Join MI5’s first official historian, Professor Christopher Andrew, as he explores the interaction between science, technology and secret intelligence over the last century, from the world wars to the era of transnational terrorism. This event is the Institute for Security Science and Technology (ISST) inaugural Vincent Briscoe Annual Security Lecture.
To mark the centenary of the founding of the British Security Service (MI5) in 1909, Professor Andrew was given exclusive access to the Service’s files and archives in order to produce an authorised history of the intelligence agency: The Defence of the Realm.
The lecture is named in honour of HVA (Vincent) Briscoe, Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at Imperial College London from 1932 to 1955. In The Defence of the Realm, Christopher Andrew credits Briscoe with providing the first independent scientific advice to the Security Service in 1915, on the subject of secret German writing. Records indicate Briscoe’s continuing service throughout the inter-war years and during and after the Second World War.
The Institute for Security Science and Technology is an institute of Imperial College London. It works to develop better ways of protecting people by harnessing science and technology to generate innovative security solutions. The Institute brings together interdisciplinary teams from across the College to carry out innovative research for both the public and private sectors.
Speaker biography
Christopher Andrew is Professor of Modern and Contemporary History and President of Corpus Christi College Cambridge. He is former Chair of the History Faculty at Cambridge University, Official Historian of the Security Service (MI5), Honorary Air Commodore of 7006 Squadron (Intelligence) in the Royal Auxiliary Air Force, Chair of the British Intelligence Study Group and former Visiting Professor at Harvard, Toronto and Canberra.
Andrew’s main research interests in recent years have been on the history, role and influence of modern secret intelligence services. His other books on secret intelligence include: The Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and the West, The Mitrokhin Archive II : The KGB and the World, For The President’s Eyes Only: Secret Intelligence and the American Presidency and Secret Service: The Making of the British Intelligence Community.
The connection between Corpus Christi College and intelligence goes back over 400 years, when its most famous writer, Christopher Marlowe, was killed at the age of only 29, apparently while working for the secret service of Queen Elizabeth I. Professor Andrew’s paper on intelligence history has, in recent years, been taken by more final-year Cambridge historians than any other. His intelligence seminars bring together postgraduates from around the world. Professor Andrew has presented numerous BBC documentaries on a great variety of historical topics.