PHILBY OFFERS TO WITHDRAW BOOK ON CAREER AS PART OF SKY TRADE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000600330014-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 21, 2000
• Sequence Number: 14
• Publication Date: December 19, 1967
• Content Type: NSPR

NEW YORK XIU
Approved For Release 20011e7E2b 6IA-RD P75-00149R00 C#H014-8
E 796
JPfiilby Offers to Withdraw Book
On Career as Part of.Spy Trade,
CPYRG HT Special to The New York Tlmea I
T ( TDOA1~ Dee,
48 .1
------- 40 M-AhAdrenr ills man.
:A. R. (Kim) Philby,. the British
+espionage official who defected
to the, Soviet Union in 1903,
script if the convicted Sovie
spies Peter and Helen Kroger
now serving prison sentence
in Britai
h
n, were exc
anged fo
was reported Coda to have of-!
Y Gerald Brooke, a British lectur
fered to withdraw the manu- er who is serving a prison
script of a book damaging tq camp sentence In the Sovie?
Western intelligence if an ?ex- Union as a spy.
Philby said Mr.rBrooke had
Excerpts from Philby interview
in Izvestia are on Page 18.
been working 'for N.T.S., the
People's Labor Front, a Rus-
sian refugee organization,.. will
was formerly financed by Brit.
change of Soviet and British ish intelligence. but 'which , he
spies was arranged. had himself handed over to the
In the book, which he wanted: Central Intelligence Agency.
7 herefore he concluded, its.
published in the West, Philby,"up to you and the Americans
said he would name the col-r to decide who wants him
leagues he was involved with,' back." /`
r
"but not in an unkindly way;:;
I hope." , Soviet Publicizes Philby .
"Just setting down the facts,
he added In an interview with a
British reporter. "I think the
truth should come out." '
[In Moscow, Izvestia intro-
duced the Soviet public to
Philby in an article praising
him and the Soviet intelli-
gence services and deriding
Western intelligence.]
Philby's offer, of .the book
and the subsequent terms of its
,withdrawal were made to Mur-
ray Sayle, a correspondent' for
The Sunday Times of London.
Two weeks ago Philby took
The Sunday Times, which in
October published a series of
articles disclosing details
. of
,
Philby's 30-year; career as
Soviet spy, said that it turhed -
down his offer after learning
that he was not interested in.
money but in making "a ? de-
liberate Tattempt __ to, damage
Western ' interests, including' .
Western Intelligence organiza-
tions." Foreign Secretary George
Brown has criticized Lord
Thompson, who owns The Sun-
day Times, for having permit-
ted publication of the-October
series, which embarrassed the
British and American Intelli-
the initiative by telephoning Mr. gence. establishmen.' Whether
Sayle, who was in Moscow onto prine Philby's own story
a scientific assignment Philby! now appears to have become
hi
offered The; Sunday Times an
80,000-word manuscript dealing
mainly with his work as a trust.
ed membef of British intelli-
gence when in realty he wog,
fdf i1Jflinst 30 yeats,? Att. Jfliiidra
tant- Soviet agent..;.
At ~ one of a series of meet.
gs with Mr. Sayler pliilby'of
e way Soviet policy `had been
carried out in Africa. Alluding
to the overtluow' of Kwame
Nkrumah'sas prsident of Ghana,
,Philby said that he had warned
against deep Soviet involve-
ment in Africa and said:
"Well, we did. Million of
rubles down the drain. I was
sorry to see Nkrumah followed
now, the but are in w
o
n -
I as
proved right. Our policy now is,
Watch, help, but no deep in-
volvement. Incidentally, the
Chinese seem to have done even
worse than we did."
About himself Philby spoke
readily.
"I love life, women 'and
hildren, food and drink,?' he
Glared.
Asked how he felt about leav-
ng his own family he replied?
"I suppose I am really two
eople. I am a private person
longed. have followed exactly
the sea I
m line the whole of my
adult life. The fight .against
Fascism and the fight against
imperialism were, fundamental-
ly, the same fight."
The celebration of the jubilee
of the dreaded organization
that was the principal executor
of Stalin's terror has caused
some Russians to smile without
being amused and has led for-
eign observers to speculate on
the reasons.
Most of the observers con-
nect the spate or articles, film .
showings and. issuance . of a
K.G.B. commemorative stamp
to a campaign to' draw atten=
tion ' to weakness In Western,'
intelligence as, well as to 'dis-
credit it, and to publicize the
degree, of Soviet. - knowledge
and ,vigilance
nd a political person. Of.
nurse if there Ifli
,s,. a conct,'
be-political person comes first';
How did he feel, he was
sked, ' about. being called' a
actor.
"To betray," 'h m 'replied
"you
,
ust ,first, belong.;. I' ~neveq.be-i
Approved For Release 2001/07127 CIA-RDP7.5-001491:2000600330014-8 .
somet
ng of an issue of con-
science among London pub-
lishers.
Mr. Sayle wrote that Philby
spoke critically of the way the
Soviet, Union had treated Dan-
iel and ginyavolfy, who were
sent to a labor camp?for hav-j
ing smuggled ther two books
would have got a week in jail,
or perhaps a public censure fro:
their colleagues in the Writers
Union. What's the point of send-
ing them to a labor camp?" ?
Philby was also critical of
criticizing the Soviet !Union to!
Western publishers.
"I was completely . against
it," he said, "I thought the
whole thing was a regrettable
reversion to the old spirit. They