What are the records of the Security Service?

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You can search and download selected records of the Security Service (department reference KV). Some of these files were kept about individuals; others were gathered on groups in which the Security Service took an interest. The files contain information about communists, Soviet intelligence agents and officers, right-wing extremists, Italian espionage activities and suspected agents, Czech refugees, suspected spies, pacifists, German agents and intelligence officers.

The majority of these files are from 1939-45, but there are a considerable number from the inter- and post-war periods.

Searching the records

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You can search by entering the name of a person or a keyword into our search form. You can also narrow your search by entering a date range.

Alternatively, you can browse through the entire collection.

What’s available?

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You can browse through the records to view details of the entire collection. Highlights include:

Soviet Military Intelligence officer Walter J Krivitsky, or Walter Thomas. After Stalin's Great Purges he feared for his life and fled to the USA. Later, he was brought to London by Guy Liddell to be interviewed by MI5 officers. He was found dead in a Washington hotel in 1941. These files include the details he supplied about Soviet Intelligence techniques and operations.

Sidney George Reilly, the most famous alias adopted by Shlomo Rosenblum. He is also sometimes referred to as ‘Reilly, Ace of Spies’ and he is generally thought to be the model for Ian Fleming's character, James Bond. Much of the uncertainly surrounding his background is due to his own myth-making. After acquiring British citizenship he volunteered his services to the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), now MI6, working there from 1918 to 1921. He was captured and interrogated by the Soviets in 1925 and shot in November that year.

Horst Kopkow, a Gestapo officer. He was interrogated about his work, during 1945 and 1946, including the investigation of the Rote Kapelle and Rote Drei Soviet spy networks and the investigation he led into the failed assassination attempt on Hitler on 20 July 1944.

Ewan MacColl, a writer, broadcaster and folk-singer who was a Communist Party member for most of his career.

Guy Liddell diaries, August 1939 - June 1945. Liddell was one of Britain's principal wartime spymasters, having joined MI5 in 1927. These 12 volumes of Liddell's diaries represent almost a daily account of his work for the entire period of the Second World War (August 1939 to June 1945). At the end of each day his secretary, Margot Huggins, would diligently type up his dictation and later she also produced an invaluable index for each volume. In November 1979, MI5 agent Goronwy Rees confessed that he had been a Soviet spy and added that Liddell had been part of a spy ring that included Kim Philby, Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean and Anthony Blunt.

There are also files on Arthur Mitchell Ransome, Ernestine Louisa Evans, William Gallagher, Paul Robeson and George Orwell.

Further research

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The research guide Intelligence Records in The National Archives may be useful.

The National Archives online exhibition Secrets and Spies uses a fascinating selection of secret documents to illustrate the history of espionage.

The National Archives guide to security and intelligence history resources will direct you to a wide range of resources.

The Security Service MI5 website provides in depth information about the work of MI5, including a fascinating Myths and Misunderstandings page.

The official website of the Secret Intelligence Service (often referred to as MI6) provides detailed information on the history of this secret service.

Books

British Intelligence, Stephen Twigge, Edward Hampshire and Graham Macklin, The National Archives, 2008.

Spooks: The Unofficial History of MI5, Thomas Hennessey & Claire Thomas, Amberley, 2009.

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