◆ SpookStack

the o> ork vor tgp ont 0 get that. sort own,” said one cot gues, “I know ew Burgéss who rang up "som @ and got him in.” ; © The ‘Iberian ~ subsection's theater was a vital one. ! Spain was a neutral, iriend- "ly to Germany, and provided’ “the perfect base for opera- "tions against Britain's com- , munications keystone,’ Gi- , bradtar. - Portugal ; . friendly to - Britain, but - Portuguese Mozambique . was the center of German ‘espionage operations -southern Africa. It was in ,this connection that Philby 2 sent Malcolm Muggeridge., © was. . in” sto Lourenco Marques and * Graham Greene to Sierra Leone. *: As a boss, Philby was a auick success. He possessed grasp and human sym- bot pathy, facultles which evi- dently won him intense per- * sonal loyalty, This was to be a feature of his entire j career, and it is with an al- most unspeakable sense of irony that associates recall the word which they always felt summed him up: “in- stegrity.” © “You didn’t just like him,. sadmire him, agree with him,” says one man’. who ‘saw him often. from the: Swar’_until his defection. "You worshipped him.” By 1043, two years after "coming in, Philby was firm-. y established as one-of ». Menzies’ very best men. |. But by early 1944 Philby ‘was getting bored by’ the ; limitations of the Iberian . * subsection, Itfwas then ‘that Menzies | » ask mon swivel the defunct counter- . espionage operation against Philby, just a few before D-Day, to re- | : floor and employed _ them has recalled. the Soviet'Union. To Philby, this must have seemed the ultimate opportunity, and also to represent ulti-! mate folly of the me: above Philby's appointment Is. al measure of the blind faith! in him on the part of his’ superiors, whose own repu-‘ tations had been aided by Philby’s work. Had Philby:s » early Communist experience heen forgotten? Had It been’ obliterated from the record by his excellent perform: ance? Or was it, just con- ceivably, noted and, in a mo- ment of supreme political naivete, ignored? The aging. colonel who was the sole incumbent ‘of. the inactive Soviet section. Was pensioned off, and Phil- by moved in to build an em pire which, within fig’ months, occupied an e1 ire! re than 100 people. Within two years, the section had av’ cumulated a vast store of in- formation on Communists in Western countries, front or- ganizations and the other now-familar’ stuff of Cold War counter-espionage. And Kim Philby had acquired the, confidence of his staff, “* “He could get them to do anything for him," one‘ of This witness remembers: that everyone there cam from a strict security back-'* ground, where the rigi tradition was that office * " desks should be locked at night. But Kim broke that : tradition as he broke so: many others. “Don't worry: about that,” he a lock them up later."} * “I didn't like to}do 1, this witness now says, “byt | he was so charming that I. couldn't refuse anything he asked.” . _ oe ska ational ; HAROLD PHILBY «9 > the Sommunist disguised as an establishment