ABSTRACT

Fhis is a summary for the period of the security concerns of British governments, and therefore of the Media and D-Notice Committee. The Vietnam War still dominated US attention (causing public opposition in the UK too, viz the 1968 Grosvenor Square riot), until major military support for South Vietnam ended in 1973 and the war in 1975. In Greece the Colonels’ Regime (1967–74) affected British interests in Cyprus and NATO. In 1968 the ‘Prague Spring’ was ended by Soviet suppression; two Czech intelligence officer defectors, Frolik and August, and the KGB officer Lyalin, brought information to the West which led to unmasking some Soviet agents and sympathisers. Nevertheless a degree of détente with the USSR started in the late 1960s, including Strategic Arms Limitation talks (SALT 1 signed 1972), continuing until the early 1980s; peaceful or proxy rivalry and political and military confrontation nevertheless continued.