Gripping, deeply researched, and authoritative, the history of one of the closest intelligence and security relationships in the world
The Special Relationship between the United States and Britain is touted by politicians when it suits their purpose and, as frequently, dismissed as myth, not least by the media. Yet the truth is that the two countriesare bound together more closely than either is to any other ally. InThe Real Special Relationship,Michael Smithreveals how it all began, eighty years ago, when a top-secret visit by four American codebreakers toBletchley Parkin February 1941ten months before the US entered World WarIImarked the start of a close collaboration between the intellitence services of the two nations. When that war ended and theCold Warbegan, both sides recognized that the way they worked together to decode German and Japanese ciphers could be used to counter theSoviet threat. They laid the foundation for the behind-the-scenes intelligence sharing that has continueddespite rivalries among the services and occasional political conflict and public disputes between the two nationsthrough the collapse of the Soviet Union, 9/11, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and to the threats of the present moment.
Smith, who served inBritish military intelligence, brings together a fascinating range of characters, from Winston Churchill andIan Fleming to John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, andEdward Snowden. Supported by in-depth interviews and a broad range of personal contacts in the intelligence community, he takes the reader into the workings ofMI6, the CIA, the NSA, and all those who strive to keep us safe. Sir John Scarlett, former chief of MI6, has written the introduction, and Michael Hayden, former director of the CIA and the NSA, has provided the foreword.
