Christopher Herbert
Christopher Herbert was an MI5 officer.
Herbert was educated at Trinity College Dublin, where he earned a first class degree in experimental science.[1] He joined the Indian Civil Service in 1936, and MI5 in 1950.[1]
In 1955, he became a security intelligence at the Colonial Office.[1]
He served as Security Liaison Officer in Singapore in the early 1960s, took over the responsibilities of Security Intelligence Far East when it was abolished in 1962.[1] In 1962, according to Christopher Andrew, Roger Hollis showed the Home Secretary a letter from Lee Kuan Yew expressing gratitude for Herbert's work.[2] Calder Walton places a similar letter in the mid-1960s.[1]
In 1968, he was head of A1 section of A Branch, responsible for technical operations, in which capacity his staff included an expert locksmith and 'burglar'.[3]
K Branch
From 1970, he was responsible for soviet investigations within K Branch as head of KY, overseeing the recruitment of Oleg Lyalin by agent runners Harry Wharton and Tony Brooks.[4] Writing of this operation, Peter Wright described him as 'a calm dependable officer.'[5]
David Leigh states that he then became Director and Co-ordinator of Intelligence in Northern Ireland.[4] However, the chronology may in fact be the reverse, with Herbert serving as Director of Intelligence at HQNI before moving to K Branch in 1970. The confusion may owe something to what Leigh identifies as Peter Wright's faulty chronology of the Lyalin case.[6]
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Calder Walton, Empire of Secrets, William Collins, 2013, p.208.
- ↑ Christopher Andrew, Defence of the Realm, The Authorized History of MI5, Allen Lane, 2009, p.469.
- ↑ Christopher Andrew, Defence of the Realm, The Authorized History of MI5, Allen Lane, 2009, p.337.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 David Leigh, The Wilson Plot, Mandarin, 1989, pp.185-186.
- ↑ Peter Wright, Spycatcher, Viking, 1987, p.342.
- ↑ Peter Wright, Spycatcher, Viking, 1987, p.342.
