It's easy to overclassify and it's easy to be nervous about release. An illustration of this point in a new post on

A new post at looks at what can happen when two opposing sides are using the same cryptosystems.

Excellent news that Bill Tutte is being commemorated on a VE-80 stamp. What a pity that the Post Office doesn't seem to know that 'codebreak' isn't a verb and that codes and ciphers are different. If only there was a national agency that they could have approached for advice .

This is excellent, spelling out the difficulties for an Inquiry asked to assess, not just how intelligence was acquired and assessed a quarter of a century ago, but how, at that time, without the benefit of hindsight, it should have been acted on.

A really interesting edition of Código Crystal. An interview with former CNI Head Felix Sanz Roldán (in Spanish) about secrecy and transparency. He argues that a release and declassification legislation would increase trust in intelligence agencies.

Austerity was really hard in 1949: but there was a welcome mitigation for staff at GCHQ. See for what happened.

This is a fascinating thread and illustrates why security plays a large part in the details of the UKUSA Agreement. Recipients have to give assurance before they receive classified material that they will protect it to the originator's satisfaction, but these waters can run deep.

The link should of course be

Is the earliest satirical novel about IA a heavily disguised satire on GCHQ as well? See my latest post on . .

The lives traitors live(d)! Post-confession Anthony Blunt's drinks bill was £100 a month in 1965 and he claims to have lived for a day on gin: when gin was £1/10/- (£1.50) a bottle.

Some first thoughts on what newly released MI5 files on John Cairncross tell us about his time as a Soviet agent at Bletchley Park available at Some new detail, but there's nothing particularly spectacular.

A new post on looks at how activity by the Admiralty between 1900 and 1914 prepared the ground for Room 40, even if they didn't create a Sigint organisation before the war.

Thanks, Nick. Unfortunately as we only get post once a week from late-November to January I probably won't see it in printed form until next weekend.

A new post on explores Collection Management and ponders the unseen functions that Sigint needs to succeed. It also says just what job the Princess of Wales's grandmother and great-aunt were doing at Bletchley Park.

We were invaded by dragons last night - well, a lesser spotted newt either managed to get 200 yards from the nearest stream or was brought along from somewhere to expire in our garage. I've never seen one before.

What happened at Bletchley Parks when clever people were asked to do uncongenial tasks? You can possibly guess! . See

RT @EngelsbergIdeas: With its realistic portrayal of spycraft and encapsulation of the spirit of 1970s Britain, The Sandbaggers might just….

It looks like the Cheltenham skyline is changing for ever!

Pitville in Cheltenham looking good this autumn morning.

And the cost of the move isn't just the cost of those driving boxes of classified stuff from one part of town to another, but the cost to the mission of preparing, packing and unpacking, all taking staff away from their jobs.