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British intelligence and the Anglo-American ‘Special Relationship’ during the Cold War

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 1998

Abstract

Our present understanding of British intelligence and its relationship to Anglo-American cooperation in the postwar period leaves much to be desired. Indeed while it has often been remarked that the twin pillars of Anglo-American security cooperation were atomic weapons and intelligence exchange, there remains an alarming disparity in our understanding of these two areas. The importance of intelligence is often commented on, but rarely subjected to sustained analysis. This article seeks to fill that gap by looking in turn at the nature of the Western ‘intelligence community’, the impact of alliance politics upon intelligence common to national estimates and the significance of strategic intelligence cooperation.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1998 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

The author would like to acknowledge the American Council of Learned Societies, the UK Economic and Social Research Council (Project R-000-23-3746) and the Fulbright Commission for assisting the research for this article. Some of this material was presented in a preliminary form at a seminar organized by Dr Anne Deighton at St. Antony's College, Oxford, and he would like to thank the participants for their comments. Responsibility for errors remains with the author.