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Cambridge Five Spy Ring — Part 13

86 pages · May 23, 2026 · Broad topic: Intelligence Operations · Topic: Cambridge Five Spy Ring · 86 pages OCR'd
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~ [, Phat several of the men “4 concerned in Londen a forpign capitals with efforts fo chask up on and trap Burgeys ang Maclean displayed grogs ineficiensy, lack of judgme i lack of & sense of urgency, and. in some cases, carelessness, 4) ‘There was inadequate lisison me ar high level between groups of oMeciais conducting inquiries In differen: capitals, Wrongly assessed pssst) MEL 8 8, There ves inadequate or in 2 oifeetive laison between Bri- fish organisations concerned with chasing Burgess and Maclean and the organisations of other coune tries, particularly in Burope. de On twe cceasions—when she! ¢ case first came to the attbn-| Siob of the public In 1951 and}ia Fecknt weeks—men in key pi Hows wrougiy assessed the aby. nuifance of facts bearing on we scaidal. In one case—-periaps ane of. many—if appears Lust amperiant -facts were uot passed om to @ British departmental chier, re sponsible for policy decisions. S At an important stage in He the inquiries the poltey of “Bushing up" the facis appears to have bean followed Mot so nmuich to help io expose the Com-, mubist meiwork as to shield pe: i Gj The, vower and ingenuity pr al the Communist spy org isatfon in Britain and other cai tied in the West have pedi gravely usderestimated, Sais holding responsible = | it from Page 1 fut wen tong delays tie, I gather, io a deeision {id Bash Saiarinatign to London giickeat possible UNdyed to be toe te ” One souree of Iplounelon says ti ulier Petrey bat spokes, the Tacks he had given were gen Ly "Sow Lelesrac,’ o 4h appar jong be.| tually ak it cane chron nutls {0 the men gecivel with 1a coneerbed | cut Burgess anid Maciean mn [eon . canfenunt, potgact nS sent to Lonidou regard expense 2? Orie defetice 1 did nob cali for * inte aclion ang Wag wh fore ob could be deinged. | Final cards i Bat in tus surt af game when bo peng vit wang gpy Hetwor med is] “Whe poink made by the Wipi vouch [Fader tbat ihe wurhorities edi Sguibst Maclean and AOU be asked, was| ¥eSs and preva ‘Amateur’ e authority told met "14 is elegf that when the Commurbs meyace deepened after the war’ the] system of ‘checking up on Communist activity In Britaia and the Western world was out dated Rud incompetent, “Although there have been improvements since then. it is fair to say taab from the bexin- ning many of the vital decisions regarding Burgess and Maclean were amateurish and quite ‘ineffective, “The White Paper itself gives! two glaring examples of what may be called the smateur eerek * approa Te adimils that documents may have been with- held from Maciean in such a way that he may have realised he was under suspicion and Uhus bad time to make his geiaway. is in itself is an extras ordingpy admission. It shoulq be soliph with the slatem@gnis showisg the extent ta which Mac- Jean, Frough under suspicion, fas watched, There are also the statements which show & Burgess may have hada chance to Up off his Communist contacts that be was under suspicion in Gme for thase contacts to waln Moscow that the British Services were auaut to SWOOP, . “Pechsps eyen mere remark able is the hes thrown on varicus Helton methods by what dappe: when Betroy, the former Soviet secret agent, re vealed during the official inquiry in Australia what be know of the Burgess and Maclean affair, “Tt now seems clear that the importance of Petrov's stateme was snot immediately wmdergood, Jhe reparis sent back teflon. don+the H.Q. of che Macleay and Burgas inguiries—appear to fhave been skimpy. “There also appear to ‘have actouny of Petroy’stthe country “Buy Lois sis thai the Petrov re Ga Been sill ay fo the Hight people. fommagon tt dea i | H i t wrongdoing miny be ¥ . uoding to any- wofsaniar with th heb appear to have 3 Halsan between Britain and the Continent to e: sure thar Burgess und Maels wera shadowed une f pes they headed eastw. “There Is no doubt the mij,” One muy wrblished the in-|intormation gor to Leadon. even- |B est ‘Bs TaBges | Dubie stat
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