Spy and Counterspy: Secret Agents and Double Agents from the Second World War to the Cold War by Ian Dear

Author:Ian Dear
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2013-07-05T16:00:00+00:00

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED (MORE OR LESS)

The CICERO affair was not the first time security at the Ankara embassy had been brought to the attention of the Foreign Office. On 19 October 1941 Guy Liddell, Director of MI5’s Counter-Intelligence, recorded in his diary that ISOS (decrypts of the Abwehr’s hand ciphers) indicated the Abwehr had two spies in the British embassy; and on 3 November he noted that the Germans had had access to a diplomatic bag containing re-ciphering tables which, luckily, were able to be withdrawn from use before they became operational.15

At around the same time the Soviet authorities informed the Foreign Office, via the British ambassador in Moscow, that someone in Hugesson’s residence had been opening his safe every night and making its contents known to the Turks. When questioned, the ambassador made such an astonishing reply that one can only assume his sense of humour – which was apparently well developed – had got the better of him. He said he thought the Foreign Office ‘had greatly exaggerated’ how often his safe had been opened and that ‘he did not think it was being opened more than once a week at the maximum.’16

This revelation sent Sir John Dashwood, MI6’s deputy security officer, flying to Ankara at the earliest available opportunity to investigate the embassy’s security. Not surprisingly, he found it poor with several other infringements coming to light, and Hugesson quite oblivious of his obligations to follow Foreign Office security procedures. He noted that the ambassador even argued that as his safe was being opened it was better – contrary to Foreign Office rules – to carry any confidential documents he wanted to read to his bedroom in a box. This he proceeded to do even after the safe in his residence was moved in January 1943 to the Chancery (embassy building) 60 yards away.

The problem with Hugesson was that, though a first-rate diplomat, he belonged to a previous era. Probably a strong supporter of the ethics of Henry L. Stimson, a US secretary of state during the 1920s, who pronounced that ‘gentlemen did not read each other’s mail’, his disdain for espionage and all those connected with it knew no bounds. He was, for instance, hardly on speaking terms with the embassy’s MI6 security officer and apparently disliked the SOE (Special Operations Executive) in Turkey even more. This must have made Dashwood’s task a difficult one, and despite a thorough investigation he was unable to find the two Abwehr plants in the embassy, or who was rifling the ambassador’s safe in his residence.

Another example of Hugesson’s insouciance came in January 1943 when it was discovered that his butler rang the German embassy to report the ambassador’s departure for Adana to meet Churchill. Not unreasonably, the Foreign Office asked Hugesson if he was satisfied there was no further chance of the butler contacting the enemy. Hugesson replied that he wasn’t, but he couldn’t possibly dismiss the butler before he had found a suitable replacement! The Foreign Office put its foot down and the butler eventually left on 15 May 1943, and was replaced by a footman.

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