Introduction

The British government was greatly concerned by subversive activities. In 1958, for example, the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) viewed ‘subversive threats’ to ‘British interests throughout the world’ as the highest priority intelligence targets, alongside a strategic nuclear attack by the Soviet Union against Great Britain. This chapter looks at the development of Britain's post-war overseas anti-Communist policy and the organisational structures that shaped it. Since anti-Communist, or counter-subversion, policy in the Middle East developed in parallel with other foreign and colonial territories, this chapter starts with the origins of Britain's post-war anti-Communist policy overseas in the late 1940s. It shows that Whitehall departmental infighting over waging Cold War included stark disagreement about the role, conduct and severity of anti-Communist measures. The chapter then outlines the mechanisms of counter-subversion in the Middle East and discusses Britain's relationship with the United States in anti-Communist measures in the region.

The Origins of Post-War Counter-Subversive Activities Overseas

The origins of Britain's counter-subversive activities overseas can be traced back to the late 1940s. The first post-war British government envisaged a potential war against the Soviet Union and adopted a very strong anti-Communist policy to fight the ‘Communist menace’ overseas. Britain's first post-war Foreign Secretary, Ernest Bevin, decided to establish three bodies within the Foreign Office directing anti-Communist activities in order to fight the Cold War against the Soviet Union: one committee and two departments.