◆ SpookStack

friendsrfor_ he, we Franco side for Te Tondo Times ang earned a Fascist decoratior} for his devotion to duty. Thig was no mean be- ginning fpr a young double agent. . Lika_Maclegn and, Burges; Philby found no. ditficany TK avoidige the call-up, A_}o| could be done through Tftu- ential friends in those days. He had a spell with the British Expeditionary Force in France as The Times war correspond- ent, and returned to Britain in 1940 with ‘the remnants of that force. Now the big stuff really began. The Soviet Secret Service already had their agent_in the British Diplomatic Sérvice in the sh: of Maclean, He was cominge-atong well. Burgess was buzzing about around the edges of the B.B.C. (where he was able to influence the content of a series of news commentaries) and the F.O. (Foreign Office), What better than to plant their ablest man of all, Philby, at the very cen- ter—in the British Secret In- telligence Service itself. That service had existed for some time, but in a highly amateurish way. Its heads were by tradition retireamem- bers of the fighting forces, of less than the highest caliber. (This tradition has, thank God, been discontinued over the last 10 years.) Its members were recruited in the “old boy net.” The head of the service at the time was a retired ma- jor general who was a mem- ber of White's, one of the most Old-World clubs in London’s Old-World St. James's. He and one or two other close cronies would discuss possible re- cruits over the claret, port and cigars. They all agreed that, provided a man came from a good family, school and uni- versity like themselves, he was to be trusted. Not so the lesser breeds. And you couldn’t be quite sure of the clever ones. _ Consequently, not all the re- cruits in those days were as, bright—as—tey miei Rave g been. Philby was of,the right social backgPound, - ble, highly intelligent but not @ long-haired chap. He liked his drink and knew how to hold it. He admitted to the youthful folties of having been both a Nazi and a Communist sympathizer. Of course, he said, those days were over. So the youthful excesses were taughed off and it was reck- oned to his credit that he had come clean about them. Secu- rity was considered a bit of a bind anyway while there were Urgent clandestine matters to be done. Kim was welcomed with open arms. ‘ H: flourished. As soon a: the Soviet Union became our ally in June, 1941, matters were even easier for him than before. He took a hand in organizing the Special Oper- ations Executive (S.0.E.) branch of the S.LS., a lot of swashbuckling amateurs who went around blowing things up and helping to organize re- sistance movements in Europe. He collaborated in setting up the American Office of Stra- tegic Services under the well- named Gen. “Wild Bill" Dono- van, This developed after the war into the mighty Central Watuigence wpency. Cris fe was in on the ground floor of not ony We British“oir-wis the American espionage organ- ization, When the United States came into the. war, all was apparently sweetness and light between the Western and East- ern Allies in the anti-Hitler coalition. But it did not take the Soviet Government long to judge, correctly, that its most dangerous enemies in the tong run would be its Allies of the moment, the Americans. Philby had a particular dislike of American power and mate- rial success, and he was de- lighted to be told by Moscow to step up his spying on them. Then, by a combination of luck inside the S.LS,and judg- ment™by~Filby,_ headte perfect ¢ opportunity, for he double” game was afforded him: Th British on their side realized that they were in for a long tussle with the Soviet Gov- ernment. In 1944 they set up a powerful counterespionage section to keep a sharp eye on their Communist Allies, You (can guess who was appointed head of it. Pusy now had. it really ‘made. As head of this depart- ‘ment it was his duty to-see ‘all the vital intelligence he could, whether from British, American or other sources. Any interccptions of Soviet in- telligence were his business too, and he was responsible for countering all clandestine operations or subversion at- tempts by the Communists. Since he was, unknown to his British employers and Amer- ican friends, involved in some of these in his dual role, the central power for evil which he wielded was enormous. Added to this, he of course knew the organization of both the British and American secret services in detail and ‘ could betray it to the-Pssciens 38 it developed from day to lay. Ht.all sounds almoct“ea5" bad to be true. almost. Philby’s first slip occurred in August, 1945, over what is known as the Volkov case. A Russian using that name got in touch with the British Em- bassy in Turkey and offered to defect.. He undertook to bring with him a lot of invalu- able information on the or- ganization of the Soviet Secret Services and in particular on its agents in British Govern- mental departments. The case ‘was referred to Philby as head of the counterespionage de- partment, and he was warned of a time limit which the Rus- sian had set. Clearly Volkov was a threat to him and his network. He therefore took It was— action.at,a leisurely pace, . behind the scened ay the.