- Hardcover: 688 pages
- Publisher: HarperPress; First edition edition (10 Jun 2010)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0007278470
- ISBN-13: 978-0007278473
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.8 x 5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 139,840 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
Praise for ‘The Hidden Hand: Britain, America and Cold War Secret Intelligence’:
‘Rivetting, and essential reading not only for intelligence specialists but for everyone interested in the Cold War and in British-American relations.’ Christopher Andrew
‘A triumph of assiduous research and cogent analysis.’ Sunday Telegraph
‘Aldrich's meticulously factual account of British and American spookery…is hugely impressive.’ John Booth, Tribune
‘A truly brilliant book…this is intelligence for adults, and all the more enthralling for it.’ George Walden, Evening Standard
Product Description
The gripping inside story of the last unknown realm of the British secret service: GCHQ (Government Communication Headquarters).
GCHQ is the successor to the famous Bletchley Park wartime code-breaking organisation and is the largest and most secretive intelligence organisation in the country. During the war, it commanded more staff than MI5 and MI6 combined and 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 Britain's secret state. Still, we know almost nothing about it.
In this ground-breaking new book, Richard Aldrich traces GCHQ's 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 Britain's role in the Cold War - from the secret tunnels dug beneath Vienna and Berlin to tap Soviet phone lines, and 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 and Malaya, and exposes the shocking case of three GGHQ workers who were killed in an infamous shootout with terrorists while working undercover in Turkey.
Today's GCHQ struggles with some of the most difficult issues of our time. A leading force of the state's 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 and revelatory, Aldrich's book is the crucial missing link in Britain’s intelligence history.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book using open sources,
By
This review is from: GCHQ (Hardcover)
The great thing about this book is that it isn't a sensationalist revelation from an ex. member of the intelligence services, but a research based book using open sources. The line 'there are no secrets, just lazy researchers' is very apt.The information about some of the big stories of the last century are fascinating - the General Belgrano where SIGINT had picked up a command for it to proceed to task force and sink British ships, and its zig zag course meant that it was true when the Argentinians said it was outside exclusion zone, and sailing away from Falkland islands at the time it was hit. There was no other real decision for the British commanders to take. As someone who lives in Cheltenham, it is great to see some of the big episodes of GCHQ, and also the relationship with the US. First class book and to be recommended for anyone with an interest in this area!
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The last British secret,
By
This review is from: GCHQ (Hardcover)
GCHQ, by Richard J AldrichLike most former employees of GCHQ, I did not have much idea of what went on outside my particular section. To satisfy my curiosity I have read all three recently published volumes on this notorious establishment, of which this, as a serious history, is the most weighty. That such a detailed account was needed is undeniable, considering the major contribution to our national survival made by this band of dedicated codebreakers, as we now know them to be, coupled with its reputation as "The last British secret". Every significant event in its development is charted, from its beginnings in 1919 as the Government Code and Cypher School, through the years of the second world war when a massively expanded team at Bletchley Park cracked the Nazi Enigma code, to modern times when the former business of monitoring foreign states has to a large degree been overtaken by the need to combat terrorism and international crime. The extent to which information derived by GCHQ has played a part in international happenings will be a revelation to many. It is plain that in the modern world this country still needs effective monitoring, or Sigint as it is known, to protect its interests. However not all will approve the way in which the emphasis is now on recording details of all electronic communications, and of the individual citizens who send and receive them, enabled by astronomical computing power. There are moral questions here, as well as our willingness to devote serious resources to acquiring the technology, much of which already exists. In this respect it is fortunate that the British have long enjoyed a policy of sharing Sigint with the United States, and it could well be that we will ultimately be dependent on it.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Readable and Illuminating,
By
This review is from: GCHQ (Hardcover)
This is a readable and factual book, which contains a series of accounts of episodes in the history of GCHQ and its associated organisations. The first chapters are a little slow, reading as a list or organisational changes, and I was surprised there were not more pages on the work at Bletchley Park in the Second World War. However, the sections on the Cold War, the Falklands and more recent events are gripping.
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