Molehunt: Searching for Soviet Spies in Mi5

The concept of the deep-cover agent with seemingly impeccable credentials was, according to West, almost unknown in England until the Burgess-MacLean-Philby defections rocked the British establishment, virtually paralyzing its counterintelligence apparatus, and leading to internal-security investigations of previously unthinkable suspects. In this densely packed, clarifying study, the author traces the course of the great ``molehunt'' that lasted several years and reached its apparent climax in the highly publicized suspicion that Sir Roger Hollis, director of the British Security Service from 1956 to '65, was a Soviet agent. He agrees with the prevailing view that, of Hollis and his deputy, Graham Mitchell, ``one was certainly a traitor.'' In his detailed review of the evidence, West ( The Sigint Secrets ) all but proves that Hollis, though perhaps incompetent, was innocent of treason. Although less surehanded in his exploration of the evidence against Mitchell, he nevertheless exposes the remarkable series of setbacks that occurred under Mitchell's tenure as a deputy-director of M15 and his attempts to gloss over them. Photos. (Mar.)