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Wednesday 4 April 2012

A Great Double Agent?


By the time Donald Maclean and Guy Burgess took flight to Moscow in May 1951 Kim Philby had already made a rapid ascent up “…the service staircase…” In only eleven years as an employee of His Majesty’s Secret Service, Philby had risen from the lower echelons of Section D under “…Colonel Lawrence Grand…” to the respected pedestal of MI6’s Liaison Officer in America with the CIA and FBI. Guy Burgess, personal problems aside, had been in the service much longer and did not show any signs of making such strides to prominence in the world’s premier secret service. To his American counterparts it must have appeared odd that a man so much younger than his British peers, and who had spent a relatively short time in the defence sector, could rise to the upper tiers so quickly. To those who knew Philby though it was no surprise. As “…one of the few wartime recruits asked to stay on in SIS…” he clearly possessed the qualities necessary for a life of espionage and a career in MI6. Unfortunately for his British employers, these skills were especially suited to best serve the work he had been assigned by his Russian masters.

It is well documented that Philby was not the brightest or most intellectual of his peers at either Cambridge or Caxton Street±. At Cambridge he had been “…altogether unremarkable…" However, in the world of the mid-twentieth century spy intellect only mattered when applied for maximum benefit. If intelligence had been the key to success in intelligence then the brilliantly academic Burgess, who was “…at once the most witty, most beautiful, most clever undergraduate to come to Cambridge since Lord Byron…” could possibly be the source of widespread interest that Philby is today. The fact is that Kim set himself apart from his peers, not with flamboyancy, but through hard work and modest application of the most natural of talents.

Like the characters of Le Carre and Fleming novels, Kim Philby possessed an ability to think quickly and act coolly under pressure. He frequently exhibited these qualities throughout his career, and may not have lived to see the inside of Whitehall had he not been able to call on them when necessary. When Kim was working in the south of Spain in 1937 he was presented with an opportunity to prove his pedigree. Upon deciding to attend a bull fight in Cordoba he was informed by the Capitania in Seville that a pass for travel would not be required. Somewhere along the line signals became confused as the Capitania in Cordoba sent two armed guards to summon the sleeping reporter from his hotel room. At this time his instructions were regularly printed on a substance similar to rice paper, which he kept in his trouser ticket pocket. Needless to say if Franco’s forces were to find this incriminating material the consequences for his career and possibly his mortality would have been disastrous. As the Capitania interrogated Philby about his presence in Cordoba and the guards searched his luggage he found “…brain was beginning to work and he began to see possibilities…"  Any man who failed to act in this situation would be spared judgement for freezing in such intimidating circumstances. For his career it was a pivotal moment and Philby acted on the Sergeants orders for him to empty his pockets. As he recalled in his autobiography, he took his wallet and threw it onto the table “…giving it at the last moment a flick of the wrist…As he had hoped all three men made a dive at it…I scooped the scrap of paper out of my trousers, a crunch and a swallow, and it was gone."

The ability to look down the barrel of a gun, think quickly, then react, served Philby well throughout his career and allowed him to continue working long past his sell by date. Had he not been able to then the unexpected flight of Burgess in 1951 and the interrogations that followed may have panned out very differently indeed.

This ability, however, was not isolated and Philby was well served by the capacity to view his work and actions from many different perspectives. He possessed an almost panoramic view of his world, and as a double agent dealing in counter intelligence it was paramount that he could do so. When faced with an investigation into his “extra-curricular” activities, Philby was backed into a corner by the pressure of soon infamous spy catcher, James Jesus Angleton, and the reluctance of the British to argue with their growing American counterparts. By all rights June 1951 should have signalled the end of Philby’s career. Donald Maclean by now was in poor mental form from the toll of his double life. It is well documented that “…he had grown weary of the underground struggle and was uncertain whether the ideology still rang true enough …"  He evidently craved an escape from his self imposed mental torture. If it had been Maclean summonsed back to England on the 11th of June it is not hard to conceive that he would have sung any tune the secret service asked of him.

Philby, however, displayed a much greater dedication to his chosen cause and a tough mental exterior. Backed into a corner, Philby used his panoramic mind’s eye to transform the situation into a chess game. From the off he seized the upper hand with a few words to Sir Stewart Menzies: “…I’m no good to you now and never will be again…I’ll put in my resignation…" The first round was Philby’s because he had not been sacked he had resigned. If all went well his service career would not be entirely over, and he had portrayed himself as the self-deprecating servant who put the service ahead of himself. These were shrewd tactics from the supposed victim of M16 scrutiny. Philby had honed this ability throughout his career and had given himself the best opportunity to come out of the episode unscathed. Using his knowledge of counterespionage he scientifically dissected each piece of evidence that Helenus Milmo threw at him and created his own theses on the escape of Burgess and Maclean. The evidence gathered gave no need for a third man as Maclean would have noticed “…top secret papers being withheld from him…" and come to his own conclusion. Philby could see this and made every effort to show that he was still as dedicated to finding the truth as his interrogators.

The ability to act calmly and precisely, to have all eventualities covered, and to use impeccable foresight are not uncommon personality traits. Many businessmen and leaders have relied on such skills to become successful throughout history. What was unusual was the situation. Philby gave a decade of dedicated service to a hidden master right under the nose of the grand old man of the intelligence world, and played by his own rules. He made the most of the talents he had and applied them with a dogged work ethic.  Shakespeare told us not to fear greatness, that “Some men are born into greatness and others have greatness thrust upon them" In relation to Philby both of these statements hold great truth. The path his life took thrust him into a position of great importance in twentieth century history, but had he not been born with the necessary traits to achieve excellence then his life may have been as obscure as the next man’s.

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