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July 2001
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Geoffrey Prime, Radio Operator, Linguist, Spy! | Book review : The big breach | News Items
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| What a nice idea it would be to order this book using the search form located at the bottom of this page! |
Peter Wright was given the best advertising available for his book 'Spycatcher'; the response from HM Government. The early stories in the newspapers right up to the Court proceedings did little to suppress the book, which was, perhaps not surprisingly, a best seller.
From the initial interest in Richard Tomlinson by the newspapers to the actual publishing of his book, it was obvious that HM Government was not going to become an unwitting advertising agency this time.
In his book Tomlinson describes how he was recruited into MI6 during his final year at Cambridge.
Richard Tomlinson has written the book in an informative manner, having changed names and places, where necessary.
He describes various events that he was involved in with some depth, as well as his training. Certain establishment locations, whilst changed are described adequately for someone with a knowledge of the area to actually identify or even find them.
He describes, in some detail, methods used to deal with unwanted surveillance, dropping and clearing dead letter boxes and other tradecraft that he claims he learnt during his IONEC. The training at Fort Monkton, as well as its location is interestingly covered. The manner in which he describes the location does suppose that the reader has never heard of Monkton although those who have read John Le Carre's spy novels would realise that his descriptions of the fictional 'Sarratt Nursery' correspond to Tomlinson's offering for Fort Monkton. Duncan Campbell, the investigative journalist, also referred to Fort Monkton, with illustrations, in his 'Big Brother is Listening ' published 1979, 1980 and 1981. Tomlinson's reference to CX documents is probably an embarrassment to HM Government given the Libya assassination news story that found prominence in the British and international press.
Equipment used in some cases is described in an embarrassingly accurate manner. He names the pen [and describes manner of its discovery and the actual process] used to produce invisible writing as well as the development of the hidden print. The container used to innocently carry the 'developer' into countries without drawing attention to the contents is also mentioned.
The book has fifteen chapters in which the above mentioned, recruitment and MI6 operations are described. He goes on to account for the reason which caused his break with his employer and describes the manner in which, Tomlinson claims, they approached him and the breaking of a claimed arrangement reached between MI6 representatives and Tomlinson after some rather heavy harassment. Personally I remain a little confused as to why he was dismissed.
There is no immediate conclusion to this book. It has not happened as far as the general public is aware. The Sunday Times printed some out-takes from the text of the book whilst the Government strove to initially stop them with the power of the Law Courts behind them. Having failed with that effort HM Government then took legal action to ensure that the author, Richard Tomlinson, would never benefit from his literary effort.
Having read the book one becomes aware that financial gain is possibly not the aim of this book but one is prompted, despite the reasons given within the book, to ask 'why publish in Russia?'
The book is a good, interesting read. Whether Richard Tomlinson's operational capabilities are as written is a decision that the reader needs to make for oneself. The changes are subtle; the radio mentioned, the PRC 319, is probably the AN/PRC 139.
Of interest to ENIGMA 2000, Spooks and N&O readers is his reference to OTP's and the receiving and decoding of 40 numbers. Of greater interest is what he was tasked with at the time. [There is mention here of other message handling equipment which is also of interest]. It was not spying!
The author is described on the back flap as: 'Richard Tomlinson was born in New Zealand and grew up in England. He is fluent in Spanish, German, French and Italian. A licensed pilot and skipper his hobbies include scuba diving, gardening and windsurfing'.
Inside the author describes how he joined the TA and got himself 'badged' with 22 SAS. His descriptions of training exercises and his general 'derring-do' whilst with his TA regiment does make the reader question why he was allowed to leave his employment with MI6 and not encouraged to stay. The account of his stay in HM Prisons is vivid enough to ensure that the reader would not like to become an inmate!
The book has since become available, in paperback, in Great Britain. Priced at £9.99 it was seen in WH Smith on Victoria Station London. Surprisingly the entire book is also freely available via the Internet. The text version can be downloaded as a zipped file onto a 1.44M floppy. [See Relevant Web Sites Issue 4].
Morse stations | Voice stations | Oddities
Geoffrey Prime, Radio Operator, Linguist, Spy! | Book review : The big breach | News Items
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