Cats' eyes in the dark

摘要

As that shrewd spy-chronicler, John le Carre, noted once, secret services can be most revealing of the deeper character of the countries they protect. A distinguished British practitioner of the craft recently agreed with him, declaring that intelligence work "is the last expression of national identity and sovereignty". Britain is perhaps the prime example. Its secret servants of the state remain tiny in numbers and budgets compared with the United States. The so-called single intelligence account disbursed by the Treasury is £1.3 billion ($2.5 billion). The American government spends roughly five times as much on the bits that are its equivalent of the three British agencies: the Secret Intelligence Service (M16);the domestic Security Service (M15) and the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). And American help is vital. A baffled Edward Heath, when he was prime minister in 1970-74, once asked what Britain was getting in return for making all kinds of facilities available to the Americans. The answer came back that, without the intelligence provided by America, Britain would be instantly reduced to "the same position as other European members of NATO"-in other words, to the second rank of world intelligence powers.