Running Head COLD WAR1Shabana PrashadProfessor. Abdoo.docx

Running Head: COLD WAR 1
Shabana Prashad
Professor. Abdoo
English 101.5762
November 27, 2018
Cold War Espionage: The Cambridge
University Connection of Kim Philby and Guy Burgess.
The title of the paper refers a ring of spies contracted
by the Soviet Union to pass intelligence information from the
United Kingdom during the World War II and beginning of the
cold until early 1950. These men were formerly recognized as
“Cambridge Spy ring” since they were all enlisted while they
were learners at Trinity College, Cambridge in 1930. The five
men who were identified to be the members of this ring were;
Harold “Kim” Philby, Anthony Blunt, John Cairncross, Guy
Burgess, and Donald Maclean. These men were able to infiltrate
the intelligence structure of the British government and handed
much-classified info to the Soviet Union. There is a possibility
that they could have been many of them, but the five were
successfully uncovered.
It is not clear why these spies decided to betray their country
and becoming the worst known traitors of their motherland.
However, some of the reasons they gave as to why they decided
to turn an enemy of the country include the view of the United
States as an enemy to the peace of the world and thought Union
of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was the only bulwark
against Nazism. Many people at that time viewed that it was
just excuses of betraying to one’s country. This paper will
concentrate on the lives of the two chief infamous traitors of the
British people who include Guy Burgess and Harold “Kim”
Philby.
Egotism is the fair view of oneself. It is the bias towards

justifying one’s opinion. The “Cambridge Spying Ring” showed
significant levels of egotism. At one point, Philby indicated that
he did not betray his country. He argued that he only engaged in
what he felt was the right thing from his rational thinking. It is
clear that his activities amounted to betrayal. Egotism is a
common phenomenon in him and among his friends.
The topic of the paper influences a host of other issues. It
reflects the cost of national loyalty, international relations, and
democracy. Fascism is one of the factors that inspired the
betrayers. They believed in the elitism of Russia over other
states. The topic reflects the value of international relations,
allegiance, and loyalty to one’s government. Disloyal activities
commonly lead to unfortunate ends and significant harm on a
nation.
Guy Burgess was born in Devonport on April 16, 1911. He
was the eldest son of Commander Malcolm Kingsford de Moncy
Burgess and Evelyn Mary. “As a youth Burgess attended Eton,
the prestigious private school, and then entered the Royal Navy
College at Dartmouth” (Craddock 45). His classmate was a man
who could get into the root of any question and wrote essays
full of insight. Burgess later joined Trinity College where he
joined the Cambridge University Socialist Society (CUSS). It
was here Burgess was recruited in Communist party by Maurice
Dobb in 1932.
“Deutsch was a key figure in assembling the Cambridge Five, of
whom Philby and Burgess were the first recruits” (Craddock
45). Burgess became the most influential spy among the
Cambridge Five. Burgess placed himself in places of influence
where he could get access to same secrets information and
passed it to his masters in the Soviet Union. At first, Burgess
worked as a BBC correspondent from the year 1936-1938. Then
from 1938-1941, he became a member of MI6 an intelligence
agency in the United Kingdom. He later worked at the British
foreign office from 1944. Using his influence in MI6, he helped
to secure a job for Philby at the intelligence agency.
Burgess was also able to influence Russia to recruit Blunt and

Cairncross into spy web. No one ever thought that Burgess
would be useful as most of the time he appeared to be an
embarrassment to the rest of the members. Burgess was known
to be the worst drunkard and one who never cared about being
scrutinized. A reporter by the name Lownie described Burgess
as a natural liar and a person whose story and the account could
not be believed as a natural character of a spy.
Another important thing about Burgess is that he always wore
his high school tie which appeared to like his badge (Boyle 8).
Burgess interacted with very influential people in England, and
he even wrote a book which was signed by the famous Winston
Churchill. It is reported that Burgess alone handed over to the
KGB over 389 secrets in the first six months of the year 1945
and in 1949 he additionally handed over 168 documents (Boyle
265). In 1951 while working as the second secretary in the
British embassy in America, he was recalled back home.
Before he could be dismissed from the foreign office, he
realized that some investigation was being done on his
colleague spy Maclean and that the intelligence agency was
closing in on him. Both men fled from England to avoid
prosecution. Their whereabouts were not known until 1956
when both appeared in a press conference and announced that
they were living in Moscow as communists. His stay in Moscow
made him realize that he was no longer in the trappings of
power nor access any meaningful connections a life which he
found to be intolerable. Eventually, Burgess died of acute liver
failure in 1963 at the age of 52.
Kim Philby was born on January 1st, 1912. He joined
Cambridge University, and it was there he joined the communist
party. He first worked as a journalist up to 1940. Philby was the
first in all the five Cambridge spies to be recruited by Arnold
Deutsch, and in turn, Philby recruited Burgess. In 1940 Philby
was recruited into MI6 by Guy Burgess who also was an agent
with the same intelligence agency (Lerner 152). The aim was to
place themselves in places where they could quickly get top
secret information to pass to their handlers in the Soviet Union.

Toward the end of World War II, “Philby had been appointed
the head of counterespionage an operation carried out by the
MI6” (Lerner 153). The irony was his primary responsibility
was to combat Soviet operations in Western Europe. In 1949
Philby was posted to an MI6 office in Washington to serve as
its head and top liaison officer between the British and US
intelligence agency. This post enabled Philby to inform his
masters a plan that was a hatch to send armed anticommunist to
Albania in 1950. This information led to the defeat of the
British-US army to Albania. Many of the armed men sent were
killed.
Things started to turn against Philby in 1951 when he realized
that the FBI was investigating an agent who was considered to
be a spy for the USSR (Boyle 153). Philby informed his co-
spies Burgess and Maclean, and they fled to France and later to
Moscow. After these two double agents fled, Philby was
suspected to be the one who passed to information to them, and
he was fired from the MI6 in 1955. Philby moved to Beirut
where he worked as a journalist. While in Beirut, Philby
realized that he was being pursued by the secret agents for
prosecution and thus fled to USSR in 1963(Lerner 132). In
Moscow, he was hired in KGB which is an intelligence agency
and moved to the rank of colonel.
Philby seemed to be devoted communist whose loyalty lay
towards USSR rather than his motherland, Great Britain (Lerner
153). Philby was held responsible for many deaths of British
intelligence agents whom he betrayed to their enemy. In Britain,
he is considered as a traitor while the Russians see him as a
hero. Unlike his friend Burgess, Philby had a family, but both
had one thing in common; they thrived in alcohol. It did not
take long before his wife Pukhova abandoned him due to
alcoholism. It is also believed that Philby married other women,
and he had children with them, but he abandoned all of them
when he ran away to exile. Although Philby was highly
respected in Soviet, he felt isolated and lonely. At one time
during an interview, Philby said that he went to Soviet with a

lot of information, but no one seemed interested with what he
had, he felt used (Lerner 152). It is the bottle that provided
solace for him
Many people suffered in the hands of Philby including agents
who he could send to their death trap (Ron 13). His family also
suffered a great deal due to his disappearance, and for a long
time, they were not allowed to visit him in exile. Later on his
eldest son, Tommy was able to pay him five visits to Russia.
Despite Tommy admitting his father committed a felony, he
thinks no one died out of the information his father gave to
Soviet.
The number of people who lost their lives due to Philby’s
betrayal was uncountable. "For a good reason. Kim simply can’t
be trusted. He happens to be one of nature’s farouches, a wild
man capable of turning the place upside down for his own ends”
(Boyle 258).
“On January 10, 1963, Philby’s old friend in MI6 named
Nicholas Elliott was sent to him to try to extract some
confession” (Boyle 442). Elliott promised him immunity, and
that is when he confessed about his activities. He was ordered
to report to the British embassy in Moscow, but he suspected it
could be a trap, and thus he fled again. Philby lived a hopeless
life and even contemplated committing suicide. Eventually, Kim
Philby died in Moscow at the age of 72.
Spying activities carried out by the “Cambridge spying ring”
did not have a long-term impact on British’s intelligence
efficacy. The spies were discovered and rushed to take cover in
Russia. However, they lived miserable lives which made them
feel abandoned. Betrayal did not bring them peace even after
running to exile despite the innumerable persons who died as a
result of their disloyalty and changed allegiance.
The “Cambridge Spying Ring” had a significant financial,
human, and ecological cost. On the one hand, the US and UK
lost many investigative officers due to betrayal. At the same
time, the five all died miserably and left their families as
desolate social units. Additionally, the spying and intelligence

departments in both countries lost loads of funds. They did not
succeed in their activities and lost human resource personnel
trained at a hefty cost.
We can learn numerous lessons from the five criminals
discussed above. Initially, it is evident that the criminals never
trust each other. It is documented that after Burgess and
Maclean fled away to Moscow, Philby and Blunt turned against
each other. Philby wrote to the head of MI6 suggesting it was
Burgess who was giving all the material documents to the
Soviet. Blunt also visited deputy director of MI5 and pointed
fingers to Burgess.
Works Cited
Barnes, Julian E. "The Third Man” U.S News & World Report,
vol. 134, no. 3, Jan.2003, p.
61.EBSCOhost,mail.lagcc.cuny.edu/viplogin/default.aspx?direct
=true&db=a9h&AN=8948521&site=ehost-live.

Boyle, Andrew. "Britain’s Establishment Spies." New York
Times (1923-current files).9 Dec, 1979, pp. 5. ProQuest,
http://rpa.laguardia.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-
com.rpa.laguardia.edu/docview/123888746?accountid=11946.
Boyle, Andrew. The fourth man: the definitive account of Kim
Philby, Guy Burgess, and Donald Maclean and who recruited
them to spy for Russia. Bantam Books, 1980.
Lerner, Brenda Wilmoth. “Cambridge University Spy Ring
"Encyclopedia of espionage, intelligence, and security. Ed. K.
Lee Lerner. Gale, 2004.pp. 151-155.
Ron R. "Kim Philby and the age of Paranoia." New York Times
(1923-Current file), 10 July, 1994, pp. 13. ProQuest,
https://rpa.laguardia.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-
com.rpa.laguardia.edu/docview/109342648?accountid=11946.
"Burgess, Guy." Encyclopedia of World Biography, edited by
James Craddock, 2nd ed., vol. 34, Gale,2014, pp.44-
47.GaleVirtualReferenceLibrary,
http://link.galegroup.com.rpa.laguardia.edu:2048/apps/doc/CX3
788300029/GVRL?u=cuny_laguardia&sid=GVRL&xid=6467027
2. Accessed 25 Nov. 2018.

Cambridge University Spy Ring
ADRIENNE WILMOTH LERNER
Encyclopedia of Espionage, Intelligence and Security. Ed. K.
Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale,
2004. p151-155.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale, COPYRIGHT 2006 Gale,
COPYRIGHT 2007 Gale, Cengage Learning
Full Text:
Page 151 Cambridge University Spy Ring
[Image Omitted: eeis_01_img0157.jpg ]
█ ADRIENNE WILMOTH LERNER
The Cambridge spy ring was a group of British young men
recruited as Soviet spies in the 1930s. The group was known in
Britain as the Cambridge spy ring, after the University where

the men attended classes and were recruited for espionage. In
the Soviet Union, the group was known as the "magnificent
five." The Cambridge spy ring infiltrated the highest level of
the British government, including MI-5, MI-6, the Foreign
Office, and the War Ministry. During their career, the group
betrayed some of
Page 152
[Image Omitted: eeis_01_img0158.jpg ]
Kim Philby (right) shown here following the shelling of his
vehicle during the Spanish Civil War, was a member of the
Communist Party while at Cambridge University, where he
recruited and led a ring of spies for the Soviet Union.
©BETTMANN/CORBIS.
Britain's most guarded secrets to the Soviet Union. The group
was led by master-spy, Harold "Kim" Philby.
Soviet agents planned to expand their espionage network in
Britain as early as 1928. Though several spies operated
successfully in Britain at the time the Cambridge ring was
founded, Soviet intelligence officials realized that it was
necessary to recruit people who had access to the upper
echelons of British society, who could land prestigious civil
service jobs, to infiltrate the highest levels of British
government. To that end, Soviet agents began recruiting young
men at Oxford University and Cambridge University into
service. They looked for students who held genuine communist
or socialist political sympathies, and who possessed the
necessary social pedigree to obtain the confidence of high level
peers. From Cambridge, Soviet agents persuaded Kim Philby,
Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean, Anthony Blunt, and John
Carincross into service for the Soviet Union.
Kim Philby. After graduating Cambridge, Kim Philby (1912–
1988) failed to land a position in the Foreign Service. He
worked briefly at the London Times. Philby proved his worth to
Soviet intelligence during this time by smuggling agents and
communist supporters out of fascist Austria. He then traveled to
Spain as a war correspondent, covering the Spanish Civil War.

When World War II began, Philby returned to Britain, finally
securing a job with British Intelligence.
From 1944 to 1946, Philby served as director of anti-Soviet
counterintelligence for British Intelligence. The position
guaranteed his access to top-level British military, intelligence,
and government secrets, including World War II battle plans
and Cold War agreements between Britain and the United States
to thwart the spread of communism is Europe.
In 1949, Philby was stationed in Washington, D.C. as part of an
Anglo-American intelligence cooperative operation. For three
years, Philby had access to CIA and FBI files. More damaging,
he received briefings of Venona Project intercepts, providing
him with the ability to inform Moscow of United States efforts
to break Soviet communications codes. The Venona intercepts
also allowed Philby to monitor American knowledge of Soviet
spy networks withinPage 153 the United States, and report
defections to Soviet authorities. After returning to London in
1951, Philby continued his career as a mole (double agent) for
over a decade.
Guy Burgess. Guy Burgess (1910–1963) worked as a radio
correspondent for the BBC from 1936 through 1944. During
World War II, Burgess was also employed by British
intelligence agency, MI5. Burgess was somewhat successful in
transmitting messages to Soviet agents via radio broadcasts and
smuggled several key documents to Moscow. Burgess stole
some of the most sensitive information in the career of the
Cambridge spy ring. While working for MI-5 in London, he
smuggled copies of documents relating to nuclear weapons
development. He also informed the Soviet government of United
States and British plants to create the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO), a European-American military alliance
system.
In 1950, Kim Philby requested that Burgess be assigned to the
Washington, D.C., bureau of the British Foreign Office. Burgess
worked as Philby's assistant until he came under the suspicion
of British intelligence. Philby then sent Burgess back to

London, presumably to avoid suspicion upon himself.
Donald Maclean. The third member of the Cambridge spy ring,
Donald Maclean (1913–1983), worked closely with Burgess.
After graduating from Cambridge, Maclean worked in
diplomatic service. In 1950, he became head of the Foreign
Office's American Department.
While working at the British Embassy in Washington, D.C.,
Maclean was the main source of information regarding United
States and British communications, advising Moscow on Anglo-
American policy. In 1951, Maclean was tapped to be the British
representative on the American-British-Canadian council on the
sharing of atomic secrets. With Burgess, Maclean used his
position to funnel highly classified atomic secrets to Soviet
military intelligence. The two men did not steal technical
information about the atomic bomb, but did provide Moscow
with accurate assessments of the American atomic arsenal,
production capabilities, and nuclear resources.
The Defections of Maclean, Burgess, and Philby. In 1949,
Robert Lamphere, an FBI counterintelligence agent working
with the Venona project, discovered that someone was sending
telegraph messages from the British Embassy in Washington,
D.C. to Moscow. The sender, under the codename "Homer" was
later identified as Maclean. Philby, while working in
Washington, learned of the FBI investigation of Maclean.
Philby then devised a plan to warn Maclean of his impending
exposure, while protecting himself and the rest the Cambridge
spies.
Philby and Burgess agreed that Burgess would endeavor to be
recalled by the Foreign Office to London, where he could
arrange to meet with, and warn Maclean without arousing
suspicion. Since Burgess had lived in the Philby family home
while assigned to his Washington, D.C. post, Philby cautioned
Burgess not to attempt to defect to the Soviet Union with
Maclean should he decide to escape. Burgess agreed to escort
Maclean to safety, but to return to Britain to avoid drawing
attention to other members of the Cambridge ring.

Days before he was scheduled to be questioned by British and
American intelligence officials, Maclean, with Burgess, escaped
to France. Once on the continent, they made their way to
Moscow via a network of KGB safe houses. Soviet authorities
insisted that Burgess defect with Maclean. Burgess lived in
Russia until his death in 1963, though he reportedly did not
attempt to further participate in the Soviet government. Maclean
learned Russian and spent his remaining years working as an
economic analyst and advisor on Western policy.
When British intelligence learned of Burgess and Maclean's
defection, and acknowledged their roles in Soviet espionage
operations, Philby was immediately placed under suspicion as a
possible Soviet mole. In 1955, he deftly weathered MI-5 and
MI-6 interrogation. After being released from his job at MI-6,
he later was permitted to return to the civil service. Philby
continued to act as a mole for Soviet intelligence for several
more years, though he had limited access to top-secret
materials.
In 1963, under renewed suspicion of espionage, Philby took a
position as Foreign Office correspondent in Beirut, Lebanon.
Later that year, a Soviet intelligence agent defected to the West.
While being interrogated by Australian and British intelligence
in Sydney, the defector named Philby as one of the Soviet's
greatest human intelligence assets. Philby quickly defected to
the Soviet Union, where he spent the rest of his life. He worked
with the KGB, training spies for operation in the West.
Cambridge spy ring member Anthony Blunt aided Philby's final
escape.
Anthony Blunt. Though not the most active spy in the
Cambridge ring, Anthony Blunt (1907–1983) aided Soviet
agents' recruitment efforts at Cambridge. Blunt supplied the
names of possible moles, and regularly attended communist
political meetings in search of young recruits.
Blunt received degrees in history and art history from
Cambridge. At the outbreak of World War II, Blunt went to
work for British Intelligence. Blunt lacked the high-level

security clearances possessed by other Cambridge spy ring
members, however he was successful in smuggling photographs
of documents regarding British troop locations and
counterintelligence reports to his KGB contact, Yuri Modin.
Blunt also provided information to Soviet military intelligence
regarding British code breaking efforts against the Germans.
After the war, he cultivated a reputation as a leading national
academic. Socially, he often refused to comment on national
and international political matters, leading colleagues to believe
he had grown disillusioned and possessed little interest in the
subject.
Page 154
Though Blunt did conduct espionage for the Soviets after World
War II, a majority of his operations was conducted during
wartime. He was the first member of the Cambridge spy ring to
retire from service, returning to his career as an art historian
and museum curator, and the only member to remain in Britain.
In 1964, an American, Michael Straight, who had attended
Cambridge with Blunt told FBI and MI-5 agents that Blunt had
tried to recruit him to spy for the Soviet Union. After being
exposed as a member of the Cambridge spy ring, Blunt provided
MI-5 and MI-6 with some information regarding his past
operations and associates, most of whom had by 1964 died or
defected to Russia and were out of reach of British prosecutors.
In exchange, Blunt was not tried for his offenses. He continued
his career in art history, managing the Courtauld Collection
until his retirement. His career as a spy for the Soviet Union
was exposed to the public by the government officials under
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1979. He was stripped of
his knighthood and academic honors. By the time of his
exposure, the public was already well acquainted with the
stories of agents Maclean, Burgess, and Philby. Blunt was then
presumed to be the final member of the infamous Cambridge
spy ring.
John Carincross. In 1990, a fifth member of the Cambridge ring
was publicly identified. John Carincross (1913–1995) worked

with Maclean in the Foreign Office before being transferred to
the offices of the Treasury in 1940. Through his connections
with British intelligence and the Treasury, Carincross obtained
a significant amount of information about the British Cipher
School and code-breaking program at Bletchley Park. Heeding
Carincross's warnings, Soviet intelligence changed their
diplomatic, military, and intelligence codes before the end of
World War II. Bletchley Park cryptologists thus, had to begin
anew with efforts to break the Soviet code.
Carincross also leaked information about British and American
nuclear programs. Analysts estimate that the Soviet Union was
able to develop nuclear weapons three years faster, and millions
of dollars cheaper, with the aid of intelligence from moles such
as the Cambridge spies.
Similar to Blunt, when Carincross was exposed, he provided
information about Soviet espionage networks to British
intelligence. While the ultimate usefulness of such information
remains the subject of debate, he was nonetheless granted some
level of immunity from prosecution. When his career as a Soviet
spy was made public, he left England for France.
The legacy of the Cambridge University spy ring. The actual
damage to British and American national security caused by the
activities of the Cambridge spy ring may never be fully
assessed. Even with the declassification of reports and archives
in the former Soviet Union, a comprehensive account of secrets
stolen by the ring remains illusive. The Cambridge spies did
have a profound short-term influence on British and American
intelligence operations. Both nations stepped up
counterespionage efforts to root out similar moles in
government agencies. Competitive tensions between MI-5 and
MI-6 in Britain, and the CIA and FBI in the United States, were
greatly exacerbated after Kim Philby's defection. The agencies
blamed each other for not conducting adequate background
checks on British personnel sent to work on joint Anglo-
American intelligence operations, and for not discovering the
Soviet spy network in time to prevent the loss of substantial

information. The incident humbled both the British and
American intelligence communities, and even fostered mistrust
between the two nations. For a decade, Britain and American
intelligence forces shared only limited information.
Relations between the British and American intelligence
communities gradually became more supportive, eventually
returning to the cooperative status enjoyed in the early Cold
War years. When the Cold War ended with the fall of the Soviet
Union, the extent to which rival nations infiltrated each other's
governments with spy networks was made apparent.
Declassification of documents relating to Cold War espionage
proved the Cambridge spy ring was far from alone in its
operations.
The Cambridge ring gained its notoriety not only from its
exploits of espionage, but also because of it seemingly unlikely
cast of characters—upper class, well-schooled, British citizens
who fit well into the "old boys" network that dominated the
British civil service. Their social credibility helped them gain
access to the nation's top secrets. Further complicating the
legacy of the spy ring was the effectiveness with which the
group operated. Philby, Burgess, Blunt, Maclean, and
Carincross spent years building reputations as loyal British
citizens and staunch anti-communists before beginning active
espionage during World War II. With the exception of one
payment made to Kim Philby when his family was in dire
financial need, none of the Cambridge spies demanded
compensation for their services to Soviet intelligence. The
group thus seemed ideologically loyal to communism, as
opposed to performing espionage for personal gain.
Regardless of motive or the ultimate success of their operations,
the Cambridge spies are some of the most infamous figures of
British intelligence. Subsequent incidences of British citizens in
the employ of Soviet intelligence stealing sensitive information
from high-level officials further embarrassed British
intelligence. In 1963, the Profumo Affair exploded to public
attention when intelligence agents and journalists learned that

the mistress of a British cabinet minister was a Soviet
informant. The "Sex for Secrets" scandal helped bring down the
administration of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. Ironically,
Macmillan, while serving as Foreign Secretary, cleared Kim
Philby of wrong-doing eight years before his ultimate defection.
Labeled traitors in Britain and America, the "magnificent five"
enjoyed fame in the Soviet Union. When KimPage 155 Philby
died there in 1988, he was buried in Moscow with full state
honors.
█ FURTHER READING:BOOKS:
Boyle, Andrew. The Climate of Treason: Five Who Spied for
Russia. London: Hutchinson, 1979.
Brown, Anthony Cave. Treason in the Blood. Boston: Houghton
Mifflin, 1994.PERIODICALS:
Teagarden, Ernest M. "The Cambridge Five: The End of the
Cold War Brings Forth Some Views from the Other Side."
American Intelligence Journal 18, no. 1/2 (1998): 63–68.
SEE ALSO
Cold War (1945-1950), The Start of the Atomic Age
Cold War (1950-1972)
KGB (Komitet Gosudarstvennoi Bezopasnosti, USSR Committee
of State Security)
MI5 (British Security Service)
MI6 (British Secret Intelligence Service)
OSS (United States Office of Strategic Services)
Soviet Union (USSR), Intelligence and Security
Special Relationship: Technology Sharing Between the
Intelligence Agencies of the United States and United Kingdom
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
LERNER, ADRIENNE WILMOTH. "Cambridge University Spy
Ring." Encyclopedia of Espionage, Intelligence and Security,
edited by K. Lee Lerner and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner, vol. 1,
Gale, 2004, pp. 151-155. Gale Virtual Reference Library,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX3403300117/GVRL?u=cu

ny_laguardia&sid=GVRL&xid=ded5870c. Accessed 12 Oct.
2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|CX3403300117
Record: 1
Title:
The Third Man.
Authors:
Barnes, Julian E.
Source:
U.S. News & World Report. 1/27/2003, Vol. 134 Issue 3, p61.
2p. 1 Black and White Photograph.
Document Type:
Article
Subject Terms:
*ESPIONAGE
*INTELLIGENCE service
Geographic Terms:
SOVIET Union
NAICS/Industry Codes:
928110 National Security
People:
PHILBY, Kim, 1912-1988
Abstract:
The coded telegram from London to Moscow was short and
direct. Kim Philby was indeed the most ruthless and methodical
of the members of the Cambridge Spy Ring--five young men at
Cambridge University whom the Soviets tasked with penetrating
the British intelligence services. Philby was particularly well
positioned: He was in charge of Soviet counterintelligence, a
liaison to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Washington
D.C., and even a onetime top candidate to become the head of
Britain's Secret Intelligence Service. All of the Cambridge Five-
-the others were Donald Maclean, Guy Burgess, Anthony Blunt,
and John Cairncross--were communists; they believed that the
Soviet Union was a stronger bulwark against fascism than
Depression-era Britain. In 1945, Philby told the Soviets that

Elizabeth Bentley, an American working for the communists,
had turned herself in to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) and had become a double agent.
Full Text Word Count:
1307
ISSN:
0041-5537
Accession Number:
8948521
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Section:
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Spy Stories
The havoc he wreaked stretched far and wide
The coded telegram from London to Moscow was short and
direct. "We have recruited the son of an Anglo agent, adviser to
Ibn-Saud, Philby." The reference was to one Harold A. R.
Philby, a recent Cambridge graduate the Soviets had enlisted to
spy on his pro-fascist father, an adviser to Saudi Arabia. But in

"Kim" Philby, who signed up for the job in 1934, the Soviets
got a prize far bigger than they had ever imagined. Over a
spying career that lasted 30 years, Philby recruited other Soviet
agents from the British establishment and gave away thousands
of state secrets. In the process, he caused dozens of deaths.
"Philby was truly evil, truly sinister," says Bruce Thompson, a
history lecturer at the University of California-Santa Cruz. "He
was a traitor without any scruples."
Philby was indeed the most ruthless and methodical of the
members of the Cambridge Spy Ring--five young men at
Cambridge University whom the Soviets tasked with penetrating
the British intelligence services. Philby was particularly well
positioned: He was in charge of Soviet counterintelligence, a
liaison to the CIA in Washington, and even a onetime top
candidate to become the head of Britain's Secret Intelligence
Service. Only the paranoia of Joseph Stalin, who feared the
Cambridge Five were triple agents, prevented Philby from doing
more damage.
All of the Cambridge Five--the others were Donald Maclean,
Guy Burgess, Anthony Blunt, and John Cairncross--were
communists; they believed that the Soviet Union was a stronger
bulwark against fascism than Depression-era Britain. But the
five were also sexually rebellious, a characteristic the Soviets
adroitly used in their recruitment. Burgess and Blunt were gay;
Maclean was a confused bisexual; Cairncross and Philby were
promiscuous heterosexuals. "They were all rebels against the
conservative conventional sexual mores," says Christopher
Andrew, author of The Sword and the Shield, a book about
Soviet espionage. "[The Soviets] told them that fascism and
sexual repression are different sides of the same coin."
Though egotism and youthful rebellion helped push him toward
spying, Philby's commitment to communism was genuine. In his
autobiography, he argues he did not betray his country so much
as he stayed loyal to his ideals. Graham Greene, the English
novelist and Philby's friend, said, "He was serving a cause, not
himself." Unlike most spies, the Cambridge Five took little

Soviet money.
Wooing secrets. Philby's success was driven by his duplicity,
cleverness, and charisma. He used his considerable charm to
woo women--including four wives--and to win the trust of his
superiors and the secrets of his counterparts at the CIA. He was
not a great intellectual, but he performed coolly under pressure
and could analyze information from many perspectives.
During World War II, all of the Cambridge Five penetrated
either the British Foreign Office or the intelligence services,
giving the Soviets--then allies--secrets that the British and
Americans were withholding. Cairncross, for example, gave
Moscow information about a weakness in German tanks that
helped the Soviets prevail in the pivotal Battle of Kursk. Spying
for an ally who was fighting a common enemy may have been
morally ambiguous, but the spy ring's Cold War espionage on
behalf of Stalin's totalitarian state was not.
Philby's influence on the Cold War could be direct, such as
when he sabotaged Anglo-American operations, but it was
subtle, as well. In 1945, Philby told the Soviets that Elizabeth
Bentley, an American working for the communists, had turned
herself in to the FBI and had become a double agent. The
Soviets quickly shut down their American spies, frustrating the
FBI's attempts to substantiate Bentley's accusations of a large
Soviet espionage network in the United States. Three years
later, upset that the FBI had not caught any spies, Bentley
brought her story to a newspaper. By that time Stalin wasn't
Uncle Joe anymore, and Bentley's accusations led to hearings
before the House Un-American Activities Committee. But that
is where the hunt ended."The reason they didn't catch anyone
was Philby," says Kathryn Olmsted, the author of Red Spy
Queen, a biography of Bentley. "We are starting to realize
Philby played a critical role in destroying her credibility."
Philby also had to protect himself. In 1945, a Soviet
intelligence officer, Konstantin Volkov, offered to defect and
give up the names of Englishmen spying for Russia. The offer
was sent to London in a diplomatic pouch. When Philby, then

working as head of the Soviet counterintelligence desk, opened
the communique, he realized that Volkov was offering to out
him. "I stared at the papers rather longer than necessary,"
Philby wrote in his memoir. Soon after, Volkov was taken to
Moscow by Soviet agents and killed.
Countless other deaths have been blamed on Philby. Stationed
in Istanbul in 1946, he assigned British agents to penetrate the
Soviet Union and then told his communist masters who was
coming and when. The Soviets promptly murdered the agents.
"He could get large numbers of people killed," Thompson says,
"and did it with relish." Yet Philby's most important operational
success came when he derailed a British and American plan to
try to roll back the Iron Curtain. In December 1949, America
and Britain helped arm a group of anticommunist eastern
Europeans to lead an insurgency into Albania, a starving
country that seemed ready to shake off Stalin. Philby, based in
Washington, helped plan the attack--and ensured its failure. He
tipped the Soviets; Albanian communists ambushed the
insurgents. "It was a total disaster," said Gene Poteat, a retired
CIA intelligence officer. "Every single agent was captured . . .
all thanks to Kim Philby."
Although Philby could sabotage covert operations, the Soviets
ignored much of what he provided because Stalin feared the
Cambridge ring was feeding him misinformation. "The Soviets
didn't imagine anyone could penetrate British intelligence so
well," says Phillip Knightley, Philby's biographer. "They were
paranoid. In Philby's case, a lot of material he provided was
never read."
Mole hunt. In 1951, Americans decoded a five-year-old Soviet
cable and discovered that there was a mole sending their secrets
to Moscow. Maclean, who had suffered a nervous breakdown
and was drinking excessively, was among the suspects. When
Philby learned about the discovery, he had Burgess arrange for
Maclean to escape. The Soviets made Burgess flee, too, casting
suspicion on Philby. The Americans demanded his removal, but
the British defended him. Philby returned to England, where he

was publically accused of being "The Third Man." After Foreign
Secretary Harold Macmillan rose to his defense, he was sent to
Beirut to work as a field agent. But the game would soon be up.
In 1963, a British agent confronted Philby in Lebanon with
irrefutable evidence that he was a spy. Philby confessed, then
stole away on a Soviet freighter.
By that time 50 years old, he went to Moscow thinking he was a
high officer in the KGB; when he arrived he found he was just a
grunt. Many in the KGB still suspected he was a triple agent.
Philby professed to journalists that he had an abiding belief in
communism but was disillusioned with its everyday reality. He
died in 1988, three years before the collapse of the Soviet
Union." He must have seen the truth," says Thompson, "because
he drank himself to death."
Ironically, Philby's greatest victory for the Soviets came with
his exposure. No two powers had ever shared more intelligence
than Britain and America during and after World War II. But
after Philby, the CIA would never again confide in the British
so completely. "Philby succeeded in sowing distrust," Andrew
says. "And that was his aim."
PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE): COOL CUSTOMER. Kim Philby
in London after being cleared of spying charges in 1955. Eight
years later he would flee to the U.S.S.R.
~~~~~~~~
By Julian E. Barnes

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