Published more than 30 years ago, this book had an enormous impact, which probably still reverberates in British and US government departments.
In fact, two years after publication it caused the ‘Official Secrets Act’ to prohibit the revelation of all such data, with huge penalties imposed.
The author, a member of British Intelligence, gave detailed descriptions of cryptic and clandestine meetings and plans, which were designed to interrupt or forestall foreign powers from interfering in Commonwealth and US security, and that of other Western allies.
Wright tells us of conspiratorial attempts to alter the course of government policies and to spy on the policy makers.
He supplies photos of those who were found guilty of espionage in the past, and who fled in the nick of time for their lives, and of those who were instrumental in the ongoing search for traitors.
Some of the methods used by both the spies and the spy catchers were fairly clumsy and awkward, but it is probably unfair to judge them by today’s sophisticated technologies.
The work of a spy in Peter Wright’s time seemed to be more about failure than success, but everything was meticulously recorded and filed, and searches could involve thousands of pages of tediously hand-processed data.
Security seemed fairly slack, since relevant information could be consulted and withdrawn from the files by anybody with the flimsiest motive.
In the author’s case, it seems he was never far away from trying to prove that one particular highly- positioned colleague was in fact a spy for Russian Intelligence, but too much of it was unsupported and he never succeeded.
The book probably earned the author more money than all his years in British Intelligence.
He wrote it in retirement in a small Tasmanian town, where he died in 1995.
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