British Secret Services: An Annotated Bibliography

This volume, which is arranged by agency and period, provides a comprehensive examination of the literature concerning the history of the world famous British Secret Services from their Elizabethan origins to the present. Special attention is paid to the roles and activities of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), the Security Service (MIS) and the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ).

The goal of the volume thirteenth in this series on international organizations, is to provide a map of the literature about the British Secret Services, identifying sources of information—and occasionally disinformation. Davies evaluates unsound as well as sound sources of the literature about United Kingdom intelligence. The annotations will give the reader a guide to the most reliable and informative sources in the field, as well as identifying the weaker sources. Davies includes a glossary of British intelligence terms and abbreviations.

There are no comparable volumes on British intelligence. A small number of books concerned with the U.S. Secret Services do deal in passing with British intelligence, but these are limited and frequently inadequate. British Secret Services includes popular, professional, and scholarly sources and will provide a starting point for anyone doing research on British intelligence. It will also be an essential reference tool for those interested in the history of intelligence agencies and national security in general, and in the development of the British secret services in particular. Historians, political scientists, and strategy defense professionals will find this useful in then- work.

Philip H. J. Davies is postgraduate teaching assistant in the Department of Sociology at the University of Reading.