Rory Cormac - Confronting the Colonies: British Intelligence and Counterinsurgency

CONFRONTING THE COLONIES

British Intelligence and Counterinsurgency

RORY CORMAC

Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that further Oxford Universitys objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education.

Oxford New York

Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto

With offices in

Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam

Copyright 2013 by Oxford University Press

Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries.

Published by Oxford University Press, Inc 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016

Published in the United Kingdom in 2013 by C. Hurst & Co. (Publishers) Ltd.

www.oup.com

Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Cormac, Rory.

Confronting the colonies : British intelligence and counterinsurgency / Rory Cormac. First edition.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-19-935443-6 (alk. paper)

1. Intelligence serviceGreat BritainHistory20th century. 2. Great BritainColoniesHistory20th century. 3. CounterinsurgencyGreat BritainHistory20th century. 4. Great BritainForeign relations1945I. Title.

UB251.G7C66 2013

327.1241017124109045dc23

2013025098

1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2

Printed in India on Acid-Free Paper

For Joanne ( an accidental expert)

This is my first book. I am indebted to the generous support, advice and input from a number of people who have helped me develop from PhD student to published academic. Firstly I would like to thank the Arts and Humanities Research Council for funding the doctoral thesis from which this book has evolved. I would also like to acknowledge the help and support of various archivists from around the country, including at the National Archives, the Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies, the Churchill Archives Centre and the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives. Permission to quote from private papers was kindly given by the Liddell Hart centre and the Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies. Secondly, I would like to thank those retired practitioners who have spoken to me about the workings of the JIC. They have helped me place flesh on the archival skeleton and better understand the human side of committee life. Thirdly, I am grateful to the comments from academic colleagues around the country. Their comments have kept me aware that there was more to the years between 1948 and 1975 than the JIC.

I am particularly grateful to those who have read and provided feedback on sections or earlier versions of this work. Their comments have proved invaluable, although any mistakes are mine alone. Special thanks must go to Michael Goodman and Huw Bennett for supervising the PhD upon which this work is based. As official historian of the JIC, Michael Goodman was the ideal academic to oversee the project. His knowledge of the committee and the archives has proved invaluable. Moreover, Huw Bennett interpreted the role of second supervisor in an incredibly generous manner and his insights have certainly strengthened the quality of the work no-end. Combined with Richard Aldrich at the University of Warwick, they have provided the best training for which a young academic could hope.

Finally, I must thank my wife. She has put up with my incessant and excitable ramblings about government committees and cheered me up after long days buried in files and acronyms. She has (without meaning to) acquired a detailed, if somewhat random, knowledge of the British Joint Intelligence Organisation and must be the only musicologist who can list successive JIC chairmen! Thank you.

Rory Cormac, Northampton, Spring 2013