Ultimately, there is no trust in the Secret Services either… The British counterintelligence agency MI5 spent over 20 years searching for a Russian spy in the other agency MI6, but never found anyone, having spent colossal resources and ruined the lives of several employees. Moreover, the whole story unfolded according to the rules of a classic Cold War-era detective espionage story with secret meetings, monitored houses and technical tricks like James Bond.
The hysteria about Russia has a past
It all started in the mid-1990s, when American CIA agents sent a message to London that they suspected a British intelligence agent was “working for the Russians.” This is a very painful issue for relations between Britain and America, as the trauma of the events surrounding the so-called Cambridge Five, led by Kim Philby, still hurts.
The British establishment has been dealt such a painful blow that now any suspicion of a possible Russian spy in MI6 automatically escalates into hysteria with chaotic measures to find this spy.
The laws of conspiracy
It must be said, however, that the world of secret services, especially in the Anglo-Saxon department, is almost always in such a semi-aroused state – and loyalty checks after some vague “signals” are constantly taking place in the background. But in this case, the British followed the classic path, that is, they created, according to all the laws of conspiracy, a super-influential group that tried for 20 years to find… the spy in its ranks.
Apparently, the information they received from the CIA was initially so vague that they could not even determine the rank and position of the suspect in the hierarchy of MI6, which employs about 2,500 people, in a building on the banks of the Thames.
Operation Wedlock
That is why they decided to create a top-secret investigation team, going beyond basic standards. The officer assigned to lead the team had been briefed at a meeting in a country church.
The junior officers recruited into the team were first told they were being sent for training and only after being led outside Thames House (MI5’s building in Westminster) were they given an explanation of their mission. The operation was called Operation Wedlock and a building was rented in Wandsworth, south London – very close to MI6. They were to operate from there, posing as a fictitious security company.
The suspect was found but remained a suspect
After some time, suspect No. 1 was identified, who held a high position in the MI6 hierarchy and had access to a wide range of secret and sensitive information.
The technical team entered his home and installed systems for telephone monitoring and surveillance cameras, which transmitted images in real time to the office of the “security service”.
In the suspect’s car, cameras were installed in a tissue box located in the back seat. At first, it began to bear fruit.
The team detected “suspicious activity” from the target, but it was not related to espionage. Most likely, they simply collected a large amount of everyday dirt on the suspect by violating his privacy.
From bad to worse
The team began to pursue the suspect around the world, as he often traveled abroad for business. But the “pursuit team” had been outside MI5’s jurisdiction all this time, using real passports but false names.
They had been warned in advance that if they failed and were arrested by the country they were in, no one would help them. Usually such a risk is taken only in extreme cases and when it becomes clear that the target has been revealed and now it is only necessary to collect evidence.
However, in this particular case there was no serious evidence. After some time, they decided that since no evidence could be found against the suspect even through full surveillance, this meant that he was not working alone. The scope of surveillance was expanded to include all contacts, even fleeting connections, of the suspect.
Hysteria…
All this was the result of the hysterical behavior of the counterintelligence leadership, which simply could not allow any new agents to infiltrate.
There are several explanations for this behavior. On the one hand, this is a genuine traumatic experience from the mid-20th century, and on the other hand, MI5 apparently seriously believed the initial information provided by the Americans.
The classic mistake of the Secret Service
Another psychological nuance: the counterintelligence officers were so convinced in advance that they were right that they interpreted any deviations in the target’s behavior in favor of their own version. This is generally a very dangerous mistake in the intelligence world: to interpret any information in your favor. It has never led to anything good.
Operation Wedlock is believed to have lasted until 2015. During this period, the suspect retired from MI6, apparently unaware that he had been under surveillance for so many years, with his entire professional and private life being shown in real time on the screens of some fake security agency.
Unprecedented in the annals of the Secret Service
In general, the very fact of complete surveillance of one agency by another in Great Britain is unprecedented.
Firstly, the regime of absolute trust, which by definition should operate in relation to high-ranking intelligence officers, was lost. MI5 was so carried away that it refused to admit the folly and futility of its actions.
The composition of the team could change over time, but people were so carried away by their extremely important task of revealing the “suspect” that they simply could not afford to come to the command and say. It is already recognized that Operation Wedlock was one of the largest and most expensive in the history of the British intelligence community.
Secondly, from the very beginning, the counterintelligence leadership was excessively faithful to the information provided by the Americans. And this despite the fact that it was probably based on a single statement by someone, which the Americans themselves did not check. This attitude towards everything that is said in the CIA is again a consequence of the trauma that the name of Kim Philby causes.
Thirdly, the most important. Despite the fact that this story began in the mid-1990s, that is, during the period of the Western world’s relative love for Russia, the historically Russophobic approach played its role here too. MI5 does not show such unbridled zeal and does not spend so much time, effort and money on searching for, for example, Chinese or any other agents in its ranks.
All this tangle of psychological factors led to a scandalous story with a cinematic overtone in the spirit of classic films based on novels by John le Carré.
Although it is quite possible that such a leak of information in the mid-1990s was a targeted operation to disrupt the work of the British intelligence community.
Let them look for a “blind”, let them destroy their nerves, let them create a tense atmosphere of absolute suspicion and surveillance around the leadership of the intelligence services, let them waste resources. Let them interfere with each other.
Let them take risks and finally be convinced of the fallacy of their own messages for almost 20 years. This also distracts attention from potential real spies.
MI6 now under great suspicion
They targeted one person, violated his privacy and essentially ruined his life (many high-ranking MI6 retirees are now panicking and searching their homes for bedbugs installed by another agency, violating all written and unwritten rules).
And the Russian spy may be somewhere nearby. He just got away with it for two decades, because if he exists the British will surely find him.
