic exchanged between the headquarters of the Comintern in Moscow, and numerous Comintern representatives abroad, in countries as far apart as China, Austria and the United States. The content of these secret messages was of immense use to the very limited group of people who had access to it. Of greatest interest to MI5 and Stanley Baldwin's Cabinet was the material passing to and from the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), which was monitored from a covert intercept station located on Denmark Hill, south London. Its principal target was the daily wireless traffic of a clandestine transmitter based in Wimbledon and operated by a member of the CPGB's underground cell, controlled by a Scot, Bob Stewart. GC&CS was one of the most secret branches of Whitehall, under the control of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), and for years had supplied the Prime Minister and a handful of Cabinet ministers with summaries of decrypted foreign communications. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | Europe - Great Britain - General - Political Science | Intelligence & Espionage - Political Science | Political Ideologies - Communism, Post-communism & Socialism |
| Dewey: 327.120 |
| Physical Information: 1.19" H x 6.88" W x 9.36" (1.48 lbs) 336 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - British Isles |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: MI5's dramatic interception of secret signals to Moscow from a hidden base in Wimbledon uncovered the true extent of Soviet espionage in Britain. Intelligence expert Nigel West reveals how MASK, the codename for one of the most secretive sources ever run by British intelligence, enabled Stanley Baldwin and his cabinet to monitor the activities of the Communist Party of Great Britain and track wireless traffic between the Soviet Union and its Comintern representatives abroad, in countries as far apart as the United States, China and Austria. The Government Code and Cipher School was one of the most secret branches of Whitehall, under the command of the Secret Intelligence Service, and used its covert intercept station in Denmark Hill, South London to make vital advances in the intelligence war. This gripping account exposes for the first time how the Communist Party of Great Britain was infiltrated and the actual contents of its communications with the Soviets. |