'A GROTESQUE SMEAR' SAY TOP SPY-MASTERS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000100600020-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 21, 2010
• Sequence Number: 20
• Publication Date: January 20, 1980
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/21: CIA-RDP90-00552R000100600020-4
LONDON SUNDAY TIMES
20 January 1980
AGENTS of Britain's two. secret
services, SIS and MIS, emerged
from- the shadows last. week to
defend - Guy Liddell;--former
deputy-director of MIS,. who has
been accused of being.a-Soviet.
mole. Liddell is the most recent
and most high-ranking secret
service. officer to ;come., under-
suspicion in-the wake-'of- the
Anthony Blunt affair. ?
.The agents are-Sir bickGold-
smith White, who' was'-uniquely
-head of SIS (Secret: Intelli-
gence Service) and earlier head
of"MIS : (the- security-service),
and.William Skardon; the crack
MIS interrogator who broke the
atom .spy Klaus ? Fuchs. Both
spoke to The .Sunday-Times on
the record to denounce :accusa-
tions against Liddell . as "grotes-
que.preposterous, .. and. to de-
fend their services against what
they see as sinister -attacks.
This?move by White and Skar-
don is% unprecedented.- Normally,
British secret agents, even re-
tired ones, do not make- public
statements. The fact.: that two
such eminent officers were pre-
pared to speak out-.for .Liddell
-.and had top-level'- clearance
to do-so - shows how= seriously
Red. Orchestra: "It is not gen-
erally. known that this Russian
spy ..ring had a British section,
'but..L.caught one of 'them after
the-war.-He was a Jewish're-
fugee andhe. confessed, that he
had been recruited at the Albert
Hall.!:He,named several promin-
ent people who had worked for
the- Red-'Orchestra in Britain,
'some- of them quite prominent.
It.was. decided not to prosecute
them.,-:. L;know their. names,, but
I'm n. going to tell you."
.-Today.. Skardon follows- the
.quiet lifer of a comfortable pen-
sioner living by -the-' sea. He
spends 'his- days- playing- indoor
bowls, his -evenings ~ painting or
playing bridge. Incensed by the
accusations -against Liddell, he
-.is, ,,thinking :about writing his
memoirs.:i ?.' `.. i
.? ;,Meanwhile,. Sir..John-.Balfour,1
Liddell's. cousin, has-.organised a: protest: by Liddell's family and
friends. _A group.-:,of them,!
advised by,,..- Lord _ Justice
$tephenson;~!are=--writinz :about
their-:feelings to The Times.
views the attacks: f Liddell's name-snouia oe uiac ti were our allies during .the war:
'
Suspicion about-,-. Liddell inthis.way.'
has ened - William? Skardon 'w'ho' :.had' Nunn May' agreed, then went on
been revived by Andrew Boyle
whose book The Climate of Trea- been -a ..detective- in the--CID,! totell . him everyt ng.
son -hinted that art- historian joined-:MIS in 1940 and--worked, Anthony Blunt: "I went to
with Liddell until Liddell- re; see-'him at the Courtauld. I
Anthony Blunt was a Soviet ked d tired::-Skardon: said last week:!, wanted to' learn if he could tell b-Nlrs Before in Thatcher unmashe "I. knew;Guy Liddell extremely; me anything about Burgess and
Commons. a oyl emen6 t h and well.:, He-`was? a. wonderful man1 Maclean: I learnt only one thing
ommons. Boyle k,-f for or .hear Russia and any` suggestion-that he`was~ fromhim..While I was question-
frout Blunt's work' a a?' traitor -is 'preposterous. I'mat; ing.him I noticed a Degas pastel
from Goronwy R- n.friend of one ? with' Sir Dick White. and l drawing- 1 do a bit of painting
Guy:-Burgess Boyle-':now-,claims others from the service wen-will myself and I'd copied this part---
that just before Rees lee- Rees died he told standby: Guy:. Liddell's `record cular Degas pastel. -I told Blunt
hits that Liddell
was xu c the ' an&his-memory.:The- .libel laws) -I thought= I'd got the colours
?Bhtnt-Burgess homoos sexuaal clique should' cover` the... distinguished. just= about right but the only
also tancf was
-Bur-, aons against,;. gagent. Lid- 'dead as:well as the living. difference was that my drawing
}l. go back muchf thr..he...The only explanation I can: was on cardboard. 'So. was
H go back much further.When find- for: these suspicions about; Degas's,',said Blunt"
i
ar Harold . Wilson,, was : pr
ma Guy Liddell ,is that there was i$ Siirveillance: "l-ran the sur-
minister,. one, of hi oudty ,-coterie' :"of people- in -,which:. veillance team for the Krogers
advisers told him that-a1 S ear gurgeasn %Blunt -and Liddelli andLonsdale whom we arrested
s: bade ,?_a - .i.:.'ThPV > '.had -common It was a wonderful
deputy director.;' of
si
gn
been damaging -- national l with 'each,7 other and some station, aircraft all of them
interest to havee ibro rought .then peoples have= made Guy, Liddell MI5. You .need them. For a
to? tretiehe:iihad beexr :gui
prematurely ty-by association." -' i proper'- surveillance, job for two
premy retired_4,, people, you need at least a dozen
experts- for each 24-hour period.
We' watched the Krogers from a
house opposite. That was a great
thing. I. never had any problems
in - MIS,with the British people.,
They; would, co-operate in every
way-..... .?Give,-.you- aibedroom in
their:. house, A f :necessary,. for
surveillance.'.'
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/21: CIA-RDP90-00552R000100600020-4
by; Barrie Penrose,;. David Leitch and.-Phillip hnightlev
name, but the clues pointed to
him. He had- a distinguished
career in MIS during which he
rose-to be -deputy -director and
was widely-tipped to -become
the next director-general. Then
Liddell was prematurely retired
in. 1953 . after the - .Burgess-
1XIaclean scandal- and given the
token post of security adviser
.'to??the Atomic. Energy. Author-:
ity. He.died . in 1953:. - ,.
-:'Sir- Dick -White,.- who wrote:
Liddell's obituary in The-Times,:
:was director-general of MIS,?
-
1953-56, head of SIS, .1956-69,
and co-ordinator., of intelligences
and-.securitytn?.. the-. Cabinet
Office- 1970-73.-He said lastweek
"The three Liddell brothers all
won-tthe,,Military Cross in the.
First World War. That: was the.
a
sort. of- family - Guy Liddell. be
longed to: very patriotic. ;''handed "to the -Russians, ; and
knew; him very "well He each time he ..ignored Nunn'
was very?industrious; a devoted' May's' denials- that he had han
er anything Then for the
d- o
d
.
v
e
ugh
.
servant of -this country. Thro tenth.- time he-said,-`Now, Mr:
-
hardly., left,-_- his.. desk. -:To - label
..him -a. Soviet spy is a. grotesque
charge: Accusing him-.may have
possibly` been a- way .of deflect.
ing accusations against others.
-Although Skardon- is ' best
known'-as the:'man who broke
Fuchs,' -he.-:- also -dealt- with-
William Joyce (Lord Haw-Haw),
the- Krogers . Gordon -L'onsdale.:
.and; a ? string ..of _ other spies,
some:?whose -names have not yet
been' revealed.- In his-interview
with .The :Smday Times he went
on to-'=recall' highlights? of 'his
"21 years asT h-I5's= top interro-
:'? ~ Interrogation -. techniques--
:" My instructor had a remark
-: able}. method.'Hle would ask. a
'question and ignore-=the answer.
.Later, hey :would ask tbA same
gdesfilon ,as if: hay had nev~er~~
heard the;first wet. a would ,*1
do this over and-over, irritating
the suspect into indiscretions-,
For example, he had asked Nunn',
y' several times what. he, had
M
a
May, you've , handed over
sample-of er, er .... Nunn-May
lost:- his-- patience and- 'said
`Uranium,-l'. Uranium.. - Uranium
235:' Then-- my instructor poun-
ced. `I; don't .see. why that's very