◆ SpookStack

CRIS OF MY.C 1 sent <0v io be ma! ton? IX, ussite: 196 ab Di ‘sayin, Volkov" | Feveal, de oeally eof tomised ta @ headquar- D., in which sopareatly ue had worked for years, He also offered deta ls-of Soviet networks and casq| agents operating abroad. Inter alia, he claimed to yyche real names of three Soviet ffagents working in Britain. Two of them were in the Foreign Office; one was head of a ‘counter-espionage | organisation iY London. Having delivered himself of his shopping lst, he stipulated with the greatest vekemence that no mention of variety of British The embassy had respected Volkov'’s stipylation and had gent the papers home securely, but slowly, by\bag. ‘Thus it was well over & Week after Volkov’s approach to Page that the material was examined by 4 anyone competent to assess its thin thq importance That “anyone” was mvysel se followd and the reader will not reproach * Generalf counter-espionage Brit me with boasting when I claim that I was indeed competent to assess the importance of the. nj material. tn the ad of a organisation njin London! stared at the papers rather longer than neces thoush saty to compose my thoughts. * ne wax} NEVDJing caution fas to T rejected the idea of sugRest, ov's approach should prove to be a xnow tf THE SUNDAY EXPRESS ee {EER sooo meme senna) Philby (upper left) as a war correspondent ...in the Yemen, 1962 bold face on it. I told the Chief that ag thought we were on to of the greatest I would like a little time to dig into the background and, in the light of any further inform- ation on the subject, to make appropriate recommendations, hief acquiesced, instruct- ing me to report first thing next morning and. in the mean- while, to keep the papers strictly to mysel I took the papers back to my office, telling my secretary that I was not to be disturbed, unless the Chief himself called.’ I very much wantec to be alone. My request for a little time “to dig Into the background” had been eyewash. I was pretty certain that we had never heard of Volkov; and he, presumably to enhance his value o us, had framed his shopping list in such vague terms that they offered no leads for imme- Gate Investigation. Stull, I had much food for thought. From the first, it seemed to me that the time factor was vital Owing to Volkov's veto on telegraphic communications the case had taken 10 days to reach me. Personally, I thought that his tears were exaggerated. Our elphers were based on the one- time pad system, supposed to be foolproof it properly used; and our/cipher discipline was Brick, Yet, tf! Volkap | #0 £0, wished d, 1 had no’, which |, is necessary clearances had been obtained. With obvious reltet. the Chief agreed, Together we went to the Foreisn Office, where I was ven a letter to present to ‘nox Helm. asking him to give me all reasonable facilities for the fulfilment of my mission. My only other call was on General Hill, the head of our Coding Section. He supplied sul me with my own personal one- time cipher pads, and lent me one of his girls to refresh me in their use. ‘This caused a little extra delay — not altogether un- welcome, since it gave me more time to adjust my thoughts to action in Istanbul, days elapsed between the ee ival of the Istanbul papers in Broad- way and the takeoff of my aeroplane bound for Cairo en route for Istanbul. ee My neighbour 7m the airplane was taciturn. Few aircraft companions bother: me long, however talkative they may be by nature. For me, flying is conducive to reflection, and I had plenty to occupy my mind, For some time I tossed around in my mind a problem, which - baffied me then and baffles met of the reaction Foreign Office that I should use Page for the purpose of re establishing contact with Volkov and arranging a rendezvous. To the latter I would be accompanied by John Reed, a Eine Secretary of the Embassy had earlier” served in Moscow and passed one of the Foreign Office exams in Russian. These arrangements were made bject to the approval of the mbassador, Sir Maurice Peter- son, whom I knew from Spanish Gays; (but the Foreign Office warned me in pressing terms t approach Helm, the Helm, it appeared, had begun ife in the Consular Service, and was still touchy about matters of status and protocol. 1 cid not anticipate much difficulty from Heim, in which I was not altogether ‘right, The crux of my problem, it seemed to me, was the Interview between Volkov and myself, with Reed in_ attendance. Tf it ever took place. Reed would get the shock of his lite if Volkov ‘started reeling off names - of Soviet agents in British Government service, It would be charitable, I thought, to spare him such urprises. How to make sure ? ‘There was obviously no meant of making sure, Bub 0 t 1 had a slender, che to this day : namely, the oddpess icf played “tt “right ‘shared ‘Oy the that see embs in Turke; Speen re