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Cambridge Five Spy Ring — Part 32
Page 81
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could not help growing very for. ‘2
him.
Boyd lost no time in letting me
know that he disapproved of my
close contact with the CIA. He
‘seemed genuinely disgusted with its
cosmopolitan airs. “What do they
teach them in CIA, son?” he said ©
to me one evening. “Why, how to
use knives .ad forks, how to marry.
rich wi ' He also had a deep
vas
susp ‘ion of the social graces of the ©
United States Navy. But, as ] had
Lncught ir Lendon, 1 get on with
“ind provided that I did not try to
wy sieve. and endured his heavy
inunis avcut my CIA friends, The
“rst time I felt the rough edge of
nis tongue was (very fortunately)
just before Peter Dwyer left for
Ottawa. It so happened that the
MI-5 representative in Washington,
Geoffrey Paterson, and we received
parallel instructions from London
_ to take up a certain matter with the
‘FBI, Paterson got in first and re-
- ceived a brush-off; he was told it
was none of London’s business.
- When Dwyer and I arrived soon
afterwards to raise the same ques-
tion, Boyd gave us a wicked ‘look.
. “So that’s the game,” he said, lay-
ing down his cigar and purpling.
- “Geoffrey comes in and J] give him
a flea in the ear. Then what hap-
pens? You two come, along and try
iton,.,” There followed a ten min-
utes’ tongue-lashing against which |
all protests were- useless. Hia fury
wrao miiéa sinages
Was quite sincere, although out of
all proportion to the nature of the
issue which we had been told to
discuss with him. What enraged
him was a simple matter of office
politics. It was his job to play MI-5
and SIS off against one another ao
as to exploit any differences be-
tween us. And here we were, clearly
vanging up against him. Yet that
_ame evening he telephoned to ask
mie over to drink bourbon deep into |
ine night. Not a word was said
aboyt the unpleasantness of the
morning.
A sluggish trickle of information
about the Embassy leakage con-
tinued to reach us. Apart from
Dwyer, who was soon to leave, three
members of the British Embassy
staff had access to the material:
|
A
Paterson, myself and Bobby Mac-
kenzie, the Embassy Security Offi-
cer, who was an old colleague of
_ mine from Section V days. In the
FBI, the officials concerned were
Boyd; Lishman, who was then head
of the anti-Communist section; end
Bob Lamphere, 8 nice puddingy na-
_tive of Ohio who was responsible
for the detailed analysis of the cRse
on the American side. We were still
far from identifying the source in
‘the British Embassy, but during
the winter of 1949-50 the net began
to close»round the Los Alamos
source. The choice seemed to lie
between two scientists of great dis.
tinction, Dr. Peierls and Dr. Fuchs.
It was Dwyer's last direct service
to SIS that, by a brilliant piece -of
analysis of the known movements
of the two men, “he conclusively
eliminated Peierls. Thereafter, the
finger pointed unwaveringly — at
Fuchs.
The usual trouble arose over the
nature of the evidence, which was
not valid in jaw. But Fuchs, em-
- phatically unlike Judith Copion, pro-
vided the evidence against himself.
Shortly after Dwyer had identified
him as the Los Alamos source, he
set sail for England on a routine
-visit, He was arrested on arrival}
and passed to John Skardon, of
MI-5, for interrogation. Skardon
succeeded in winning his confidence
to such an extent that Fuchs not
_ only confessed his own part in the
business, but also identified from
photographs his contact in the
United States, Harry Gold. From
Gold, who was also in a talkative
Taood, the chain led inexorably to
the Rosenbergs who were duly elec-
trocuted. It is worth mentioning
that Eisenhower
refusal to reprieve Ethel Rosenberg
on the grounds that, if he did, the
Russians in future would use only
“women as spies. It was an attitude
worthy of the most pedestrian of |
United States presidents.
There was another remarkable .
casualty of the Fuchs case. Hoover,
who had contributed nothing to his
capture, was determined to extract
maximum political capital from the
affair for himself. To that end, he
, heeded to show that he had mate-
,
‘fl of his own, ‘and such material
could only be obtained through the
interrogation of the prisoner by
one of his own men. He announced
his intention of sending Lishman
to London to question Fuchs in his _
cell. Paterson and I both received
_inatructions to tell him that such a
course was quite out of the ques-
tion. Fuchs was in custody awaiting
trial, and it was just impossible to
arrange for his interrogation by
. anyone, let alone by the agent of a
foreign power. I found Hoover in
‘a state of high excitement, and in
ho mood to be impressed by the
-majesty of British law. He refused
to budge, Lishman waa sent to Lon-
don, with peremptory instructions
to see Fuchs, or else. The answer
was “or else.” When J] heard that
Lishman was back, ] called at hig
office,a fairly grand, carpeted affair.
Someone else was in his chair. Lish-
man himself 1 found a few doors
further down the corridor, writing
on the corner of @ desk in a small
‘room tenanted by four junior
agents. The poor devi] was bloody
and very bowed. He looked at me
as if it had been my fault. Such was
Hfe under Hoover.
In the summer of 1950, I received |
a letter from Guy Burgess. “I have’
a Bhock for you,” he began. “I have
just been posted to Washington.”
He suggested that I should put him
up for a few days until he had
found a flat for himself. This posed
a problem. In norfnal circumstances,
it would have been quite wrong for
two secret operatives to occupy the .
same premises. But the circum-
stances were not normal. I had
scarcely replied to signify my agree- —
. ment when Mackenzie showed me a
explained his —
letter he had received from Carey-
Foster, then head of the Foreign
. Office security branch, warning him
about Burgess’ arrival. Carey-
. Foster explained that his eccentric- |
ities would be more easily over-
looked in a large embassy than in a
amal]] one. He gave a summary of
his past peceadilloes, and said < hat
worse might be in store. “What «¢..28
~. he mean, ‘worse’?" muttered Mac- .
kenzie. “Goats?" J told him that I
knew Guy well, that he would be
staying with me, and that I would
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