Churchill and Secret Service

January 5, 1998
In this revealing study, British historian Stafford draws on recently released British secret service archives and Churchill's own papers to lay bare his long-time involvement in covert actions and intelligence gathering. As a soldier in Afghanistan and in the Boer War, the future prime minister was impressed by the value of intelligence work, notes the author. Haunted by the prospect of a German invasion assisted by enemy agents, Churchill, as home secretary between 1910 and 1915, helped build Britain's secret service. Stafford claims that during the 1930s, Churchill set up a private network of informants whose spy-catching efforts rivaled those of the government. He makes a compelling case that Churchill was the principal architect of the Anglo-American web of secret agreements between the two countries' intelligence services during WWII. Stafford then shows how Churchill worked with Eisenhower's CIA to overthrow Iranian prime minister Mohammed Mussadiq in 1953 after the latter nationalized the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. Packed with incredible plots and counterplots, this study maps the creation of the world's postwar geopolitical landscape. Photos not seen by PW.