I've figured out the unspecified special op I left blank in my 'Where are
they now' posting. I'd figured this out a long time ago, but forgot about
it until this morning, floating in my bath after writing up a thesis
section on how SIS absorbed the Radio Security Service back in '41.
OK, its something like this:
Burnside, as you may recall, has been relegated to Head of Station Buenos
Aires after the Salt III fiasco, and just before the invasion of the
Falkland Islands by Argentina.
His assets include a coast-watching network in the ports along the South
American east coast, and a number of 'alongsiders', or emigre British
businessmen working in Argentina. One of Burnside's coast-watchers
reports concentrations of troops in a number of Atlantic ports, as per
invasion. Burnside sends a source report to HQ, but Dalgetty notes the
lack of supporting info, GCHQ 'Blue Book' reports, and buries Burnside's
report in the back of the weekly SIS Digest of Intelligence.
The special section is spread enormously thin, due to a flock of
defectors, and a series of cross-border operations into Aghanistan in
support of various Mujahedeen groups, so when the Argentines invade there
is very little the Section can do, committed to Cold War operations.
After the invasion, one of Burnside's 'alongsiders', and engineer working
in an avionics factory, reports a new arrival of components for the French
Exocet missiles, despite an international freeze on supplying arms to
Argentina. Burnside originally takes the report with minimal concern,
pointing out that Royal Navy ships have defences against surface skimmer
missiles, i.e. 'Phalanx' gattling guns and Seawolf surface-to-air
missiles. The engineer, who is ex-nany, counters that the RN air defence
radars won't respond automatically to an Exocest radar signature sicne
they're programmed to treat it as a 'friendly' [I'm not making this part
up, by the way], so the radar operator would have to verbally alert fire
control to the incoming missile, cutting down on the chances of stoping
the weapon. Burnside's copies this information to HQ, but the Navy
liaison there "MODA/Navy" rejects his concern as exaggerated.
Burnside's contact finds out his firm is expecting a sizeable incoming
shipment of Exocet components, and completed missiles, but he doesn't know
who the supplier is. Burnside needs, therefore, to effect a clandestine
entry into the premises to find papers which might identify the supplier.
However, Buenos Aires is 'single cell' only; Burnside is on his own, the
b&e jobs require a Sandbagger. Burnside queries HQ, but is informed that
no Sandbaggers are available. He is, however, allowed to request
additional staff from DAS. Burnside leaves the station in the care of his
secretary (Marian Straker, with whom he has been carrying on a
perfunctory affair despite remarrying Belinda to appease Wellingham), and
flies to Britain to see Willie who is now head of Training. Willie is
down at the SIS training facility at Fort Monkton, nr. Gosport [yer actual
SIS field school, by the way], allowing Burnside to avoid London and
dealing with Dalgetty.
Willie is less than approachable, understandably blaming Burnside for the
bullet still lodged in his back. Burnside explains the situation to
Willie, who, suitable impressed with the seriousness of the problem,
agrees to find Burnside a student or two with SO orientation to mount
Burnside's break-in, and any disruptive action necessary to stop the
shipment.
Burnside flies back with a new agent for the station, mounts the break-in
and identifies the supplier as a Lebanese arms dealer, finances moving
through some obscure bank called the Bank of Credit and Commerce
International. Shortly after, Burnside's 'alongsider' requests a
crash-contact; Burnside sends his new number two, who barely slips the
'alongsider' away from the clutches of a Secret Police heavy mob.
Burnside now has the problem of getting his blown source out of the
country, disrupting the Exocet shipment, and doing all of this without
Dalgetty and C finding out about his going beyond orders.
At this point, Willie and Mike (now Head of Special Section into the
fray). Mike comes down to lift the blown agent, Willie to help the
situation any way possible. Willie remarks of handedly that given the
Argentine Junta's habit of 'disappearing' people, and the agent's narrow
escape from the secret police, it's lucky the agent got away with his
life. Straker remarks 'Pity the French wouldn't do the same thing to the
lebanese businessman.`, and Burnside realises they could set it up so that
the Lebanese looks like an MI 6 agent and therefore as if the entire
shipment is a set-up. They contact Geoff Ross, now at Global Issues in
the CIA's Directorate of Operations to borrow a CIA front-firm to make
contact with the Lebanese businessman. Mike Wallace gets Technical
Services to forge Swiss bank statements showing recent British payments to
the Lebanese, and Burnside arranges for (a) himself to act as the firm's
contact with the Lebanese, and (b) to allow the Argentine secret police
watchers to follow him to the meeting. The bank statements are leaked
somehow to the Argentines, who spot their supplier meeting with the SIS
Head of Station, and for some reason, the Lebanese quietly disappears.
The group are congratulating themselves with the sucess, just as over the
radio, the BBC World Service reports the HMS Sheffield hit by an Exocet
missile....
Yowza. You like?
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PHJD
(spies) www.rdg.ac.uk/SecInt/
(martial Arts) www.rdg.ac.uk/AcaDepts/lw/kt/home.htm
(sociology) www.rdg.ac.uk/AcaDepts/lw/home.html
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