ABSTRACT
In 1959, a Polish defector had informed the CIA and thence the British authorities that the SIS officer George Blake 180 was a spy for the Soviets whose information had led to the death of at least 40 agents in Warsaw Pact countries. The defector also provided information about a separate group of spies supplying the USSR with secret naval technological data from the Naval Base at Portland. As part of preparations for the 1961 trial in camera of Blake, Thomson issued a Private and Confidential Letter on 1 May 1961, telling selected editors for their personal information that Blake was an MI6 employee and therefore covered by the D-Notice of April 1956, but asking them, if they mentioned any of his published appointments, not to mention this connection, nor MI6’s connection with the Foreign Office. He added that there was also a special reason for the request in this case, ‘in that the lives of MI6 employees are still in danger’. The record shows that ‘every editor played ball’.
