The Hidden Hand: Britain, America, and Cold War Secret Intelligence

As I finished this book by British historian, Richard Aldrich. I found myself nodding along on several of the points he made, specifically in regards to Signals Intelligence. My summation of them:

Cold War Historians are  allowed to study only what our governments chose to release. Take SIGINT. While smaller agencies fought over whatever clandestine operations were left to operate at wars' end, SIGINT became the focus of a top secret Anglo-American treaty signed by Truman.  By 1947, it was clear that this was to become the single most significant and costly of all of the intelligence activities.


And almost all SIGINT stories were withheld from the public archives for many years. Even now, what we get is only a bone intended to keep us busy and distracted from what we are not getting.

You tell it, Brother.