Hubert O'Bryan Tear
Hubert Louis O'Bryan Tear (Born 9 December 1918) was an MI6 officer.[1]
O'Bryan Tear joined HM Forces in 1940.[2] He went on to serve in the French RF section of the Special Operations Executive.[3]
O'Bryan Tear joined the Foreign Office in 1947. He was posted to the Control Commission for Germany in 1950.[4]
Around this time, he worked under Harold Gibson on Operation INTEGRAL, a project within MI6's Northern Division to send agents into Ukraine.[5]
He was posted to Moscow as 3rd Secretary in 1952, returning to the Foreign Office in 1954. In 1956, he was posted to Stockholm, initially as 2nd Secretary and later as 1st Secretary.[6]
In 1960, he was posted to Aden.[7] In September 1962, when Nasserist officers took power in North Yemen, O'Bryan Tear was, according to historian Stephen Dorril, "not well informed about the situation, having been surprised by the coup, and knew little about Egyptian activities.[8] Dorril describes O'Bryan Tear, whose cover post was Assistant Political Advisor to the Middle East Command in Aden, as "an experienced intelligence officer but with no knowledge of the Arabs." He was appointed to head an MI6 task force supporting a deniable British covert operation to assist the Saudi-backed royalists in North Yemen. He was supported in London by Desmond Harney and Dennis Womersley.[9]
According to authors Jonathan Bloch and Patrick Fitzgerald, however, O'Bryan Tear was posted back to the Foreign Office in 1962, and thence to Manila in 1963, and Singapore in 1965. He was returned to London again 1967, before being posted to the political residency in Bahrain later that year. He served in Berne from 1972 to 1977.[10]
Notes
- ↑ Jonathan Bloch and Patrick Fitzgerald, British Intelligence and Covert Action, Brandon, 1983, p.270.
- ↑ Jonathan Bloch and Patrick Fitzgerald, British Intelligence and Covert Action, Brandon, 1983, p.270.
- ↑ Stephen Dorril, MI6, Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service, Touchstone, p.242.
- ↑ Jonathan Bloch and Patrick Fitzgerald, British Intelligence and Covert Action, Brandon, 1983, p.270.
- ↑ Stephen Dorril, MI6, Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service, Touchstone, p.242.
- ↑ Jonathan Bloch and Patrick Fitzgerald, British Intelligence and Covert Action, Brandon, 1983, p.270.
- ↑ Jonathan Bloch and Patrick Fitzgerald, British Intelligence and Covert Action, Brandon, 1983, p.270.
- ↑ Stephen Dorril, MI6, Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service, Touchstone, p.679.
- ↑ Stephen Dorril, MI6, Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service, Touchstone, p.679.
- ↑ Jonathan Bloch and Patrick Fitzgerald, British Intelligence and Covert Action, Brandon, 1983, p.270.
