GCHQ

Product Description

A gripping exploration of the last great unknown realm of the British secret service: Government Communication Headquarters (GCHQ). GCHQ is the successor to the famous Bletchley Park wartime code-breaking organisation & is the largest & most secretive intelligence organisation in the country. During the war it commanded more staff than MI5 & MI6 combined & has produced a number of intelligence triumphs as well as some notable failures. Since the end of the Cold War it has played a pivotal role in shaping Britains secret state. Still we know almost nothing about it. In this ground-breaking new book Richard Aldrich traces GCHQs evolvement from a wartime code-breaking operation based in the Bedfordshire countryside staffed by eccentric crossword puzzlers to one of the world leading espionage organisations. It is packed full of dramatic spy stories that shed fresh light on Britains role in the Cold War
- from the secret tunnels dug beneath Vienna & Berlin to tap Soviet phone lines & daring submarine missions to gather intelligence from the Soviet fleet to the notorious case of Geoffrey Pine one of the most damaging moles ever recruited by the Soviets inside British intelligence. The book reveals for the first time how GCHQ operators based in Cheltenham affected the outcome of military confrontations in far-flung locations such as Indonesia & Malaya & exposes the shocking case of three GCHQ workers who were killed in an infamous shootout with terrorists while working undercover in Turkey. Todays GCHQ struggles with some of the most difficult issues of our time. A leading force of the states security efforts against militant terrorist organisations like Al-Qaeda they are also involved in fundamental issues that will mould the future of British society. Compelling & revelatory Aldrichs book is the crucial missing link in Britains intelligence history.