View source for Hubert O'Bryan Tear

'''Hubert Louis O'Bryan Tear''' (Born 9 December 1918) was an [[MI6]] officer.<ref>Jonathan Bloch and Patrick Fitzgerald, British Intelligence and Covert Action, Brandon, 1983, p.270.</ref>

O'Bryan Tear joined HM Forces in 1940.<ref>Jonathan Bloch and Patrick Fitzgerald, British Intelligence and Covert Action, Brandon, 1983, p.270.</ref> He went on to serve in the French RF section of the [[Special Operations Executive]].<ref>Stephen Dorril, MI6, Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service, Touchstone, p.242.</ref> 

O'Bryan Tear joined the Foreign Office in 1947. He was posted to the Control Commission for Germany in 1950.<ref>Jonathan Bloch and Patrick Fitzgerald, British Intelligence and Covert Action, Brandon, 1983, p.270.</ref>

Around this time, he worked under [[Harold Gibson]] on [[Operation INTEGRAL]], a project within MI6's Northern Division to send agents into Ukraine.<ref>Stephen Dorril, MI6, Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service, Touchstone, p.242.</ref> 

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.<ref>Jonathan Bloch and Patrick Fitzgerald, British Intelligence and Covert Action, Brandon, 1983, p.270.</ref>

In 1960, he was posted to Aden.<ref>Jonathan Bloch and Patrick Fitzgerald, British Intelligence and Covert Action, Brandon, 1983, p.270.</ref> 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.<ref>Stephen Dorril, MI6, Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service, Touchstone, p.679.</ref> 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]].<ref>Stephen Dorril, MI6, Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service, Touchstone, p.679.</ref>

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.<ref>Jonathan Bloch and Patrick Fitzgerald, British Intelligence and Covert Action, Brandon, 1983, p.270.</ref>

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[[Category:Spooks|O'Bryan Tear, Hubert]][[Category:MI6|O'Bryan Tear, Hubert]][[Category:Yemen|O'Bryan Tear, Hubert]]