Book description
A gripping exploration of the last great unknown realm of the British
secret service: Government Communication Headquarters (GCHQ).
GCHQ is the successor to the famous Bletchley Park wartime
code-breaking organisation and is the largest and most secretive
intelligence organisation in the country. During the war, it commanded
more staff than MI5 and MI6 combined and has produced a number of
intelligence triumphs as well as some notable failures. Since the end of
the Cold War, it has played a pivotal role in shaping Britain's secret
state. Still, we know almost nothing about it.
In this ground-breaking book, Richard J. Aldrich traces GCHQ's
evolvement from a wartime code breaking operation based in the
Bedfordshire countryside to one of the world's leading espionage
organisations. Focusing in part on GCHQ's remarkably intimate
relationship with its American partner, the National Security Agency
(NSA), Aldrich also examines both the impact of the Second World War on
GCHQ and the breakthroughs made after the war was over.
Today's GCHQ struggles with some of the most difficult issues of our
time. A leading force of the state's security efforts against militant
terrorist organisations like Al-Qaeda, they are also involved in
fundamental issues that will mould the future of British society.
Compelling and revelatory, Aldrich's book is espionage writing of the
utmost importance. Praise for 'The Hidden Hand: Britain, America and
Cold War Secret Intelligence':
'Rivetting, and essential reading not only for intelligence specialists
but for everyone interested in the Cold War and in British-American
relations.' Christopher Andrew
'A triumph of assiduous research and cogent analysis.' Sunday Telegraph
'Aldrich's meticulously factual account of British and American
spookery…is hugely impressive.' John Booth, Tribune
'A truly brilliant book…this is intelligence for adults, and all the
more enthralling for it.' George Walden, Evening Standard Richard
Aldrich is a regular commentator on war and espionage and has written
for the 'Evening Standard', 'The Guardian', 'The Times' and the
'Telegraph'. He is the author of several books including 'The Hidden
Hand: Britain, America and Cold War Secret Intelligence' which won the
Donner Book Prize in 2002.
