ABSTRACT
Much contemporary study of intelligence concerns how knowledge is acquired, generated and used. This chapter provides a different focus that treats secrecy, rather than knowledge, as an organising theme. Instead of scrutinising the process of gathering, analysing and exploiting intelligence, it examines other activities of secret intelligence services, often termed covert action. This broader framework draws upon both pre-modern ‘Secret Service’ activities that predated modern intelligence organisations,2 as well as many Cold War studies. It resonates with the perspective of Richard Aldrich that secret service activity includes ‘operations to influence the world by unseen means – the hidden hand’.3 Exploration of secret intervention illuminates important themes and issues in the study of intelligence, and identifies challenges and opportunities for enquiry, particularly in the context of the British experience. One further aspect is examined and developed – the role of secret intelligence services in conducting clandestine diplomacy, a neglected yet intriguing dimension that also provides insights into the study of intelligence.
