Defend the Realm

By Christopher Andrew
Knopf, $40.00, 1,032 pages

On the one hundredth anniversary of the United Kingdom’s spy shop, MI5, comes Defend the Realm, the authorized history of the agency. The British Security Service opened its files to Cambridge professor and historian Christopher Andrew, giving him “virtually unrestricted access” to its archives. Although the Service vetted Andrew’s work for reasons of national security, this exhaustive tome seems to offer a fair and balanced review of MI5’s fascinating history. Of course, readers cannot possibly know what might be missing from Andrew’s account. But regardless of what may have been omitted—for whatever reasons, security or otherwise—what remains is revealing.

As Andrew writes in the preface, “For most of its history the Security Service (MI5) has seemed to outsiders a deeply mysterious organization … The Service, like the rest of the intelligence community, was to stay as far from public view as possible.” One might wonder why, then, after one hundred years, the Service decided to open its vault, exposing its successes as well as its failures. Andrew notes that recent directors, beginning with Stella Rimington, have sought to demystify the Service. With that, Andrew uncovers warts and all in Defend the Realm, from its origins as a fledgling office staffed by two people to its work—clandestine and otherwise—during World War I, World War II, the Cold War, and the War on Terror.

Andrew traces the history of the Service as it thwarted espionage, subversion, and terrorism from domestic and international threats. He chronicles the agency’s inner workings, highlighting key players throughout MI5’s history, shedding light on the Service’s culture throughout the years, and illustrating its ongoing struggle to avoid political entanglements. Readers will find in-depth examinations of “The Magnificent Five” ring of Soviet spies who had infiltrated the Service, the double-cross system, and the agency’s alleged plot to smear Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Andrew also reveals the Service’s work regarding threats to the empire from around the world, including Soviet Russia, the IRA and PIRA, and jihadists.

Defend the Realm clearly is one of the most comprehensive accounts of MI5. There is much ground to cover, and it seems as though Andrew has left little out. The early history of the Service is examined in vivid detail; the more contemporary history of the agency is less clear although still revealing. It seems Andrew has left few stones unturned. He not only examines the culture and morale of the Service throughout its history, but also occasionally notes the personal interests of some of its leaders. It is unclear what bearing hobbies such as hunting, fishing, and riding have on the successes or failures of the Service, but such details tend to bog down what already is, at more than one thousand pages, a lengthy book.

At times, Defend the Realm takes on a “ripped-from-the-headlines” tone, exposing sex, politics, suicides, and betrayals—both within the agency and within the government. These juicy bits certainly add some color to the text, but often come with the caveat that once investigated, such events often were found to have no bearing on the Service or on the security of the United Kingdom. Readers who are looking for more than tabloid voyeurism may find it easy to skim such details, which seem to add little to the overall history of the Service.

Defend the Realm will appeal to readers with a deep interest in the Service. However, although much in the book is fascinating, the breadth of detail, as well as the shear length of the book, may well overwhelm readers who enjoy spy novels but have just a passing interest in MI5.

Reviewed by Kelli Christiansen