Behind the Enigma: The Authorised History of GCHQ, Britain’s Secret Cyber-Intelligence Agency Paperback – 10 Jun. 2021

This book is a complex study of the subject of the work of trying to find out what other countries policies and tactics are hidden in coded messages that direct not only the way that battles are fought on the Land, Sea, and in the Air, but also those in the murky underworld of business and government departments.It is, at times, quite hard to get to the gist of the infighting between the various military organisations and even the government departments which often don't understand why they are not given the whole picture of why, what, or when certain crucial decisions must be made to counter something that the code breakers suspect is being planned, but to use their own codes to left those who could possibly put in place a counter attack, either by military forces or by disrupting something like a ship, train, or even a convoy of vehicles by using a code to send a fictitious signal that the enemy would decode and believe that they shouldn't continue with some plan, as they might lose some valuable asset of either manpower, or equipment. This is a very interesting book full of the problems involved with intercepting even friendly countries secret codes, to see how they are reacting to some policy change by a friendly country.

This book promises to be fascinating and insightful but, even when one has been reading books on codes and cyphers for many years, it is hard going. Any history that tackles various threads over an extended period is going to be somewhat less than free flowing but this is hard work.The author is a member of the Royal Society or Canada which should have been a clue but I found the use of North American syntax; "never would" instead or "would never" etc. to be distracting. The use of terminology without explanation can also lead one to question one's understanding.I haven't, yet, finished the book but I will keep going if only to see how the author interprets the use of communications intelligence during the second world war. I would say, try not to be put off by the distractions and be prepared to work at it.

This is a very densely written book - full of acronyms and hopefully, informed detail. Blows some holes in the Enigma mythology - but puts it firmly in the place where it should always have been. However, it also goes into social details as regards numbers of women employed, their social backgrounds, their employment and also their gradual rise in the ranks as societal pressures and backgrounds changed. It is complex - I'm doing about 40 pages a day - and this is a long book - but it is very detailed and takes careful reading to ensure that you fully understand what is happening. Well worth the reading, perhaps it could have been shortened a little - but lets face it - the author is dealing with a difficult and very detailed history. His account of Stuart Hampshire - a philosopy don, being brought in to sort out the management was astonishing to me - and more importantly his obvious competence in dealing with difficult problems in management and structure. Oh, if he were in charge of the Covid Crisis I wonder how much better off we would be now.Anyway- this is a dense but ultimately rewarding book that pulls no punches - but also allows for brilliance to have a light shone where necessary.

I can’t argue with the quality of the research and accuracy, but this book is not an easy read. Difficult to describe but language used is unnecessarily flowery. Assumes a prior level of knowledge and acronyms used. Can become very confusing. The inclusion of a ‘Glossary of Terms’ would be very welcome. Mixes opinion with fact and it’s sometimes difficult to determine which is which. Personally, as you’ll probably guess, I find the book disappointing and unnecessarily hard work. The fact it’s an authorised history should have been an opportunity to produce a more readable book. It remains an interesting read about a fascinating service of ‘The State’ that has an important role in the nation’s safety across wide parameters.

Clearly a large amount of information was sifted to create this edition and clearly Ferris struggled to arrange it into logical sections and subsections. The result is that we jump between historical landmark dates repeatedly therefore you can be half way through before you understand the method in his chronology. That said we do have several preconceptions expunged from our minds and memories along with the assumption intelligence is uniquely useful, when it can be effectively nullified by incompetent usage and analysis. If you've looking for headline - making revelations that will shock then prepare to be disappointed. What you do get is a brilliant and detailed synopsis of the people, personalities and politics throughout a century of innovation, drama and world affairs, some of which you will either have forgotten or never been aware of in the first place. For that reason alone it is a must - read.