Head of CIA and the Cambridge Five

sorry for being an ignoramus but who are the cambridge five ( i think i MIGHT know who but i do not want to say for fear of appearing a fool)

The Cambridge Five were five upper class (for the most part) Cambridge graduates who reached the top of the British intelligence establishment during the forties, but who were actually spies for the KGB (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Five).

I did some more research on this and I think it was James Angleton not Allen Dulles who mentioned in the documentary (and he was head of counter intelligence for the CIA, not the entire CIA). Though I am still not sure of the accuracy of the description, accounts differ as to exactly how close Angleton was to Philby(and how trusting he was of Philiby). The only account that really matches what I describe is this one http://www.booksense.com/people/archive/l/littellrobert.jsp which is from spy fiction author Robert Littell, rather than someone with first hand knowledge. (and who also thinks Philby was double/triple agent for the allies which is kinda ridiculous considering the amount of damage he did).

bm

(Interesting topic! I'll be interested to learn more.)

The Cambridge Five was a spy ring consisting of Kim Philby, Donald Maclean, Guy Burgess, Anthony Blunt, and John Cairncross.

In 1934, three students in Cambridge were recruited by the KGB (the intelligence service of the USSR) to become spies. Over the next few years, two more joined their group. The Ring was very close, several members were also sexually involved.

At the pinnacle of the Ring's power and importance, all the members were in extremely influential positions They were not spies, but rather moles, a mole is more insidious because they can directly influence decisions and policy themselves.

Philby became the head of Section IX in MI6 which dealt with counter-espionage efforts against the Soviets. Any effort by the British to catch Soviet spies became fruitless.

The ring knew the identity of almost every British (and probably some of the American as well) spies in the Soviet Union.

Faced with such obstacles it is not surprising that MI5 seemed to be rarely successful during the 1950s and 1960s.

The ring was broken up when American code-breakers became able to intercept their messages. Maclean and Burgess defected to Moscow in 1951.

After the discovery of the ring MI5 was intensely introspective and paranoid for many years to come, leading to a witch-hunt which ruined the careers of many good people.

The Ring was largely responsible for the post-war Soviet domination of Yugoslavia and other Eastern European nations.

Anglo-American relations, and the reputation of the British government at home and abroad were badly affected as well.

> The Ring was largely responsible for the post-war Soviet domination of
> Yugoslavia and other Eastern European nations.
I'd say that was a bit of a strech, although Maclean did give Stalin advanced warning of the Anglo-American negociating position at the conferences (Yalta, Postdam, etc) where the diplomatic decisions were made, I can't see how things would have turned out differently if he hadn't.