Episode description
Author Trevor Barnes talks about his new book Dead Doubles – about the Portland spy Ring – their Portland, not our Portland. In the late 50s Soviet illegal Gordon Lonsdale (Konan Molody) ran a group of spies who managed to penetrate a British research facility at the Portland Naval Base, and communicate effectively to Moscow.
The compromised intelligence ranged from sonar to biological technologies.
A famous counter-intelligence investigation led by MI-5 was an example of early cooperation between CIA, FBI and MI-5, along with revealing the depths of the Soviet Illegals program in Britain, some of whom were likely never identified. Trevor Barnes is an intelligence historian who shares the varied connections of this case to much more at the time.
Dead Doubles, by Trevor Barnes
Spy Catcher, by Peter Wright
A Pack of Lies, by Hugh Whitemore (NYT Review by Frank Rich)
Episode 45
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