Behind the Enigma: The Authorised History of GCHQ, Britains Secret Cyber-Intelligence Agency

(Paperback)

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You know about MI5. You know about MI6. Now discover the untold stories behind Britains most secretive intelligence agency, in the first ever authorised history of GCHQ. For a hundred years, GCHQ Government Communications Headquarters has been at the forefront of innovation in national security and British secret statecraft. Famed for its codebreaking achievements during the Second World War, and essential to the Allied victory, GCHQ also held a critical role in both the Falklands War and Cold War. Today, amidst the growing threats of terrorism and online crime, GCHQ continues to be the UKs leading intelligence, security and cyber agency, and a powerful tool of the British state. Based on unprecedented access to classified archives, Behind the Enigma is the first book to authoritatively tell the entire history of this most unique and enigmatic of organisations and peer into its future at the heart of the nations security.

Reviews

Fascinating [Ferris] has rescued several great women codebreakers from obscurity [Bletchley Park] has become embedded in national myth, but Ferris offers cool and balanced judgment This monumental work completes the authorised picture of a century of British intelligence, a testament to how far Britain has moved away from the cult of official secrecy -- Ben Macintyre * The Times *
In Ferris we have a shrewd and scrupulous historian The references to individual people at all levels of the service are many and illuminating Small details can bring a nod or a smile when one is reading GCHQ shows it is alert to the role of a security and defence agency in a modern democracy, and Ferris is to be congratulated for shedding so much light upon it -- Vin Arthey * Scotsman *
The book is at its best when sifting the role of signal intelligence (Sigint) in the Falklands war and other late imperial conflicts such as Indonesia and Palestine Comprehensive -- Luke Harding * Guardian *
GCHQ emerges from the shadows The story of the codebreakers is in fact a parallel history of the entire twentieth century There is intriguing detailing of the organisations structure and systems ... Illuminating ... Absorbing -- Sinclair McKay * Spectator *
What happens when a tiny caste, so obsessed with keeping thing hidden that it speaks its own language of Ultra, Venona or Zircon, opens up The answer not withstanding significant restriction on what Ferris was allowed to publish is a book of revelation Although he spent months sifting the papers in a high-security Cheltenham vault, [Ferris] does not lose sight of the big picture There is much in the book that illuminates other aspects of postwar history, from the struggle against the Jewish underground in Palestine to the 1982 Falklands conflict Today, [Ferris] argues, greater openness about intelligence gathering does not affect its relevance and power. His book is an example of this, and shows that the abandonment of Cold War levels of secrecy about GCHQ benefits us all -- Mark Urban * Sunday Times *
There is so much more to this secrecy-shrouded outfit, reveals Canadian historian John Ferris Fielding formidable research, Ferris tells a global tale of mathematics, engineering, data sciences and linguistics in the service of politics, diplomacy, war and security -- Andrew Robinson * Nature *
[Ferris] has written a deeply learned, comprehensive account of [GCHQs] achievements and occasional failures -- Saul David * Daily Telegraph *
A fascinating tale It takes us with the codebreakers mathematicians, linguists, teachers and philosophers and eccentrics through the ages of radio, telegrams telephone and satellites to the digital present -- Philip Stephens * Financial Times *

Author Bio

John Ferris is a Professor of History at the University of Calgary, where he also is a Fellow at the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies. He received a PhD in War Studies from Kings College London. He has published four books and numerous academic articles on diplomatic, intelligence and military history, as well as contemporary strategy and intelligence.