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     Indy_bueller |
I find this really interesting. I wish they would release more information about this guy and his spy ring. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article70 25671.ece Agent Knopf’s legacy is helping to shed light on the wartime work of MI6Paul Winter: Commentary Recommend? (9) Archival research is like mining for gold or precious stones: long shifts sifting tons of material in the hope that one or two nuggets of historical importance will be unearthed. It was while mining the rich seams at the Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge, and the National Archives at Kew, that the first, and as yet only, documentary gems citing Agent Knopf and his fellow spies were discovered by this author. These discoveries proved not only that Britain had agents within the German High Command, they also overturned 60 years of received wisdom. Since the end of the war historians have assumed that the greatest secrets of the German war machine were divined through the decryption of the Enigma codes at Bletchley Park, and not through the efforts of high-level agents in Hitler’s high command. Robert Cecil, a former personal assistant to the Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), popularly known as MI6, lamented that the focus on the Enigma story had relegated Humint (human intelligence) to insignificance. “This hardly does justice to the [wartime] role of MI6,” he complained. By far the greatest obstacle to a better understanding of the role of wartime agents such as Knopf is MI6 itself. Wedded to a policy of non-disclosure with regard to its records, the service has, in contrast to its sister organisations, MI5 and GCHQ, remained quiet about its past achievements. Related Links Spy fed information on Hitler’s invasion plans Love and war reunion for code-breakers Rightly citing the need to protect the identities of its agents and informants, the SIS has on occasion reaffirmed its determination to remain “secret”. In 1998 Robin Cook, then Foreign Secretary, declared in Parliament that, “the Secret Intelligence Service ... must remain secret ... Their effectiveness and their lives depend on their identities and work remaining out of the public eye”. In December 2005, a slight relaxation of this policy took place when it was announced that an official history of the service covering the years 1909 to 1949 would be published in 2010. Yet, almost in the same breath, the public was told that there were no plans to release SIS material in the foreseeable future. The significance of Agent Knopf, therefore, goes beyond a chance discovery in the archives. Seventy years after passing on the secrets of Hitler’s Germany, Knopf, or rather the documentary spoors he left behind, is finally revealing the truth about the long-hidden wartime work of MI6. Dr Paul Winter is a historian working on British wartime intelligence |
