John Cairncross
Encyclopedia
John Cairncross was a British
intelligence officer
during World War II
, who passed secrets to the Soviet Union
. He was alleged to be the fifth member of the Cambridge Five
.
. Cairncross grew up in Lesmahagow
, a small town on the edge of moorland, near Lanark in the Central Belt
of Scotland
, and was educated at the Hamilton Academy
; the University of Glasgow
; the Sorbonne and Trinity College, Cambridge
, where he studied French and German.
After graduating, he took the British Civil Service exam and came top, a sign of sure intellectual brilliance. In an article appearing in the Glasgow Herald on 29 September 1936 it was noted that John Cairncross had scored an “outstanding double success of being placed 1st. in the Home List and 1st. in the competition for the Foreign Office and the Diplomatic Service," and that he had been placed 5th. in the (Glasgow University) bursary competition of 1930, and was also a Scholar and Bell Exhibitioner at Trinity College, Cambridge.
Cairncross worked initially in the Cabinet Office as a private secretary to Lord Hankey, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Later he transferred to the Foreign Office. It has been suggested that in 1937 he joined the Communist Party of Great Britain
. But he was not noted whilst at Cambridge for any political activity. He was regarded as rather austere and uncommunicative as an undergraduate. In 1942 and 1943 he worked on Ultra cipher
s at Bletchley Park
and then joined MI6. His motivation in passing Ultra transcripts relating to German battle plans on the Eastern Front
was, he always claimed, purely to hasten the end of the war.
It is probable that he was posted to Bletchley by MI6, as assignments there were not by request. During his time there, he passed documents through secret channels to the Soviet Union
. While at Bletchley Park, he supplied the Soviets with advance intelligence from ULTRA about Operation Citadel, and in particular the Battle of Kursk
, the world's largest tank battle, which set the seal on final defeat for the Wehrmacht
in the East. Full details of both the northern and southern attack routes to cut off the Kursk salient
were provided in meticulous detail. The information he supplied enabled the Red Army
to build several lines of defence with camouflaged anti-tank guns, dealing terrible carnage to the attacking panzer
s. It had proved a real challenge to British Intelligence
to get this war-winning information in front of Stalin without revealing the secret of Ultra. This essentially settled the war against Nazi Germany
on the Eastern Front
.
found papers in Guy Burgess' flat with a handwritten note from him, after Burgess' flight to Moscow. Some believe that he may have supplied information about the Western atomic weapons
programme, the Manhattan Project
, to assist the Soviet nuclear programme. It would have been surprising, though, if he had clearance to any useful engineering information, or that he would have understood it. He was never prosecuted, however, which later led to charges that the government engaged in a conspiracy to cover up
his role. Indeed, the identity of the infamous 'fifth man' in the Cambridge Five remained a mystery outside intelligence circles until 1990, when KGB
defector Oleg Gordievsky
confirmed Cairncross publicly. Cairncross actually worked independently of the other Four and did not share their upper-middle class backgrounds or tastes. Although he knew Anthony Blunt at Cambridge and Guy Burgess in the Foreign Office (and had a personal dislike of both of them), he claimed not to have been aware that they or any of the others were also passing secrets to the Russians.
Between 1941 and 1945, Cairncross supplied the Soviets with 5,832 documents, according to Russian archives. In 1944, Cairncross joined MI6, the foreign intelligence service. In Section V, the counter-intelligence
section, Cairncross produced under the direction of Kim Philby an order of battle
of the SS. Later Cairncross would suggest that he was unaware of Philby's connections with the Russians.
Yuri Modin, the Russian MGB (later KGB) control in London claims that Cairncross gave him details of nuclear arms to be stationed with NATO in West Germany. He gives no date for this message. But Cairncross was at the Ministry of Supply
in 1951 and NATO was established in April 1949. However, there was no such plan at this time and it was only much later that NATO obtained tactical nuclear weapons under US control in Germany. This appears to have been a disinformation
exercise.
After his first confession, Cairncross lost his civil service job and was penniless and unemployed. He moved to the United States as a lecturer at Northwestern University near Chicago. He became an expert on French authors and translated the works of many 17th century French dramatists such as Jean Racine
and Pierre Corneille
as well as writing three of his own books: Moliere bourgeouis et libertin; New Light on Moliere; and After Polygamy was made a sin.
Arthur S. Martin
, MI5's most outstanding investigative officer, ended this career. After Philby's flight to Moscow, Martin reopened the files to hunt for the Fourth and Fifth Men. To Martin's surprise, Cairncross made a full confession. Martin also received a denunciation which led to Blunt's confession.
Cairncross moved to Rome
, where he worked for the United Nations
Food and Agriculture Organization
as a translator, also taking on work for the Research Office of Banca Nazionale del Lavoro
, Banca d'Italia
and IMI. In the BNL, a young economist engaged with international scenarios analysis (the Iraq-Iran War, petroleum
's strategic routes in the Middle East
and Far East
) reported a strong and unusual interest by Cairncross about the Bank's role in that area. It was in Rome that his secret finally reached the public. In December 1979, Barrie Penrose, a journalist, concluded that Cairncross was the Fifth Man and confronted him. Cairncross's third confession was front-page news. His status was confirmed 10 years later by Oleg Gordievsky
, the KGB defector. He retired to the south of France
until 1995 when he returned to Britain and married American opera singer Gayle Brinkerhoff. Later that year he died after suffering a stroke, at the age of 82.
India Dreams by Maryse Charles and Jean-François Charles. He was also depicted in part three of the 2003 BBC TV series Cambridge Spies
, where he appears reluctant to continue passing Bletchley Park
data to the Russians for fear that the Red Army
was heavily penetrated by German intelligence
and by Eastern Front military intelligence under General Gehlen; Anthony Blunt
is depicted in the drama as pressuring him with threats to continue. He is revealed to be the fifth of the Cambridge Five in Frederick Forsyth
's The Deceiver.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
intelligence officer
Intelligence officer
An intelligence officer is a person employed by an organization to collect, compile and/or analyze information which is of use to that organization...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, who passed secrets to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. He was alleged to be the fifth member 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...
.
Background
His father was the manager of an ironmongers and his mother a primary school teacher, John Cairncoss was one of a family of eight, many of whom had distinguished careers. All three of his brothers became professors. One was the economist Sir Alexander Kirkland Cairncross (a.k.a. Alec Cairncross). His niece was the journalist Frances CairncrossFrances Cairncross
Frances Anne Cairncross CBE is a British economist, journalist and academic.Cairncross read Modern History at St Anne's College, Oxford, graduating in 1965, and holds an MA in Economics from Brown University, Rhode Island....
. Cairncross grew up in Lesmahagow
Lesmahagow
Lesmahagow is a small town on the edge of moorland, near Lanark in the central belt of Scotland. It is also known as Abbey Green.-Etymology:The name is possibly a corruption of "Church of St Machutus"...
, a small town on the edge of moorland, near Lanark in the Central Belt
Central Belt
The Central Belt of Scotland is a common term used to describe the area of highest population density within Scotland. Despite the name, it is not geographically central but is nevertheless situated at the 'waist' of Scotland on a conventional map and the term 'central' is used in many local...
of Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, and was educated at the Hamilton Academy
Hamilton Academy
Hamilton Academy was a school situated in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland.Described as "one of the finest schools in Scotland" in the Cambridge University Press County Biography of 1910, Hamilton Academy featured in the Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association Magazine article series on...
; the University of Glasgow
University of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...
; the Sorbonne and Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
, where he studied French and German.
After graduating, he took the British Civil Service exam and came top, a sign of sure intellectual brilliance. In an article appearing in the Glasgow Herald on 29 September 1936 it was noted that John Cairncross had scored an “outstanding double success of being placed 1st. in the Home List and 1st. in the competition for the Foreign Office and the Diplomatic Service," and that he had been placed 5th. in the (Glasgow University) bursary competition of 1930, and was also a Scholar and Bell Exhibitioner at Trinity College, Cambridge.
Cairncross worked initially in the Cabinet Office as a private secretary to Lord Hankey, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Later he transferred to the Foreign Office. It has been suggested that in 1937 he joined the Communist Party of Great Britain
Communist Party of Great Britain
The Communist Party of Great Britain was the largest communist party in Great Britain, although it never became a mass party like those in France and Italy. It existed from 1920 to 1991.-Formation:...
. But he was not noted whilst at Cambridge for any political activity. He was regarded as rather austere and uncommunicative as an undergraduate. In 1942 and 1943 he worked on Ultra cipher
Cipher
In cryptography, a cipher is an algorithm for performing encryption or decryption — a series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure. An alternative, less common term is encipherment. In non-technical usage, a “cipher” is the same thing as a “code”; however, the concepts...
s at Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park is an estate located in the town of Bletchley, in Buckinghamshire, England, which currently houses the National Museum of Computing...
and then joined MI6. His motivation in passing Ultra transcripts relating to German battle plans on the Eastern Front
Eastern Front (World War II)
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...
was, he always claimed, purely to hasten the end of the war.
It is probable that he was posted to Bletchley by MI6, as assignments there were not by request. During his time there, he passed documents through secret channels to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. While at Bletchley Park, he supplied the Soviets with advance intelligence from ULTRA about Operation Citadel, and in particular the Battle of Kursk
Battle of Kursk
The Battle of Kursk took place when German and Soviet forces confronted each other on the Eastern Front during World War II in the vicinity of the city of Kursk, in the Soviet Union in July and August 1943. It remains both the largest series of armored clashes, including the Battle of Prokhorovka,...
, the world's largest tank battle, which set the seal on final defeat for the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
in the East. Full details of both the northern and southern attack routes to cut off the Kursk salient
Salient
Salient may refer to:* See Salients, re-entrants and pockets for the battlefield feature* Salient , part of a discrete territory projecting out of the main portion, bordered by foreign territory on three sides, into which it projects...
were provided in meticulous detail. The information he supplied enabled the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
to build several lines of defence with camouflaged anti-tank guns, dealing terrible carnage to the attacking panzer
Panzer
A Panzer is a German language word that, when used as a noun, means "tank". When it is used as an adjective, it means either tank or "armoured" .- Etymology :...
s. It had proved a real challenge to British Intelligence
Secret Intelligence Service
The Secret Intelligence Service is responsible for supplying the British Government with foreign intelligence. Alongside the internal Security Service , the Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence Intelligence , it operates under the formal direction of the Joint Intelligence...
to get this war-winning information in front of Stalin without revealing the secret of Ultra. This essentially settled the war against Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
on the Eastern Front
Eastern Front (World War II)
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...
.
As a spy
Cairncross admitted to spying in 1951 after MI5MI5
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...
found papers in Guy Burgess' flat with a handwritten note from him, after Burgess' flight to Moscow. Some believe that he may have supplied information about the Western atomic weapons
Nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Both reactions release vast quantities of energy from relatively small amounts of matter. The first fission bomb test released the same amount...
programme, the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
, to assist the Soviet nuclear programme. It would have been surprising, though, if he had clearance to any useful engineering information, or that he would have understood it. He was never prosecuted, however, which later led to charges that the government engaged in a conspiracy to cover up
Cover Up
Cover Up is an American action/adventure television series that aired for one season on CBS from September 22, 1984 to April 6, 1985. Created by Glen A. Larson, the series stars Jennifer O'Neill, Jon-Erik Hexum, Antony Hamilton, and Richard Anderson....
his role. Indeed, the identity of the infamous 'fifth man' in the Cambridge Five remained a mystery outside intelligence circles until 1990, when KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
defector Oleg Gordievsky
Oleg Gordievsky
Oleg Antonovich Gordievsky , CMG , is a former Colonel of the KGB and KGB Resident-designate and bureau chief in London, who was a secret agent of the British Secret Intelligence Service from 1974 to 1985.-Early career:Oleg Gordievsky attended the Moscow State Institute of International...
confirmed Cairncross publicly. Cairncross actually worked independently of the other Four and did not share their upper-middle class backgrounds or tastes. Although he knew Anthony Blunt at Cambridge and Guy Burgess in the Foreign Office (and had a personal dislike of both of them), he claimed not to have been aware that they or any of the others were also passing secrets to the Russians.
Between 1941 and 1945, Cairncross supplied the Soviets with 5,832 documents, according to Russian archives. In 1944, Cairncross joined MI6, the foreign intelligence service. In Section V, the counter-intelligence
Counter-intelligence
Counterintelligence or counter-intelligence refers to efforts made by intelligence organizations to prevent hostile or enemy intelligence organizations from successfully gathering and collecting intelligence against them. National intelligence programs, and, by extension, the overall defenses of...
section, Cairncross produced under the direction of Kim Philby an order of battle
Order of battle
In modern use, the order of battle is the identification, command structure, strength, and disposition of personnel, equipment, and units of an armed force participating in field operations. Various abbreviations are in use, including OOB, O/B, or OB, while ORBAT remains the most common in the...
of the SS. Later Cairncross would suggest that he was unaware of Philby's connections with the Russians.
Yuri Modin, the Russian MGB (later KGB) control in London claims that Cairncross gave him details of nuclear arms to be stationed with NATO in West Germany. He gives no date for this message. But Cairncross was at the Ministry of Supply
Ministry of Supply
The Ministry of Supply was a department of the UK Government formed in 1939 to co-ordinate the supply of equipment to all three British armed forces, headed by the Minister of Supply. There was, however, a separate ministry responsible for aircraft production and the Admiralty retained...
in 1951 and NATO was established in April 1949. However, there was no such plan at this time and it was only much later that NATO obtained tactical nuclear weapons under US control in Germany. This appears to have been a disinformation
Disinformation
Disinformation is intentionally false or inaccurate information that is spread deliberately. For this reason, it is synonymous with and sometimes called black propaganda. It is an act of deception and false statements to convince someone of untruth...
exercise.
Later life
At the end of the war, Cairncross joined the Treasury, claiming that he ceased working for the MGB (later KGB), at this time. KGB reports published since contradict this.After his first confession, Cairncross lost his civil service job and was penniless and unemployed. He moved to the United States as a lecturer at Northwestern University near Chicago. He became an expert on French authors and translated the works of many 17th century French dramatists such as Jean Racine
Jean Racine
Jean Racine , baptismal name Jean-Baptiste Racine , was a French dramatist, one of the "Big Three" of 17th-century France , and one of the most important literary figures in the Western tradition...
and Pierre Corneille
Pierre Corneille
Pierre Corneille was a French tragedian who was one of the three great seventeenth-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine...
as well as writing three of his own books: Moliere bourgeouis et libertin; New Light on Moliere; and After Polygamy was made a sin.
Arthur S. Martin
Arthur S. Martin
Arthur S. Martin was a member of the British intelligence community and a primary investigator in the spy scandals in the post-war era.-Biography:...
, MI5's most outstanding investigative officer, ended this career. After Philby's flight to Moscow, Martin reopened the files to hunt for the Fourth and Fifth Men. To Martin's surprise, Cairncross made a full confession. Martin also received a denunciation which led to Blunt's confession.
Cairncross moved to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, where he worked for the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
Food and Agriculture Organization
Food and Agriculture Organization
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is a specialised agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO acts as a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and...
as a translator, also taking on work for the Research Office of Banca Nazionale del Lavoro
Banca Nazionale del Lavoro
Banca Nazionale del Lavoro SpA is an Italian banking firm. Founded in 1913 as Istituto di Credito per la Cooperazione, it was nationalized in 1929. It was re-privatized and listed on the Milan Stock Exchange in 1998, before being acquired by French banking group BNP Paribas in 2006...
, Banca d'Italia
Banca d'Italia
Banca d'Italia is the central bank of Italy and part of the European System of Central Banks. It is located in Palazzo Koch, Roma, via Nazionale...
and IMI. In the BNL, a young economist engaged with international scenarios analysis (the Iraq-Iran War, petroleum
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
's strategic routes in the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
and Far East
Far East
The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...
) reported a strong and unusual interest by Cairncross about the Bank's role in that area. It was in Rome that his secret finally reached the public. In December 1979, Barrie Penrose, a journalist, concluded that Cairncross was the Fifth Man and confronted him. Cairncross's third confession was front-page news. His status was confirmed 10 years later by Oleg Gordievsky
Oleg Gordievsky
Oleg Antonovich Gordievsky , CMG , is a former Colonel of the KGB and KGB Resident-designate and bureau chief in London, who was a secret agent of the British Secret Intelligence Service from 1974 to 1985.-Early career:Oleg Gordievsky attended the Moscow State Institute of International...
, the KGB defector. He retired to the south of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
until 1995 when he returned to Britain and married American opera singer Gayle Brinkerhoff. Later that year he died after suffering a stroke, at the age of 82.
Cairncross in fiction
Cairncross appears as a character in the Franco-Belgian comicFranco-Belgian comics
Franco-Belgian comics are comics that are created in Belgium and France. These countries have a long tradition in comics and comic books, where they are known as BDs, an abbreviation of bande dessinée in French and stripverhalen in Dutch...
India Dreams by Maryse Charles and Jean-François Charles. He was also depicted in part three of the 2003 BBC TV series Cambridge Spies
Cambridge Spies
Cambridge Spies is a 2003 four-part BBC television drama concerning the lives of the best-known quartet of the Cambridge Five Soviet spies from 1934 to the 1951 defection of Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean to the Soviet Union...
, where he appears reluctant to continue passing Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park is an estate located in the town of Bletchley, in Buckinghamshire, England, which currently houses the National Museum of Computing...
data to the Russians for fear that the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
was heavily penetrated by German intelligence
Abwehr
The Abwehr was a German military intelligence organisation from 1921 to 1944. The term Abwehr was used as a concession to Allied demands that Germany's post-World War I intelligence activities be for "defensive" purposes only...
and by Eastern Front military intelligence under General Gehlen; Anthony Blunt
Anthony Blunt
Anthony 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...
is depicted in the drama as pressuring him with threats to continue. He is revealed to be the fifth of the Cambridge Five in Frederick Forsyth
Frederick Forsyth
Frederick Forsyth, CBE is an English author and occasional political commentator. He is best known for thrillers such as The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, The Fourth Protocol, The Dogs of War, The Devil's Alternative, The Fist of God, Icon, The Veteran, Avenger, The Afghan and The Cobra.-...
's The Deceiver.
See also
- Cambridge FiveCambridge FiveThe 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...
- 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...
(1907–1983) - Guy BurgessGuy BurgessGuy Francis De Moncy Burgess was a British-born intelligence officer and double agent, who worked for the Soviet Union. He was part of the Cambridge Five spy ring that betrayed Western secrets to the Soviets before and during the Cold War...
(1911–1963) - Donald Maclean (1913–1983)
- 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...
(1912–1988)