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Counting the cost of intelligence : the Treasury, National Service and GCHQ

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Aldrich, Richard J. (2013) Counting the cost of intelligence : the Treasury, National Service and GCHQ. English Historical Review, Volume 128 (Number 532). pp. 596-627. doi:10.1093/ehr/cet067

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ehr/cet067

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Abstract

If one were to choose a few key words to describe the post-war British intelligence community, one of them might well be ‘impecunious’. Scarcity of resource affected the development of intelligence no less than it did British defence policy. Yet while we know much about the political economy of British defence planning, we know almost nothing about intelligence spending. This essay argues that senior Treasury figures were important in the development of the core planning and control mechanisms for the British intelligence community. It uses the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and signals intelligence more broadly to provide illustrative examples of the extreme pressures brought about by the end of the British occupation of Germany, the abolition of National Service as a source of cheap intelligence labour and the rising costs of computers for code breaking. It analyses the impact of the Templer and Hampshire reviews as early attempts to grapple with the accelerating costs of intelligence. Finally, it argues that the most significant intelligence reform, introduced by the Cabinet Secretary Burke Trend in 1968, was the advent of the Cabinet Office Intelligence Co-ordinator as a financial troubleshooter. This was, however, by no means the end of the intelligence community’s financial troubles.

Item Type: Journal Article
Alternative Title: Counting the cost of intelligence : the Treasury, National Service and Government Communications Headquarters
Divisions: Faculty of Social Sciences > Politics and International Studies
Journal or Publication Title: English Historical Review
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISSN: 0013-8266
Official Date: June 2013
Dates:
DateEvent
June 2013Published
Volume: Volume 128
Number: Number 532
Page Range: pp. 596-627
DOI: 10.1093/ehr/cet067
Status: Peer Reviewed
Publication Status: Published
Access rights to Published version: Restricted or Subscription Access

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