British Security Coordination
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The British Security Coordination was a cover organization set up in New York City by the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) in May 1940 upon the authorization of Winston Churchill. The office, which was established for intelligence and propaganda services, was headed by Canadian industrialist William Stephenson. Its first tasks were to promote British interests in the United States, counter Nazi propaganda, and protect the Atlantic convoys from enemy sabotage.
Although the British and Americans were cooperating at the Prime Minister-President level at the time, the arrival of "British spies" in the United States infuriated J. Edgar Hoover, the director of the FBI, the U.S. State Department.
The BSC was registered by the State Department as a foreign entity. It operated out of offices in Rockefeller Center, and was officially known as the British Passport Control Office.
Despite the fact the Stephenson and Hoover did not see eye to eye, they had cooperated in a number of operations against espionage activities by Nazi Germany in the U.S. They also agreed that the British would not hire Americans, but they did. The Americans were given British identification numbers beginning with 48, apparently for the 48 states.
William Boyd states that although the total number of BSC agents operating in the USA is unknown, he estimates it as at least 'many hundreds' and 'has seen the figure of up to 3,000 mentioned'.
[edit] References
- Inside Camp X by Lynn Philip Hodgson, with a foreword by Secret Agent 'Andy Durovecz (2003) - ISBN 0-9687062-0-7
- Restless by William Boyd (Bloomsbury, 2006). ISBN 1596912367
[edit] External links
- Camp-X Students' Resource
- Boyd, William. "The Secret Persuaders", The Guardian, August 19, 2006
