On March 26， 1981 Mrs. Margaret Thatcher， the British
prime minister， announced that her government was to set up
an inquiry into the defenses of the security and intelligence
departments against penetration by spies. It would be the
first independent inquiry into this situation for twenty years，
and it would also cover the Foreign Office， Home Office，
Defence Ministry， and other departments of state harboring
sensitive information.
The prime minister made this announcement as part of a
long statement about the original British edition of this book，
which had been published that day， and as a direct conse-
quence of various disclosures it contained. In her statement，
the prime minister confirmed that Sir Roger Hollis， a long-
serving director general of MI5， had been deeply suspected
by some of his own colleagues of having been a Russian
agent， perhaps for nearly thirty years. The suspicion was so
great that Sir Roger had failed to dispel it wh~l~ called back
from retirement in 1970 and fully interrogated. So， in 1974， a
further inquiry， to settle the issue if possible， had been set up.
i in great secrecy. A former secretary of the Cabinet， Lord
[ Trend， had been asked to undertake it- and had spent a year
doing so. Before the publication of this book， the public had
| known nothing of what has since become known as the Hollis
Affair or of the Trend Inquiry.
|
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