Introduction
The literature on 20th century espionage accords Kim Philby the distinction, “spy of the century.” Yuri Modin, the desk officer in Moscow responsible for Philby and later his control officer in London, ratified this accolade in his 1994 memoir, My Five Cambridge Friends. For Modin, one particular feat justified Philby’s elevation to spy greatness: A Soviet agent since late 1934, Philby contrived to get himself appointed head of MI6’s Soviet section in 1944. In other words, a Soviet agent was in charge of Britain’s espionage offensive against the Soviet Union. Modin could accordingly write, “This made Philby the most important operative the KGB had anywhere in the world.” This intelligence coup paid major dividends in September 1945 when Soviet code clerk Igor Gouzenko defected in Canada. British intelligence discovered that Klaus Fuchs was connected to Israel Halperin, one of the agents in the Canadian spy ring revealed by Gouzenko. Controlling the response of the British security services to the Gouzenko defection, Philby adroitly co-opted British interests for Soviet interests: He contained the investigation of Fuchs such that Fuchs was able to continue spying for both Britain and Russia until 1949 when he was uncovered by a FBI Venona investigation. [1]
Logic suggests that the ‘spy of the century’ would be that person who pulled-off the acknowledged espionage coup of the century. The greatest intelligence coup of the Twentieth Century was the Soviet Union’s deep and broad penetration of the Manhattan Project resulting in the utter theft of the atomic bomb. This success was the result of numerous Soviet agents operating in Britain, Canada and America. In America alone, the KGB had sources at the Chicago Met Lab, Berkeley Radiation Lab, Oak Ridge, Hanford Engineering Works and, of course, Los Alamos. Notwithstanding this scope, there was one KGB officer in America who hit who not only hit more than one home run, but one 'dinger' was the equivalent of bases loaded. Of course, this KGB officer was not Kim Philby. As far as is known, Philby had no role in the Russian penetration of the British Tube Alloys or the American Manhattan Project. This appears to be true despite a number of notional intersections between Philby and Klaus Fuchs. An intriguing one is that Philby believed he might have had a role in Fuchs's initial contact with Soviet Intelligence in Britain in 1941.
The Philby Literature
Kim Philby is either the central character or an important figure in hundreds of books and articles on espionage history. His public exposure began in the middle 1960’s after he defected behind the Iron Curtain. Philby himself contributed 3 accounts of his spy career: a 1968 memoir, My Silent War; an exhaustive KGB debriefing in 1985; and, before he died in May 1988, some 500 pages of transcribed interviews with writer Genrikh Borovik. Notwithstanding this totality of 'Philby material,' the essential Philby library numbers fewer than 10 works. Books published in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, stemming as they did first from Glasnost and then Perestroika, effectively rendered all prior Philby literature obsolete. This was particularly true of Philby’s own memoir, which not only was censored by Philby himself and his Moscow handlers, but actually contained ad hoc disinformation (“active measures” in the lexicon of the KGB). Presently, there is no single publication that can be figuratively considered the 'book' on Philby. Such an omnibus work, for example, would provide (1) clarity on Philby’s recruitment as a KGB agent (a careful, gradual vetting process that took the better part of six months) and (2) the critical role of Alexander Orlov in Philby's development and employment. These and other issues remain muddled in the spread of Philby literature. It takes a synthesis of several key books to piece together the most accurate account on Philby. For someone starting out on the subject, the recommended initial reading list would be, in order, the below four most authoritative sources on Philby:
The Philby Files, Genrikh Borovik and Philip Knightley, 1994
In 1985 Russian author Genrikh Borovik received KGB permission to undertake an in-depth interview project with Kim Philby. Borovik’s meetings with Philby spanned over 3 years and were tape recorded—the transcriptions of which numbered over 500 pages. Philby died in May 1988, before Borovik could convert his material into the planned television documentary. Reacting to this circumstance, and now envisioning a book on Philby, Borovik wrote to the KGB requesting access to Philby’s case file. Due to the tenor of the times, glasnost, this was granted. Borovik was soon ensconced at the Lubyanka with Case File No. 5581 at his disposal. It would take another three years for Borovik to “digest and order” the contents of Philby’s file, and begin to produce a manuscript. Notwithstanding the legitimate prospect of KGB/SVR manipulation such as redactions, document withholdings and disinformation, Borovik fosters a degree of credibility when he writes, “I did not clear my manuscript with anyone.”
In early 1988 Australian investigative journalist Philip Knightley also sought and was granted access to Philby. The two men met in Moscow for six days of talks, following which Knightley wrote a 20,000-word article for serialization in the London Sunday Times. Knightley’s newspaper piece was prelude to a new biography on Philby. Although the death of Philby on May 11 was a significant hindrance, Knightley went head with the book project: Philby, The Life and Views of the KGB Masterspy was published in 1988. Due to Knightley’s deep background on Philby, particularly the British aspect, Borovik chose him to edit the manuscript intended for publication in the West. The product of the Borovik-Knightley collaboration is the most authoritative single book on Philby. Even so, there are omissions and concerns. One difficulty is the absence of book endnotes that would provide supporting data and basis. Also, the narrative can be incoherent due to the fact that in more than a few cases Philby changed his story from the early interviews to later interviews. Then, both Borovik and readers have to contend with the fact that documents in Philby's file often conflict with Philby's oral narrative.
Philby wrote not a single word in My Silent War about the circumstances of his recruitment and subsequent accreditation as "a member of Soviet Intelligence." This censorship was lifted in the glasnost period with the result that The Philby Files provides a robust account of Philby’s uptake in 1934-5 into Soviet espionage. There is however one important exception, Alexander Orlov, Philby’s first Control Officer. Indeed, Borovik misreports the lineage of Philby’s control officers: “Before Orlov, Kim had two controllers, OTTO and THEO [respectively, Arnold Deutsch and Theodore Maly].” Orlov (SCHWED), a senior NKVD officer, arrived in London as illegal resident on 15 July 1934. His first meeting with Philby was within weeks. Although Orlov traveled frequently, he remained the London resident until October 1935 when he was recalled to Moscow after being compromised by a chance encounter with a person who had known him in Vienna under a different identity. As reported by Borovik, between July 1934 and October 1935, Orlov and Philby met a dozen times, that's almost once a month. Furthermore, it is significant that upon his recall, Orlov remained Philby's Case Officer at the Centre, controlling him at various times through Deutsch and Maly.
My Five Cambridge Friends, Yuri Modin, 1994
The value of My Five Cambridge Friends derives from the distinctive background of its author, KGB officer Yuri Modin. At age 21 Modin’s educational background included fluency in English. In 1942 the exigencies of the war with Germany channeled him into service with the KGB and then assignment as a translator in the British and American Section of the Foreign Intelligence Directorate. A resourceful translator, Modin was soon promoted to analyst responsibilities with full access to file archives. By 1944 Modin had risen to desk officer responsibility for the “Cambridge Five,” the internal KGB name for the group launched by Philby: “Over a period of three years, from 1944 to 1947, my daily existence was entirely consumed by my work with these men, about whose lives I knew by then practically everything there was to know. When I was given clearance to consult the archives, I first of all set about reading each man’s file from start to finish. The files contained highly detailed biographical notes, including names and dates, in addition to the information the subjects themselves had provided as to the chronological order of events in their lives. … The first folder I opened was that of Sohnchen or Stanley, real name Harold ‘Kim’ Philby. … Over the years I pieced together a portrait of Philby, who had fascinated me from the start.”
Given such provenance, Modin arguably provides the most reliable account of Philby’s recruitment as a Soviet agent. In a nutshell: In his final year at Cambridge, Philby became a "convinced Communist," but not a member of the Party. After graduating in May 1933, Philby went to Central Europe with the express purpose of becoming involved in anti-fascist activity. Contacts in Paris sent him to Vienna, Austria. There he met Litzi Friedman, a Communist deeply involved in Party political action. Philby married Litzi in February 1934 and the couple decamped to England two months later when conditions became life threatening. Litzi immediately made contact with Party activists in London in order to continue her and Kim's anti-fascist work. As she had done in Vienna, Litzi informed Party leaders she was married to someone of the British upper class, someone “who might prove very useful to the cause.” One of these Party contacts was British Communist Edith Tudor-Hart, who then relayed Litzi's information to Arnold Deutsch, an NKVD agent recently arrived in England from Austria. A meeting between Deutsch and Philby was quickly arranged. It was Tudor-Hart, following an anti-surveillance itinerary, who brought Philby to the meet with Deutsch in June 1934. Deutsch's recruitment approach to Philby was that of an explicit commitment to engage in anti-fascist activity as part of a Comintern cell. Philby did not need time to consider the matter and agreed to Deutsch's proposal by the end of the meeting. In providing this account of Philby’s spy beginnings, Modin was at pains to set the record straight: Originally, Kim Philby was a circumstantial, blind volunteer to Soviet intelligence, not a recruitment prospect identified by a farsighted NKVD officer.
Perhaps Modin’s most important contribution to espionage history is his account of Philby’s first control officer, or "handling officer" as used by Modin. He did not name this person, but was categorical about who it was not: “In the course of 1934, Arnold Deutsch met Philby on several occasions, but Deutsch was not the man ultimately delegated by the Centre to direct Kim’s work. I never learned the name of the NKVD officer in question.” Philby’s first mission, discussed in a meeting with both Deutsch and his handling officer, was to go to Cambridge and approach Guy Burgess, and one or two others, about joining a secret anti-fascist organization supported by the Party. Such individuals would initially be managed by Philby. A follow-on directive from his handling officer was to join the British Civil Service, this in order “to assess any Fascist elements by which it might have been infiltrated.” It was toward the end of 1934 that Philby’s control officer informed him who his "real masters were," Soviet foreign intelligence. According to Modin, Philby was neither greatly surprised nor dissuaded. It was also at this time that Philby was given his first enemy penetration assignment, again by his control officer. He was directed to infiltrate Anglo-German organizations in both Britain and Germany in order to gather intelligence against the Nazi regime.
Deadly Illusions, John Costello and Oleg Tsarev, 1993
The Private Life of Kim Philby, The Moscow Years, Rufina Philby, 1999
(Under Development)
1. "For Modin, one particular feat … head of MI6’s Soviet section in 1944.":
"This made Philby the most important operative the KGB had anywhere in the world.":
"Dominating the response of the British security services ... by FBI investigation of Venona decrypts.":
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