Jim Skardon
Encyclopedia
William James Skardon (1904–1987) was a Special Branch
officer who became an MI5
interrogator and head of "The Watchers" (physical surveillance
teams). He was intimately involved with the investigation of the Cambridge Five
and the interrogation of Klaus Fuchs
.
After rapidly and non-coercively eliciting a confession from Fuchs, Skardon acquired the reputation of a very skilful interrogator. However his own report of the Fuchs interrogation indicates that Fuchs — apparently in a condition of considerable mental stress — volunteered his entire confession with very little prompting. Peter Wright
also claimed that the success of that interrogation depended mainly on the detailed brief supplied to Skardon, plus the "listeners" who picked Fuchs' lies to pieces. Skardon's subsequent record in interrogations was considerably less successful, and his success with Fuchs led to these negative results being given too much credence. Some of Skardon's subsequent failures include:
implicated Skardon in the illegal detention and interrogation of Timerman during Argentina's oppressive military rule.
Special Branch
Special Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security in British and Commonwealth police forces, as well as in the Royal Thai Police...
officer who became an MI5
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
interrogator and head of "The Watchers" (physical surveillance
Surveillance
Surveillance is the monitoring of the behavior, activities, or other changing information, usually of people. It is sometimes done in a surreptitious manner...
teams). He was intimately involved with the investigation of the Cambridge Five
Cambridge Five
The Cambridge Five was a ring of spies, recruited in part by Russian talent spotter Arnold Deutsch in the United Kingdom, who passed information to the Soviet Union during World War II and at least into the early 1950s...
and the interrogation of Klaus Fuchs
Klaus Fuchs
Klaus Emil Julius Fuchs was a German theoretical physicist and atomic spy who in 1950 was convicted of supplying information from the American, British and Canadian atomic bomb research to the USSR during and shortly after World War II...
.
After rapidly and non-coercively eliciting a confession from Fuchs, Skardon acquired the reputation of a very skilful interrogator. However his own report of the Fuchs interrogation indicates that Fuchs — apparently in a condition of considerable mental stress — volunteered his entire confession with very little prompting. Peter Wright
Peter Wright
Peter Maurice Wright was an English scientist and former MI5 counterintelligence officer, noted for writing the controversial book Spycatcher, which became an international bestseller with sales of over two million copies...
also claimed that the success of that interrogation depended mainly on the detailed brief supplied to Skardon, plus the "listeners" who picked Fuchs' lies to pieces. Skardon's subsequent record in interrogations was considerably less successful, and his success with Fuchs led to these negative results being given too much credence. Some of Skardon's subsequent failures include:
- Kim PhilbyKim PhilbyHarold Adrian Russell "Kim" Philby was a high-ranking member of British intelligence who worked as a spy for and later defected to the Soviet Union...
- interrogated ten times without result (although apparently never given a free hand) - Anthony BluntAnthony BluntAnthony Frederick Blunt , was a British art historian who was exposed as a Soviet spy late in his life.Blunt was Professor of the History of Art at the University of London, director of the Courtauld Institute of Art, Surveyor of the King's Pictures and London...
- interviewed and cleared 11 times between 1951 and 1964. Finally confessed in 1964 when confronted with incontrovertible evidenceIncontrovertible evidenceIncontrovertible evidence is a colloquial term for evidence introduced to prove a fact that is supposed to be so conclusive that there can be no other truth as to the matter; evidence so strong it overpowers contrary evidence, directing a fact-finder to a specific and certain conclusion.Examples: a...
. - John CairncrossJohn CairncrossJohn Cairncross was a British intelligence officer during World War II, who passed secrets to the Soviet Union...
- interviewed and cleared in 1952, despite strong circumstantial evidence being found in Burgess' flat. Left the country very soon after the interrogation but returned in 1967 and confessed when confronted with Blunt's confession. - Jim Hill - liaison officer in the AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n Ministry of Foreign Affairs, access was restricted to classified information in 1949 on the basis of VENONA projectVenona projectThe VENONA project was a long-running secret collaboration of the United States and United Kingdom intelligence agencies involving cryptanalysis of messages sent by intelligence agencies of the Soviet Union, the majority during World War II...
material, interrogated three times by Skardon in 1959, cleared and access restored. Almost certainly an NKVDNKVDThe People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
agent.
Involvement in Argentina Dirty War
Former Argentinian political prisoner and La Opinion editor Jacobo TimermanJacobo Timerman
Jacobo Timerman was an Argentine publisher, journalist, and author who was persecuted and honored for confronting the atrocities of the Argentine military regime's Dirty War...
implicated Skardon in the illegal detention and interrogation of Timerman during Argentina's oppressive military rule.