Jack Morton
Jack Morton was a senior MI5 officer who succeeded Alex Kellar as head of Security Intelligence Far East before becoming Director of Intelligence in Malaya where he advised Sir Gerald Templer on re-organising the local Special Branch.[1]
Contents
Early life
Morton was born in 1911.[2]
India
Morton joined the Indian Police in Punjab in 1937.[2] he was Senior Superintendent of Police, Lahore District during unrest in the mid-1940s, resulting from the trial of members of the pro-Axis Indian National Army.[3]
Iraq
In 1947, Morton was seconded to the Air Ministry as Civil Assistant to the RAF commanding officer in Iraq.[2]
Security Intelligence Far East
In 1949, he was seconded to the office of the Commissioner-General, South-East Asia. According to intelligence writers Bloch and Fitzgerald, this coincided with his appointment as Deputy Director of MI5.[2]
Malaya
Morton was seconded as Director of Intelligence to the Government of Malaya in 1952.[4] Sir Gerald Templar adopted Morton's recommendation to split the Malayan Special Branch from the CID to concentrate purely on counterinsurgency.[5]
War Office to MOD
In 1954, Morton was appointed an assistant secretary at the War Office. In 1959, he was at the Imperial Defence College. From 1961 to 1965, he was Security Intelligence Adviser on the Secretary of State's Advisory Staff at the Colonial Office. In 1968, he was appointed as an Assistant Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Defence. He retired in 1971.[4]
Security Consultant
Between 1972 and 1978, Morton undertook advisory missions for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to Jordan, Pakistan, Mauritius and the East Carribean.[4]
From 1972 to 1975, Morton was a consultant to The De La Rue Co. Ltd. From 1973 to 1980, he was a panel chairperson for the Civil Service Commission Selection Board. In 1978-9, he was on the Aviation Industry Security Training Steering Group.[4]
Northern Ireland
In 1973, Morton undertook an advisory mission for the Ministry of Defence to Northern Ireland.[4] According to Stephen Dorril, who refers to him as 'Jack Moreton', Morton had previously been involved in countering the IRA's border campaign of 1956-62, and came out of retirement in 1973 to re-organise the RUC Special Branch and to set up an MI5/Army database on terrorists.[6]
Notes
- ↑ Christopher Andrew, Defence of the Realm, The Authorized History of MI5, Allen Lane, 2009, p.450.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Jonathan Bloch and Patrick Fitzgerald, British Intelligence and Covert Action, Brandon/Junction, 1983, p.269.
- ↑ Peter Ward Day, The Forgotten Army: India's Armed Struggle for Independence 1942-1945, University of Michigan Press, 1995, p.495.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Jonathan Bloch and Patrick Fitzgerald, British Intelligence and Covert Action, Brandon/Junction, 1983, p.270.
- ↑ Christopher Andrew, Defence of the Realm, The Authorized History of MI5, Allen Lane, 2009, p.450.
- ↑ Stephen Dorril, The Silent Conspiracy: Inside the Intelligence Services in the 1990s, Mandarin, 1994, p.188.
