Review: Defending The Realm – MI5 and The Shayler Affair – by Mark Hollingsworth and Nick Fielding

This is just another one of the many books I’ve read on the security services / spies / intelligence agencies in general. I guess I have a morbid fascination. Non-fiction throws up some pretty weird stuff – Life itself is a lot stranger than fiction. This tale from a turncoat ex MI5 employee David Shayler, comes from a time of great change in the world, Security Services in general and it interests me in particular as I was living down in London at that specific time and had what I believe to be my own brush with Shayler’s employers. It was at a time (in history) when people still bought and read daily newspapers and not just get all their news information off Donald Trump’s twitter feed. I can distinctly remember all the controversial headlines about the whole affair.

The book is written by some Daily Mail journalists, a sort of hive for some of the smelliest sort of flies that the tabloid journalist industry attracts so automatically I was on my guard as to the agenda and the sort of bias, provocation, and fascist ideology of the book. Also, let’s get one thing straight. David Shayler is not a hero like they might try to portray him as, he’s not even an anti-hero. He’s just a sort of bo standard below-average MI5 officer, a disgruntled employee, a whistleblower. He knows what he’s signed up to by applying for the job in the first place, by successfully passing the vetting and by being offered a position. I think the Official Secrets Act as much as anyone may find it repulsive and disagree with it is pretty clear and explicit in what it states. Basically Shayler is a criminal and this book is evidence of his crime. He’s broken the Official Secrets Act, he’s also clearly committed treason and although he perhaps lacks the glamour of those that have gone before him such a Kim Philby, he’s certainly nothing more than traitor scum acting against the interests of this country which is exactly what MI5 or their employees are not supposed to be doing. Mi5 is their to protect the nation and yes, the job is difficult but I think the outset that Shayler has failed totally to appreciate the patriotic element of the work. It may have changed since the cold War and be [perhaps a little more boring, but it will adapt like many other industries and indeed since the time of publication MI5 has adapted, facing a new enemy is Islamic terror and the end of the Cold War has proven only really to be a brief ceasefire as the Russians are now back on the scene added to which a growing threat from China makes MI5 an even more critiical organization in the contemporary (and future) world.

I hold the whole message that Shayler and the writers are trying to present as completely invalid and very easy to discount. Zero sympathy for him. Nobody should be reading his revelations. Yes maybe a private letter to the MI5 boss would have been OK. But selling your story to the Daily Mail and anyone else with a chequebook? At least Kim Philby was sort of driven by ideology and is therefore it’s much more easy to identify with him. Shayler just basically wanted a nice comfy hug payout so he didn’t have to worry about his mortgage. Selfish capitalist. Thatcherist, blinkered self-aggrandisement and totally free of ethics and morality. About as close as we get to James Bond his little escape to France where his greed catches up with him and he eventually gets raided and arrested by the French authorities He was probably given a nice comfie bed and a constant supply of fresh croissants out there, just in case and It wasn’t corruption or anything like injustice. He was a serious wanted criminal and that is what INTERPOL etc is set up to sort out. Cheered me up when he finally got to Belmarsh. I’m tempted to look up his wiki but to see where he is now but it will just annoy me further.

He’s an anonymous dot in a big blob and the secrecy of the work, yes it’s underpaid, difficult and the whole system and organization is frankly sh*t but so is everything else in #brokenbritain and has been for a long time. It’s reality. You don’t get to cut corners in life. Just a buy a lottery ticket like anyone else – I’m glad the sort of celebrity tabloid culture has removed a lot of power from the redtops with their lottery payout bribes to corrupt people and deliver huge sales. The British Press is by far the biggest threat to National Security we have. Greed and capitalism has turned them into the most sinister devious body of enemies ever produced on this island. They will stop at nothing to subvert Britain, the Commonwealth or the Empire. Just examining a tiny of fraction of Prince Harry’s valiant quest against them seeking justice is total proof of their treachery. Shame Murdoch didn’t holiday with Maxwell and the rest really as Davy Jones’ locker seems the best place for them all.

Well, looking directly at the book, Shayler claims MI5 cocked up IRA city of London attacks, He claims through word-of-mouth secondary information about an assassination plot by the British government on Colonel Gaddafi – Yes, well, Mr Shayler, Gadaffi (now dead of course), may have certain human rights etc but after Lockerbie he’s pretty much clear as an enemy of the British people and State. That’s who MI5 and MI6 and GCHQ are supposed to be targeting really. I was gutted that you didn’t take the offer by the Libyan intelligence service to clear off to Tripoli, would have made a much more exciting tale, one way or the other.

It’s no recruitment manual for MI5, further justification that the actual job is absolutely nothing at all like a James Bond film. The appendix 2 of Shayler’s recommendations for organizational change, probably the most boring tract of text I’ve ever read, but is great in clarifying just what a hideous corporate body of bureaucratic bungling the MI5 security service is. I can see why MI5 officers can be so deadly effective and dangerous if they are spending 23 and half hours chained up to a desk under a pile of paperwork and government forms then I guess that for the half hour allocated break where they get to do the glamorous work in high speed car chases, staking the State’s budget on roulette spins and copping off with foreign birds etc, they are going to be so angry and wound up and pissed off that they’ll pretty much take out all their frustrations on any target and cause serious destructive damage.

Some of the revelations were significant like how much financial wastage there is. An example is the £25 million spent on an amateur computer system that didn’t work and that they had to go out and buy an off the shelf version of Microsoft Windows 95 to sort out the IT in this critical department of National Security shows clearly that mismanagement is very possible and real.

I think that it does clarify the need for change and that there are serious inadequacies and probably worse than a standard government civil service department I think that we could maybe look to other countries and the way they handle their intelligence services. The CIA and Mossad, for example, are vastly different. In many ways they have more liberty and power and more open and more effective. Our secrecy laws are a bit archaic. There is most certainly a lack of balances and checks in place for our intelligence services that would limit abuses, enable necessary change and improve efficiency and productivity and better achieve the desired goal of national security. I think that for this country James Bond is quite a double-edged sword. Whereas on the one hand it is a very positive and successful (fictional) brand, I would argue it is the very epitome of global espionage propaganda achievement, par excellence. Equally it is quite old now and it must entangle the intelligence services in manacles really and be very frustrating. Deception works to a point but needs to be balanced a bit with reality, openness and honesty.

I think looking back that even though it was pretty damned boring, that Dame Stella Rimington, as head of MI5 who released a boo, that this book was actually a watershed moment and an historic change in methodology for MI5. Yes, Ok we end up with the sort of Shayler trash a s a result. But is signals that change is happening.

I feel like a nosey idiot myself for contributing to the obvious treason of Shayler et all by purchasing the book. But it is an interesting read and I think might, if used properly, be useful to enact change. It must be a very popular text out in the Kremlin in Moscow or Pyongyang or Beijing or the Afghan Cave complex. It demonstrates weakness to our enemies, possible exploits and perhaps encourages hostile attacks on out nation. But it’s subject an idiot who I highly doubt had much access at all to any form of high-level security information. Vetting system is broken obviously. What to do about it aside from the recommended changes – well, really push the death penalty for treason to properly discourage future Shaylers – Hanging, drawing and quartering must have a value aside from public entertainment. I discount most of the so-called scandal and I’m pretty confident that although there have been mishaps and errors that MI5 in fact do actually run an effective security service with regard to domestic issues. The lack of serious security incidents on British soil is testament to their work being efficient.

Review: Turkish Awakening – A Personal Discovery of Modern Turkey – by Alev Scott

Alev Scott is a young female Brit whose mother has Turkish Cypriot roots and in this great study of modern turkey she relocates to Istanbul and immerses herself as much as possible in Turkish society Long time leader Erdogan, has done a lot to change Turkey in the past couple of decades in which he has held power. Some of it has gone down well but there has also been a great deal of controversy. At present, Turkish politics is in the headlines as Turks go to the polls to vote in a general election and it is predicted to be very close with Erdogan’s long reign very much under threat.

The book detail s a lot of the change and how on the one hand Turkish life is so radically different from the London Scott grew up in but on the other hand how Westernised and modern this bridge state between Europe and Asia is. We look at not just the political angle but also the social angle and the role of women in Turkish society, the religious aspect of life here and also more peculiar idiosyncrasies of Turkey.

It surprised me to learn how Erdogan, who stands on the political right has re-invigored Islamic values in Turkey, contrasting with the post-Ataturk secular legacy that has really been bringing Turkey much closer to Europe over the past century. This was one of the main aims of the great Kemal Ataturk’s legacy for his beloved nation. Turkish accession to the EU is, however, still on the brink, and no closer to happening with the modern politicians tending to look for other options and a closer relationship with the Middle East and Islamic World seems to be quite appetising, not forgetting ties with the controversial Russia who use Turkish tourism and finance significantly the Turkish economy. Headscarves have been allowed back in public spaces, including universities and schools and on the whole, the public are utilising the opportunity to visually demonstrate their devotion and integrating well with those remaining Turks who stick to the secular traditions.

The Gezi Park protests that filled international news programmes are covered in detail and it is quite bizarre how such a minor incident got totally out of control and the brutal response from the government seemed quite dangerously totalitarian and scarily undemocratic with police looking quite nasty lot. I’m sure that Gezi Park will still feature heavily in the minds of voters in the forthcoming elections.  

The economy is addressed and I enjoyed hearing about the cultural importance of the Turkish barber as there are many Turkish barbers in the local Welsh village where I live and I think that they are great social places and friendly and I can see why they are so highly regarded in Turkey proper. Some of the wealthy Turkish business leaders seem very extravagant and overall it seems as though business in Turkey is quite thriving although perhaps slightly different compared with business in other large states such as London or New York where a more brazen form of capitalism exists.

We look at not just life in the big city of Istanbul but also venture out to the provinces and hear about the Kurdish issue. It seems as though the future of the Armenian and Kurdish issues seems to be a bit more closer to a peaceful resolution with new generations feeling less aggrieved by historical incidents and more keenly identifying as Turks However, there is still marginalisation and tensions.. Rural life is a lot more conservative and traditional and there is a difference yet it isn’t so radically strange which pleasantly surprises the author. I lied hearing about the local vegetable sellers, challenging the supermarkets with their neighbourhood market square one man stalls, totally supported by elderly housewives and a cornerstone of the suburban communities.

We venture into the bizarre with some cultural treasures such as camel wrestling, take a look at the mobs of passionate Turkish football fans, explore transsexual prostitution in Istanbul, the dangers of the PKK and Islamic State and war in Syria and also the move towards Islam playing a more integral and open part of society.

Turkey maintains an exotic appeal to Westerners and I identify this in this exploration of Turkish culture. It is a powerful nation set in a critical geographical junction between East and West. Perhaps Ataturk would be disappointed to learn of the move away from his secular state but I don’t think that this is a problem and it could make Turkey appeal even more to foreigners and help them develop and grow their still relatively young nation. The author does well in giving a good analysis of what it is to be a Turk and to cross-examine the culture , politics and economy of a wonderful and interesting place.

Erdogan’s Third Term as President of Turkey and What It Means

Review: Spare – by Prince Harry

If you were a hermit living in a remote cave then I expect that even you would be well aware that Prince Harry and his wife have been in the news recently quite a lot. Initially I decided I was going to avoid the mass hysteria and not tune into the Netflix documentary and certainly not partake in the reading of the controversial autobiography but I kind of got drawn into it all, so here we are. Firstly, the Netflix was pretty damned good. I felt that Harry and Meghan came out smelling of roses really. I was a big fan of Megan, the pretty legal secretary from ‘Suits’ before she even met Harry. Regarding Prince Harry, it’s been hard not to notice his life as he has lived it in the media spotlight. If anything, one of the most tainting effects of the media story of Prince Harry was the images of him in a full Nazi uniform at a fancy dress party in the redtops back in the day. This did, to be honest disgust me and I feel like I’ve been holding it against him every since, perhaps?  

After watching the Netflix, seeing the media hate against them both and the reaction of his family and, having fully digested the book, I can honestly say that I am now a fully-fledged ‘Harryist’ and he’s one of my most favourite Royals. I think it’s all a big storm in a teacup and that he’s actually well in the right and I can see the overwhelming reasons for the Netflix and autobiography and I think anyone who continues to attack and denigrate and upset the balance of the life of Harry and his wife and children are plain and simple out of order. At the time of writing this review, we are in a week where the news of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in America and it is a sour footnote that apparently this collapse has swallowed up all of the profits Harry and Meghan have made from their ventures, which undoubtedly have attracted a lot of attention in the public worldwide. Since the release of the autobiography #SparePrinceHarry has hardly left ‘trending topics’ on twitter and every Tom, Dick and Harry has his opinion on the Prince’s affairs. Well, here’s my verdict, for what it’s worth:

Firstly I must comment that, and I make this claim being an avid reader of a wide variety of different texts so I think it is a qualified claim – ‘Spare’ is a very well-written and eminently readable text. This surprised me a lot. I never thought Harry was the brightest tool in the box. Even he admits he sort of struggled academically in school. Royal by fate of birth is indeed a unique phenomenon that Harry philosophizes about. However, I don’t think one can doubt the wisdom of ‘granny’ or Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II who has guided country and Commonwealth for longer than any previous monarch in history and was very successful in this. The high quality reputation of education at Eton is justified in the literacy and accessibility of the autobiography and Harry as much as he might try to be a ‘cool skiver’ was certainly not fully dormant during his Latin and Greek classes in school. A bit of a downer was learning that the book is in fact ghost-written, but even so, the very best ghost-writer, requires substance and a lot of input from the subject and we know when we read ‘Spare’ that it is coming straight from the horse’s mouth. It is a rare historical document in the sense that it is coming directly from a member of the Royal Family. As perhaps unimportant as the ‘Spare may be in relation to the ‘Heir’ or the King and Queen Consort, Prince Harry is a senior and very visible member of the Royal Household, carrying for many the light of his late mother, Princess Diana, as a public figure who is adored worldwide.  

Harry openly discusses the sad loss of his mother and his inner torment is laid bare for the reader. He cannot get closure and even the journey through counselling doesn’t seem to aid in his quest. To lose one’s mother is such tragedy one can only dread to imagine and I don’t think anyone who suffered such a loss could ever get over it regardless. I think Diana would be proud of her son and Harry still feels her presence and refers often to little signs that the People’s Princess is smiling down on him and his new life and family. The media scrummage that he grew up in was hated by his mother and Harry’s own war with the media just seems totally farcical and unacceptable. Intrusion is an understatement. To hear Harry’s own words about some of the sick vile things he has had to tolerate from the most scummiest red-top journalists and photographers ion a daily basis throughout his whole life is stark and revealing. It’s just unbelievable. I often look at celebrities like David Beckham and their wealth and think to myself I’d hate to have to put up with all the intrusion into my life despite the many millions and billions. It’s not a fair trade off in many ways. It all goes up a notch for royalty and this hasn’t traditionally always been the case and is a recent development really spiralling out of control during the lifetime of Harry’s mother and seemingly ongoing and getting worse in his case. It’s high time to revert to tradition and on the plus side I can’t see a rosy future for newspapers and Murdoch dominions in the digital age of the future. Social Media and the internet bring doom to tabloids. Every day that passes where people spend on wifi and not on newspapers heralds a new age and reduced power for the sort of pondlife that these press institutions foster.

Harry’s life contains and inherent duality. His Royal Blood on the one hand and on the other his desire to be just a normal human being. We can see his struggle and in the modern world where life for everyone changes so rapidly, this duality is a curse in many ways. People question the funding and very existence of the Royal family, new technologies can make the media more intrusive, a more globalised society, changing values and continuing his mother’s legacy. I remember at Prince Charles and Lady Diana’s wedding the big question was whether to allow a ‘commoner’ into the royal lineage. Harry carries dual genes and the loss of his mother drives him on in life to further the sort of goals that would make her proud. Charity work, resisting press intrusion, an affinity with the general public and using your status to benefit the most needy in the most neediest of places, Diana’s flame very much lives on in ‘Spare’. Some issues such as the removal of his security detail after later flare ups are unbelievable and when Harry says he’s only every used the London Underground a couple of times in his life it puts into perspective just how sheltered an existence living in the Royal ‘fishbowl’ actually is. I think that the best Harry can hope for is to recognise his uniqueness as an asset and not to regard it as inhibitive in any way. Don’t feel the need to apologise for blue blood but celebrate it. I think in many ways this is what Netflix and ‘Spare’ are for Harry and the public, be they fans of his or trolling haters….

I wasn’t keen on hearing juicy gossip and witnessing a publicly aired family feud really and having watched the documentary and reads the book I think that Harry is actually pretty light on the whole saga and comes out shining really as pretty much an innocent victim of unjustified decisions against him where he isn’t at fault, has done very little wrong and he doesn’t seem to harbour grudges and isn’t particularly scathing or vindictive against the other sides of the alleged war. The closeness between Prince William and him as they are growing up, especially in the way they cope with their dear mother’s passing, shows a very close brotherly bond and Prince Harry describes King Charles very much differently to how perhaps the media have portrayed him. King Charles comes across as really nice man and a good father. We get a glimpse behind the scenes. Yes, we know Charles is eccentric but I was quite touched by the intimacy and care he and love that he has for Harry. The whole burden of the Crown and governance of nation and Commonwealth is alluded to by Harry and he has enough distance as ‘Spare’ yet proximity to understand the actual benefits and drawbacks of hereditary birth. As news unfolds regarding the forthcoming coronation and the results of Netflix and ‘Spare’ I just hope that this family which are sacred to the British people can iron out their difficulties. I think it may take moves from both sides to diffuse the situation but equally I do not see it impossible for them to achieve a harmonious future for the good of all. Yes, the Royal Family, like any other family, has its ups and downs, but to me it’s not really that dysfunctional. My own close family life is an awful to more dysfunctional than Harry’s has ever been – this in one reason I really enjoyed the book and nothing is beyond hope. War and Peace and peace is the preferred path.

Harry is a bit of partier that is for sure. He is overly frank and candid regarding the use of illegal drugs. Cannabis is just part of his daily life and he mentions cocaine use too. It is a different era and a new generation where values have changed and I guess that living in the USA where cannabis is legal helps a bit for the ‘Stoned Ginger’ Prince. He should calm down a bit really though as it is a bit excessive and perhaps something he should be a bit more responsible about.  

The army stuff was great and I felt him discovering his freedom and normality during this period. It blew my head away really seeing the actual inner story of his military work. Yes, he may have been blasted for Taliban kill claims and I’ve spoken to military veterans who are disgusted by this and say it’s wrong. But I like to hear that a member of our inner core of The Royal Family is directly fighting Islamic terrorism directly. 50 kills would be better than the 25 or so mentioned in my opinion. – there was about 4000 innocents dead in the Twin Towers terrorist attack. 25 armed jihadists, totally opposed to Western life and Western values is but a drop in the ocean. If Harry’s book can inspire the end of Islamic terror and its eradication for future generations in any way then all the better.

And on to the Meghan romance and family. Harry’s situation has left him with difficulties with the practicalities of serious romantic relationships. In Meghan, I think he has found a genuine Princess, a new ‘Diana’ a people’s princess. Firstly I’m not even going to illuminate anything regarding ‘racism’ – It’s just outmoded, outdated, irrelevant and not worth talking about. Their story is a beautiful story of true love and in an age where values are eroding and families falling apart it brings light to see them making their way in life with a good solid nucleus. I hope that one day their children will grow up being able to be proud of both their parents for what they have done in documenting their own lives and feelings in the Netflix documentary and also in Harry’s autobiography.

I hope that this is not the final time we will hear from Harry direct in print. I hope things work out for the Coronation and in the future for Harry, Princess Megan and their children. I’m more of a fan after reading and offer as much support as I can. I encourage people to actually go out and buy the book and read it because you will enjoy it and gain from the experience.

Good luck Prince Harry – remember that a ‘Spare’ in bowling is actually quite a good score.

Review: Kim – by Rudyard Kipling

‘Kim’ is recognised as the greatest work of famous author Rudyard Kipling. This is a cult novel especially in espionage circles. It is fiction but documents the widely popular Great Game between the British Empire and Tsarist Russia, a clandestine cat and mouse conflict between the two powers fought out on in British India and the border territories which separated the two great powers. Indeed one of the twentieth century’s most famous and notorious spies, the treacherous Kim Philby, who rose to power in British Mi6 whilst in reality working directly for the Soviet Union’s KGB. Philby takes his nickname Kim from Kipling’s protagonist. Kim is a young lad. His parents who are both Irish have left him in an orphan like state and he grows up, streetwise in the slums of Lahore, known to all as ‘Little Friend of the World. Despite his Caucasian European heritage, Kim felt half native and he spoke his English with a sing song native accent and dreamed in Hindi. The 19th century period of the book’s setting was Imperial India at the very apogee of Queen Victoria’s dominance of the sub-continent. The book highlights some of the conflicts of Empire, politically from both sides, native Indian and British overlords. It is clear that the author, Rudyard Kipling, has a deep connection to India and his prose is written in a high style, invoking beautiful descriptions of geographical features and the characters have emotional exotic traits, rarely denoting negative feelings towards the Indian people. Some of the descriptions and flow of the prose are so beautiful and poetic the reader must often stop and wonder at this great master in full flow. Often new native terms, unfamiliar to the lay reader are thrown into the mix, giving us a rich glossary of terms, deepening our understanding of this alien culture. The crux of the book revolves around young Kim’s relationship to the elderly Buddhist lama who is master to Kim, taking him under his wing. As chela, Kim traverses India from cities to alluvial plains to across the great mountain ranges of the Himalayas. The quest is for fulfilment of ‘The Wheel of Life’ and the lama seeks out his mysterious river that will give him enlightenment. The religious other of India, a simple renouncement of materialism, monastic begging and the virtues of Buddhism are explored and influential, although other major subcontinent religions get coverage such as Hindu ideas and Kim is often disguising himself as a Musselman invoking the ideas of Islam. The former regiment of Kim’s dead Irish father chance upon the wandering young boy and forcibly take him in and make him attend school. The lama contributes financially to ensure that Kim gets the best available education and treatment. He could aim to become a powerful Sahib in the service of the British Raj government. Kim has contacts a plenty and often through various merchants or influential friends such as a famous horsetrader, Kim’s adventurous spirit leads him into the adult world setting off on inquisitive and often potentially dangerous missions and adventures. He is inadvertently being sucked into the Great Game and his work as a spy reaches his climax when some foreign indeed Russians who are travelling with the lama and him across the mountains, fall out and, completely taboo in the eyes of natives, actually physically assault the old sage, it is Kim who defends with violence the outrageous attack and the travelling foreigners lose all their possessions including critical maps and documents that will prove useful to the British government of India. We weave through an increasingly more native world deep in the heart of India and the special relationship of old man and boy, the romance of the whole journey, culminates in the lama finding his river and way up deep in the mountains we see a fully-matured adult Kim contemplating future, his world view and philosophy so touchingly formed with spiritual non-material values by his master. It’s a wonderful tale and a unique book that surely must be one of the best cultural products of the British Empire in India.

Review: Behind The Enigma – The Authorised History of GCHQ – Britain’s Secret Cyber-Intelligence Agency – by John Ferris

This is a weighty tome (800 plus pages) and the authoritative history of perhaps the least glamorous of the U.K.’s principal security services. However, the facts illustrated in this book clearly demonstrates the critical role GCHQ plays in national security and perhaps one could argue is more relevant and more important than its more glamorous siblings, MI5 and MI6. From its incept in the early twentieth century we see the heights reached by Bletchley Park, the immediate forerunner to the (renaming) creation of GCHQ. The success of cracking the Nazi Germany Enigma code by computer-creating cryptographer heroes such as the now famous Alan Turing, is perhaps the height of the glamour. Post WW2 Bletchley Park staff were transferred over to a permanent base in rural Gloucestershire. Cheltenham later housed the service in the legendary doughnut, a purpose built facility that can rival James Bond’s flash new Thames-side MI6 HQ. The main division of labour at GCHQ falls into two branches – SIGINT and COMINT. Mathematicians are well sought for their crypto-analytic skills and GCHQ also encourages linguistically skilled talent. Most workers tend to stay in the organisation until retirement although the pay rates can be rather low and promotion opportunities thin on the ground. However, job satisfaction exists with interesting, varied, intellectually stimulating and critically important jobs. As well as skilled university recruits, a lot of workers are recruited in the administrative divisions and women have always been treated on a more or less level par with their male colleagues.

The initial post-WW2 focus on the agency was for targeting Russia, with linguists retraining and as much as 90% of the interceptions being directed to behind the Iron Curtain. GCHQ had success against the Soviet Union to a degree much more than HUMINT counterparts. MI5 and MI6 were often left lagging in comparison with KGB master spies. GCHQ has developed and is almost totally integrated with the American equivalent of signals intelligence, the NSA (National Security Agency) in the United States of America. Intelligence sharing in the secret UKUSA handshake agreement allowed all but the most politically sensitive data between the two nations to be completely shared. Five Eyes (including Commonwealth partners, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) is also important as is co-working with NATO allies but the USA with its larger budget and technological dominance has really been an asset to GCHQ development and from their point of view the NSA appreciates the skilled dedication of more traditional and experienced British siginters. As the twentieth century progressed, the digital age continued to rapidly develop on a global scale. GCHQ has to constantly adapt and master new communications technologies and acquire the latest state of the art equipment, necessary to maintain Britain’s post-imperial role as a primary global power. Enemies also change and Germans have given way to Soviets, the collapse of the USSR after the fall of the Berlin Wall, leading towards an internet dominated age where Islamic Salafi Jihadists strike terror in Western democracies and rising China sends an unleashed horde of cyberattackers, their quest to steal Western technology and disrupt libertarian values in their global competitors.

The internet is a revolution and there is a demand for the public to be protected. In recent years GCHQ has emerged from the shadows and reluctantly revealed some of its clandestine secrets and the Directors of the present day have a need to be media savvy as well as being able to cloak and dagger brief the politicians and its foreign office and military masters. I found the details of the trade union problems in the 1970s to be surprising and interesting and can understand why unionisation was banned at GCHQ as a result of protecting national security. The most memorable chapter of the book was the case studies on Palestine (Israel), Konfrontasi (Indonesia) and Falklands conflict (Argentina). Being a linguist experienced in Mandarin Chinese, Arabic and Russian, someone who is techwise and also keen on protecting the nation and Commonwealth and allies of the U.K., and with the doughnut being half hour train ride away, I have written to them on multiple occasions, seeking some form of mutually beneficial employment but alas, the door is firmly closed and I have not heard but a peep emanating from the elusive GCHQ. Interesting book though, and well-researched and written in detail. Recommend.

Review: From Pablo to Osama – Trafficking and Terrorist Networks, Government Bureaucracies, and Competitive Adaptation – by Michael Kenney

This book is an academic study of two of the major opponents of Western governments today. It examines both Narcotraffickers and Cartels and also Terrorists, mainly Islamic terrorists. Not only does it cover the methods and practices of these two criminal enterprises in their working practices, the book also examines the law enforcement approaches in dealing with the criminal organizations. It is a critique of both sets of parties and looks to ways that probably either side could use to improve methods either to evade capture or to capture and prosecute. Therefore the book could equally be relevant to a narcotrafficker or terrorist as to a law enforcement agent or politician. The running theme and idea in presenting these bodies that the text examines is to break their work up into ‘metis’ and ‘tecne’ – Metis is basically the active experience gained on the job and tecne is the set of skills required to work in an area. The balance of metis and tecne has to shift its balance according to the competitive adaptation of the enemy in order for success. For the Narcotraffickers the Colombian cartels are a priority case study with Pablo Escobar’s Medellin Cartel and also the Cali cartel examined in detail. Their opponents, the DEA, CIA, FBI US Army and Colombian security services, paramilitaries etc are looked at in their methods to disrupt global supply chains. Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden are the focus of the Islamic jihadi terrorists which utilise in many ways similar approaches to evading capture as do drug cartel employees although suicide bombs and cocaine are quite different commodities. The book is well-balanced, offers intelligent solutions and ideas and has a conclusion which neatly summarises the study’s findings.

Review: Blood Year – Islamic State and the Failures of the War on Terror – by David Kilcullen

This is the second book that I have read by David Kilcullen. The author is a former Australian soldier and a senior advisor to the US Military in addition to being a leading theorist of modern warfare. This book looks deeply at the fundamental Islamic terrorist state ISIS. ISIS grew out of the ashes of the second Iraqi Gulf War and subsequent insurgency plus the civil war in Syria which allowed it to consolidate territory there aswell as its land in Iraq. It has developed an overseas empire in addition to the main Islamic State area and in these often safer havens it conducts its training facilities plus expands recruitment into the global jihad it oversees after it effectively usurped Al Qaeda as the leading fundamental Islamic terror danger to the West. It’s effective internet communications and the release of its catchy ideology to disillusioned followers of Islam across the world has led to inspired homegrown attacks on US and UK soil among others. Often these attacks are spontaneous and ISIS later claims credit. Its territorial ownership has been disputed by the countries it inhabits and their militaries although due to the vacuum in Iraq and non-intervention in Syria, the withdrawal of Western troops paved the way for ISIS to develop and maintain a stronghold. It doesn’t have to fight conventional allied forces and although it suffers, especially under the Obama regime, a blistering number of predator drone strikes, it has learnt to live with this. Its consolidated territory has attracted many Muslims to the caliphate and represents a clear danger of the spread of deadly jihad from its base. The Russians and Iranians have on the whole done more than any other nations militarily to try and destroy ISIS. They have intervened in Syria and although often ISIS wasn’t a primary target of their military objectives it is an enemy to be destroyed. Kilcullen gives an in depth studied analysis based on direct personal experience of the failures of political leaders to have successfully dealt with the problem from its seeds in the womb to its zenith in co-orchestrating attacks on Western soil. There is a lot of blame to be directed at misguided policies and half-hearted approaches and a general failure of leaders to appreciate the venom of modern Islamic jihad and terrorism. It’s not just about cutting off the snake’s head by assassinating high-level targets as the body just regenerates and a new generation of emboldened and bitter fighters is produced. If the Iraqi and Syrian states cannot successfully provide civilian infrastructure then even though they may initially be coercive in their hold on territory they do organise as a proper nation state and provide facilities for normal civilians to live. It represents an evolution from Al Qaeda, a near defeated foe, as ISIS has brought suddenly a rival power to seduce the disaffected radical Muslim masses. Even though by now ISIS has been beaten back it is likely to scar the landscape for some time and could easily regenerate and continue to lead the fight of Global jihad.

Review: Persian Mirrors – The Elusive Face of Iran – by Elaine Sciolino

Elaine Sciolino is a female New York Times journalist who had the good fortune of being present in Paris with the exiled future leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khomenei. When he seized power from the Shah in the Islamic Revolution of 1979, Sciolino was one of the first Western journalists on the ground and she enjoyed privileged access to the new Iranian clerical elite. Iran is a country so alien to us in the West and the lack of knowledge of this ancient culture that is expressed to us in our news and history books made me drawn to reading this book. It is very well written, with lots of detail and the best part for me was the personalised touch. We hear of a woman with a deep commitment to exposing this ‘other’ culture. She writes with the eyes of an American female yet is obviously deeply in love with this country’s people, if not always the ideals of their government. The ways of life are so strikingly difficult. I was overwhelmed by the seeming oppression that the general population live under. There is a remarkable contrast between public and private life and Sciolino was fortunate enough to be invited into the private spheres that would often elude a typical tourist’s quest. The acceptance of senior Imams and clerics and government officials to provide her with sensitive material makes this such a critical read and I found it particularly interesting when her Iranian female friends allowed her into their private spaces, where the public veil of the chador could be lifted. The exploration of various areas of Iran journeyed us from ruins in Persepolis to the rigours of religious life in Qom. There was always an overlook at how the Islamic Revolution was still occurring and the ways that this strict religious governance affects people truly exposes the current national psyche that separates us so much from Iranians in the modern age. ‘Death to America’, a much-repeated slogan in the Revolution must have meant that it was particularly dangerous for Sciolino to research this book, but she demonstrates that things are changing and in fact most Iranians would love to actually visit America and it is this that makes her as an individual, as fascinating to them as they are to her. I think that for anyone who wishes to understand Iran, in its modern situation, especially with the rhetoric of the current global political climate, that this book is a most essential read.