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ABSTRACT
This article explores the intersections between propaganda, intelligence and covert action through the experience of Britain’s Regional Information Office (RIO) in Singapore. RIO defined its functions as ‘propaganda intelligence’: the generation of intelligence to guide propaganda output and analysis of enemy propaganda to feed into the broader intelligence picture of communist intentions. This highlights the interdependency of intelligence and propaganda. RIO worked closely with MI5 and MI6 in developing intelligence on communist China and North Vietnam. Evaluating the position of RIO within Britain’s regional intelligence network also reveals some of the complexities of the late-imperial intelligence system. It illuminates the changing status of different intelligence activities and the growth of a particular intelligence culture, providing insight into how Britain engaged with the clandestine Cold War in South-East Asia.
Acknowledgments
Iwould like to thank Scott Ramsay for providing feedback on an earlier draft of this article
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 Examples include: Glen Segell, “Propaganda and Intelligence: Iraq 2005–2007,” Journal of Intelligence History 13, no. 2 (2014): 189–203; Robert Lackner and Florian Traussnig, “The US Army’s Creativity Lab: Camp Ritchie and its Austrian Trainees in World War II,” Journal for Intelligence, Propaganda and Security Studies 9, no. 2 (2015): 7–23; Daniel W.B. Lomas, “Labour Ministers, Intelligence and Domestic Anti-Communism, 1945–1951,” Journal of Intelligence History 12, no. 2 (2013): 113–33; Linda Risso, “A Difficult Compromise: British and American Plans for a Common Anti-Communist Propaganda Response in Western Europe, 1948–58,” Intelligence and National Security 26, no. 2–3 (2011): 330–54.
2 A similar ‘propaganda cycle’ is described by Thomas Maguire: Thomas J. Maguire, “British and American Intelligence and Anti-Communist Propaganda in Early Cold War Southeast Asia, 1948–1961” (unpublished PhD thesis, University of Cambridge, 2015), 24–8. Rory Cormac, Disrupt and Deny: Spies, Special Forces and the Secret Pursuit of British Foreign Policy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018)
3 Kew, The National Archives [TNA], FCO 141/15452, Speech by Malcolm MacDonald to conference of Information and Public Relations Officers in South-East Asia, July 14, 1949.
4 Propaganda complemented security assistance by MI5 to local powers in the Far and Middle East: Alexander Nicholas Shaw, “MI5 and the Cold War in South-East Asia: Examining the Performance of Security Intelligence Far East (SIFE), 1946–1963,” Intelligence and National Security 32, no. 6 (2017): 810–12; Chikara Hashimoto, “The Training of Secret Police in Conflictual Intelligence Cultures: British Failure in the Middle East during the Cold War,” International History Review 39, no. 3 (2017): 450–69.
5 For Maguire, see note 2. The other main studies focus on publicity functions: Ian Aitken, “British Governmental Institutions, the Regional Information Office in Singapore and the Use of Official Film in Malaya and Singapore, 1948–1961,” Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television 35, no. 1 (2015): 27–52; Andrew Defty, Britain, America and Anti-Communist Propaganda, 1945–53: The Information Research Department (London: Routledge, 2004), 151–6.
6 Kumar Ramakrishna, Emergency Propaganda: The Winning of Malayan Hearts and Minds, 1948–1958 (Richmond: Curzon, 2002); Simon Smith, “General Templer and Counter-Insurgency in Malaya: Hearts and Minds, Intelligence, and Propaganda,” Intelligence and National Security 16, no. 3 (2001): 60–78.
7 ”Troubles of S.-East Asian Region,” The Times, December 5, 1952, 6.
8 Alexander Shaw, “MI5 and the Cold War in South-East Asia”; Roger Arditti, “Security Intelligence in the Middle East (SIME): Joint Security Intelligence Operations in the Middle East, c.1939–1958,” Intelligence and National Security 31, no. 3 (2016): 369–396; Philip Murphy, “Intelligence and Decolonisation: The Life and Death of the Federal Intelligence and Security Bureau, 1954–63,” Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 29, no. 2 (2001): 101–30; Calder Walton, Empire of Secrets: British Intelligence, the Cold War and the Twilight of Empire (London: William Collins, 2013).
9 Roger Arditti, “The View from Above: How the Royal Air Force Provided a Strategic Vision for Operational Intelligence in the Malayan Emergency,” Small Wars & Insurgencies 26, no. 5 (2015): 775–80; Rory Cormac, Confronting the Colonies: British Intelligence and Counterinsurgency (Hurst, London, 2013).
10 Roger Arditti and Philip Davies, “Rethinking the Rise and Fall of the Malayan Security Service, 1946–48,” Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 43, no. 2 (2015): 292–316.
11 Ramakrishna, Emergency Propaganda, 15–16.
12 Rory Cormac, “The Information Research Department, Unattributable Propaganda, and Northern Ireland, 1971–1973: Promising Salvation but Ending in Failure?” The English Historical Review 131, no. 552 (2016): 1075.
13 Cormac, “The Information Research Department,” 1077–8; Paul M. McGarr, “The Information Research Department, British Covert Propaganda and the Sino-Indian War of 1962: Combatting Communism and Courting Failure?” International History Review 41, no. 1 (2019), 132-134.
14 Defty, Britain, America and Anti-Communist Propaganda, 10.
15 Orwell was referring to Spain: George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia (London: Penguin, 2000), 197.
16 FO 371/76084, Minute by R. H. Scott, February 22, 1949.
17 Alexander Shaw, “MI5 and the Cold War,” 797–816.
18 Philip H. J. Davies, “The SIS Singapore Station and the Role of the Far East Controller: Secret Intelligence Structure and Process in Post-War Colonial Administration,” Intelligence and National Security 14, no. 4 (1999): 105–29; Keith Jeffery, MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service, 1909–1949 (London: Bloomsbury, 2010), 697.
19 Huw Dylan, Defence Intelligence and the Cold War: Britain’s Joint Intelligence Bureau 1945–1964 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 36–37.
20 FCO 141/16998, Minutes of a meeting held at King’s House, Malaya, August 18, 1947.
21 [TNA] KV 4/422, SIFE Report, “Assessment of the Value of SIFE,” c. December 1947.
22 [TNA] CO 537/2653, JIC(FE)(48)7(Final), “Lessons on the Organisation of Intelligence in the Far East,” 15 July 1948.
23 FCO 141/1570, JIC(49)(59)(Final), Charter for JIC(FE) approved by JIC(London), September 10, 1949.
24 [TNA] CAB 101/131, Report on the major developments in political warfare, 1938–45, by Miss Y. M. Streatfield.
25 [TNA] FO 1110/185, PR 1243/9G, Circular from the Secretary of State for the Colonies, June 18, 1949.
26 FCO 141/15452, Speech by Malcolm MacDonald to conference of Information and Public Relations Officers in South-East Asia, July 14, 1949.
27 FO 1110/143, PF 953/953/913G, Report of a committee appointed to discuss establishing a Central Bureau for propaganda in South-East Asia, September 30, 1948.
28 FO 1110/185, PR 1024/9/913, Patrick Scrivener to R. H. Scott, March 29, 1949.
29 FO 1110/184, PR 162/9G, Tarver to Ralph Murray, January 20, 1949.
30 [TNA] WO 208/4830, Tarver to MI5, 9 February 1948; CO 537/2650, SIFE review of communism in South-East Asia, January 23, 1948.
31 FO 1110/184, PR 162/9G, Murray to Tarver, February 3, 1949.
32 FO 1110/185, PR 1243/9G, Murray to Rayner, May 16, 1949.
33 Richard Aldrich, The Hidden Hand: Britain, America and Cold War Secret Intelligence (London: John Murray, 2001), 445.
34 FO 1110/185, PR 1243/9G, Directive for RIO, May 16, 1949.
35 Smith, Portrait of a Cold Warrior, 167.
36 FCO 141/15452, Minutes of conference of Information and Public Relations Officers in South-East Asia, July 14–15, 1949.
37 CO 537/6564, Rayner to Murray, May 29, 1950.
38 CO 537/6564, Rayner to Aldington (Political Advisor, Hong Kong), November 17, 1950.
116 FO 1110/709, PR 10106/93G, G. Micklethwaite (Djakarta) to J. O. Rennie (IRD Director), May 13, 1954.
39 FO 1110/187, PR 3145/9G, Murray to Bowker (Rangoon), October 25, 1949.
40 FO 1110/187, PR 3146/9G, Rayner to Murray, October 11, 1949.
41 Maguire, “British and American Intelligence and Propaganda,” 76–77, 90–91.
42 Smith, Portrait of a Cold Warrior, 140, 158.
43 Aitken, “The Use of Official Film,” 40.
44 John Jenks, British Propaganda and News Media in the Cold War (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2006), 62.
45 Aldrich, The Hidden Hand, 443.
46 [TNA] PREM 11/1582, Minute by the Foreign Secretary, October 19, 1955.
47 FO 1110/187, PR 3224/9G, Rayner to Murray, October 18, 1949.
48 FO 1110/286, PR 11/151G, Minute by Mr. Machin, March 29, 1950.
49 Jeffery, MI6, 698–699; Christopher Baxter, “A Closed Book? British Intelligence and East Asia, 1945–1950,” Diplomacy & Statecraft 22, no. 1 (2011): 17.
50 FO 1110/188, PR 3729/9G, Commissioner-General’s Chancery to IRD, 22 November 1949; CO 968/226, Memorandum by Assistant Director, Special Branch, “Intelligence peddlers in Hong Kong,” August 28, 1952.
51 Alexander Shaw, “MI5 and the Cold War in South-East Asia,” 802–3.
52 FO 1110/836, PR 10106/30G, JID fortnightly summary no. 233, February 8, 1955.
53 FO 1110/386, PR 24/11/51, Rayner to Murray, January 12, 1951.
54 Smith, Portrait of a Cold Warrior, 175.
55 FO 1110/386, PR 24/119G, Watson (Washington) to Peck (IRD director), July 6, 1951.
56 Defty, Britain, America and Anti-Communist Propaganda, 152.
57 Alexander Shaw, “MI5 and the Cold War in South-East Asia,” 811.
58 FO 1091/38, Report by Gilchrist, October 28, 1954.
59 National Archives of Australia [NAA], A1838, 2464/3, Report of the SEATO Ad Hoc Committee on the establishment of a research and analysis centre, December 7, 1955.
60 NAA, A1838, 2464/3, Report of the SEATO Ad Hoc Committee, appendix B, December 7, 1955.
61 FO 371/111896, D 1074/833, Minute by Patrick Dean, November 18, 1954.
62 FO 1091/13, Letter from W. R. Haydon (Bangkok) to Rayner, April 23, 1955.
63 CAB 159/19, Minutes of JIC(55)41st meeting, May 25, 1955.
64 CO 1027/60, Letter from R. H. Scott to Paul Grey, April 18, 1956.
65 FO 1110/1052, PR 10106/59, Pakenham to Rivett-Carnac, August 13, 1957.
66 FO 1091/13, Memorandum by Rayner on the Philippines Working Paper for the SEATO Psywar Sub-Committee, September 20, 1955.
67 Chikara Hashimoto, The Twilight of the British Empire: British Intelligence and Counter-Subversion in the Middle East, 1948–63 (Edinburgh, 2017), 93–94, 107–113.
68 FO 1110/281, PR 5/112, Appendix D to report on RIO activities for the Cabinet Committee on Colonial Information Policy, September 16, 1950.
69 See distribution lists in FO 1110/386 and FO 1110/838.
70 FO 1110/386, PR 24/6G, RIO propaganda analysis of communist broadcasts, December 29, 1950.
71 Tony Shaw, “The Information Research Department of the British Foreign Office and the Korean War, 1950–53,” Journal of Contemporary History 34, no. 2 (1999): 274–275.
72 FO 371/92352, FC 1681/1, Sterndale Bennett (on behalf of MacDonald) to Bevin, December 30, 1950.
73 FO 371/92353, FC 1681/29, Minute by Shattock (Head of Far Eastern Department), June 13, 1951.
74 FO 371/92353, FC 1681/24, Sterndale Bennett to Scott, June 5, 1951.
75 CAB 159/12, Minutes of JIC(52)122nd meeting, November 5, 1952.
76 See interrogation reports in FO 371/92353.
77 FCO 141/15632, Report by Singapore Secretary for Internal Security, May 17, 1951.
78 FO 1110/499, PR 52/123, Appendix D, “Staff of RIO Hong Kong Representative,” November 10, 1952.
79 FO 1110/499, PR 52/123, Report on RIO activities in 1952 by Deputy Regional Information Officer Geoffrey Crossley, November 10, 1952.
80 Ramakrishna, Emergency Propaganda, 157–158.
81 FO 1110/724, PR 10117/61, First issue of Inside Communist North Vietnam, July 12, 1955.
82 On British intelligence and Vietnam see: Miriam Matejova and Don Munton, “Western Intelligence Cooperation on Vietnam in the Early Cold War Era,” Journal of Intelligence History 15, no. 2 (2016): 139–155; Nikita Wolf, “’This Secret Town’: British Intelligence, the Special Relationship and the Vietnam War,” International History Review 39, no. 2 (2017): 338–367.
83 Michael S. Goodman, The Official History of the Joint Intelligence Committee, Volume I: From the Approach of the Second World War to the Suez Crisis (London), 335.
84 FO 959/82, JIC(FE)(50)28(Final), JIC(FE) report, “Evidence of Russian Assistance to the Chinese Communists,” September 22, 1950.
85 FCO 141/15674, Annex to JIC(FE)(49)41(Final), “Review of the communist build-up in Hong Kong,” undated.
86 FCO 141/15675, JIC(FE)(50)38(Final), JIC(FE) paper, ‘Survey of Subversive Communist Activities in the Far East’ no. 5, November 20, 1950.
87 NAA, A1209, 1958/5716, JIB/M Report 5/3/53, Sino-Soviet Collaboration up to September 30, 1953.
88 CO 1035/110, Directive for JIB Representative, Hong Kong, February 24, 1956.
89 FO 1110/954, PR 10107/21, Letter from A. C. Maby (Singapore) to Rennie (IRD), April 21, 1956.
90 FO 1110/187, PR 3145/9G, Letter from Bowker (Rangoon) to Murray, October 14, 1949.
91 FO 1110/187, PR 3224/9G, Minute by Ralph Murray, November 1, 1949.
92 Maguire, “British and American Intelligence and Propaganda,” 12.
93 M. Turner, “An Appraisal of the Effects of Secret Propaganda”. Cited in: Cormac, “The Information Research Department,” 1077.
94 James Callanan, Covert Action in the Cold War: US Policy, Intelligence and CIA Operations (London: 2010), 3–4.
95 PREM 11/1582, Minute by the Foreign Secretary, October 19, 1955.
96 PREM 11/1582, Minute by the Colonial Secretary, November 15, 1955.
97 Rory Cormac, “The Pinprick Approach: Whitehall’s Top Secret Anti-Communist Committee and the Evolution of British Covert Action Strategy,” Journal of Cold War Studies 16, no. 3 (2014): 25–26.
98 PREM 11/1582, Minute by the Prime Minister, December 10, 1955.
99 [TNA], AIR 40/2552, Note by the Vice Chief of the Imperial General Staff, June 22, 1954.
100 CO 1035/82, Memorandum by the Overseas Planning Section, “Operation Debenture,” December 16, 1955.
101 Richard J. Aldrich, GCHQ: The Uncensored Story of Britain’s Most Secret Intelligence Agency (London: Harper, 2010), 152–153.
102 CO 1035/82, Memorandum by the Overseas Planning Section, “Operation Debenture,” December 16, 1955.
103 CO 1035/82, Minutes of the Official Committee on Communism (Overseas), November 30, 1955.
104 CO 1035/82, Memorandum by Patrick Dean, “Operation Debenture,” February 29, 1956.
105 Smith, Portrait of a Cold Warrior, 166.
106 FO 1110/1056, PR 10109/63G, Norman Cox (RIO) to Hugh Cortazzi (IRD), July 19, 1957.
107 FO 1110/952, PR 10106/37G, Covert propaganda report 1/1956, April 20, 1956.
108 For this problem in broader geographical context, see: Christopher Sutton, “Britain, the Cold War and the ‘Importance of Influencing the Young’: A Comparison of Cyprus and Hong Kong,” Britain and the World 7, no. 1 (2014): 85–108.
109 FO 1110/951, PR 10106/3G, Covert propaganda report 4/1955, January 11, 1956; FO 1110/952, PR 10106/37G, Covert propaganda report 1/1956, April 20, 1956.
110 [University of Durham Palace Green Library, Malcolm MacDonald Papers], MAC 18/11/64–68, Memorandum by Crossley, “Information Work in Indochina,” December 11, 1954.
111 MAC 18/11/64–68, Memorandum by Crossley, “Information Work in Indochina,” December 11, 1954.
112 CO 537/2650, SIFE review of communism in South-East Asia, February 23, 1948.
113 KV 4/424, SIFE internal review, April 2, 1952.
114 Matthew Jones, “’Maximum Disavowable Aid’: Britain, the United States and the Indonesia Rebellion, 1957–1958,” The English Historical Review 114, no. 459 (1999): 1179–216.
115 FO 1110/951, PR 10106/3G, Covert propaganda report 4/1955, January 11, 1956.
117 PREM 11/1582, Minute by the Prime Minister, December 10, 1955.
118 AIR 40/2552, Note by the VCIGS, June 22, 1954.
119 Robert H. Bruce Lockhart, “Political Warfare,” Royal United Service Institution Journal 95 (1950): 196–198.
120 CO 1030/194, Note of a meeting held in Sir Norman Brook’s Room, Cabinet Office, June 13, 1955.
121 [TNA] DO 35/9658, Minute by Ben Cockram, June 2, 1960.
122 DO 191/69, L. C. Glass (Foreign Office) to Major-General W. H. A. Bishop (Commonwealth Relations Office), June 25, 1963.
123 McGarr, “The Information Research Department,” 138.
124 CO 537/2653, JIC(FE)(48)7(Final), JIC(FE) Report, “Lessons on the Organisation of Intelligence in the Far East,” July 15, 1948.
125 KV 4/426, Extract from note of discussion between MI5 Director-General and Sir Ivone Kirkpatrick, January 13, 1955.
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Alexander Nicholas Shaw
Dr Alexander Nicholas Shaw received his PhD from the University of Leeds in 2019. Alexander is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of York with interests spanning Second World War tactics, Cold War diplomacy and British intelligence in Singapore.