PHILBY OFFERS TO WITHDRAW BOOK ON CAREER AS PART OF SPY TRADE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP70B00338R000300220054-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 15, 2005
• Sequence Number: 54
• Publication Date: December 19, 1967
• Content Type: NSPR

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11 CacJ01
Approved For Release 2006/01/30 : CIA-RDP70B00338R000300220054-2
Continued From Page 1, Col. 4
fered to 'withdraw his manu-
script if the convicted Soviet
spies Peter and Helen Kroger,
now serving prison sentences
in Britain, were exchanged for
Gerald Brooke, a British lectur-
er who is serving a prison
camp sentence in the Soviet
Union as a spy.
Philby said Mr.rBrooke had
been working for N.T.S., the
People's Labor Front, a Rus-
sian refugee organization, whi
was formerly financed by Brit-
ish intelligence but which he
had himself handed over to the
Central Intelligence Agency.
Therefore, he concluded, . "it's
up to you and the Americans
to decide who wants him
back."
Soviet Publicizes Philby
The Sunday Times; which in
October published a series of
articles disclosing details of
Philby's 30-year career as a
Soviet spy, said that it turned
down his offer after learning
that he was not interested in
money but in making "a de-
liberate attempt to damage
Philby Offers to ithdrucv Book
On Career as Part of Spy Trade
LONDON, Dec. 18-Harold
A R. LKim) Philby, the British
espionage official who defected.
to the Soviet Union in 1963,
was reported today to have of-
fered to withdraw the manu-
script of a book damaging to
Western intelligence if an ex-
Excerpts from Philby interview
in Izvestia are on Page 18.
change of Soviet and British
spies was arranged.
In the book, which he wanted
published in the West, Philby
said he, would name the col-
leagues he was involved with,
"but not in an unkindly way,
I hope."
"Just setting down the facts,"
he added in an interview with a
British reporter. "I think the
truth should come out."
duced the Soviet public to
Philby in an article praising
him and the Soviet intelli-
gence services and deriding
Western intelligence.]
Philby's offer of the book
and the subsequent terms of its
withdrawal were made to Mur-
ray Sayle, a correspondent for
The Sunday Times of London.
Two weeks ago Philby took
the initiative by telephoning Mr.
Sayle, who was in Moscow on
a scientific assignment.Philby
offered The Sunday Times an
80,000-word manuscript dealing
mainly with his work as a trust-
ed membef of British intelli-
gence when in reality he wqs,
for almost 30 years, an impor-
tant Soviet agent.
At one of a series of meet-
ings with Mr. Sayle, Philby of-
[In Moscow, Izvestia intro- I con u pn Page I8,CoIumn 1
Western intelligence orgafliz
tions."
Foreign Secretary George
Brown has criticized Lord
Thompson, who owns The Sun-
day Times, for having permit-
ted publication of the October
series, which embarrassed the
British and American intelli-
gence establishmen. Whether
to prine Philby's own story
now appears to have become
something of an issue of con-
science among London pub-
lishers.
Mr. Sayle wrote that Philby
spoke critically of the way the
Soviet Union,had treated Dan-
iel and Sinyavsky, who were
sent to a labor camp for hav-
ing smuggled ther two books
criticizing the Soviet Union to
Western publishers.
"I was completely against
it," he said, "I thought the
whole thing was a regrettable
reversion to the old spirit. They
would have got a week in jail,
or perhaps a public censure fro
their colleagues in the Writers
Union. What's the point of send.
the way Soviet policy had been
carried out is a. Alluding
to the orPettlSM_ Fof Kwame
Nkrumah'sas prsident of Ghana,
Philby said that he had warned
against deep Soviet involve-
ment in Africa and said:
"Well, we did. Million of
rubles down the drain. I was
sorry to see Nkrumah followed
by the people who are in there
now, but at any rate I was-
proved right. Our policy now is,
Watch, help, but no deep in-
volvement. Incidentally, he
Chinese seem to have done even
worse than we did."
About himself Philby spoke
readily.
"I love life, women and
children, food and drink," he
declared.
Asked how he felt about leav-
ing his own family he replied?
"I suppose I am really two
people. I am a private person
and a political person. Of
course, if there is a conflict,
the political person comes first.'
How did he feel, he was
asked, about being called a
traitor.
"To betray," he replied, "you
longed. I have followed exactly
the same line the whole of my
adult life. The fight against
Fascism and the fight against.
imperialism were, fundamental-
ly, the same fight."
The celebration of the jubilee
of the dreaded organization
that was the principal executor
of Stalin's terror has caused
some Russians to smile without
being amused and has led for-
eign observers to speculate on
the reasons.
Most of the observers con-
nect'the spate or articles, film
showings and issuance of a
IK.G.B. commemorative stamp
to a campaign to draw atten-
tion to weakness in Western
intelligence as well as to dis-
credit it, and to publicize the
degree of Soviet knowledge
and vigilance.
Czech Said to Flee to West
FURTH, West Germany, Dec.
18 (UPI)-A refugee outran'
Czech border guards with dogs
Sunday and fled into West
Germany, Bavarian border offi-
cials said today. The refugee,
a man of baout 40, was not
identified.
Philby was also critical ofimust first belong. I never be-
Approved For Release 2006/01/30 : CIA-RDP70B00338R000300220054-2