Security Intelligence Far East
Security Intelligence Far East (SIFE) was a British intelligence organization created in 1946 as the Far Eastern regional headquarters of the Security Service, MI5. It was based in British-controlled Singapore and established by Colonel Cyril Egerton Dixon, a career MI5 officer with a great deal of war time counter intelligence experience in Britain and India[1][2][3][4]. SIFE (like SIME) was also a MI5 controlled organisation, which partially merged its counterintelligence section with the regional headquarters of MI6 in 1950[5][6]. SIFE controlled a number of MI5 Defence Security Officers (from 1949, named Security Liaison Officers) in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Malaya and across the Far East.[7][8]. There are records of eight SIFE heads after Colonel Dixon[9]:
- Malcolm Johnson 1946–1947
- Hugh Winterborn 1947–1948
- Alex Kellar 1948–1949
- Jack Morton 1949–1952
- Courtenay Young 1952–1955
- Richard Thistlethwaite 1955–1959
- Michael Friend Serpell 1960–1962
- Christopher Alfred Herbert 1962-1963[10].
SIFE was disbanded in 1963, as British military commitments in Singapore and Malaysia reduced and the birth of an independent Malaysia approached, which Singapore was initially part of.
References
- Jakobs. "RSLO Cambridge - Cyril Egerton Dixon". Josef Jakobs - 1898-1941. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
- Aldrich, Richard J. (2000). Intelligence and the War Against Japan: Britain, America and the Politics of Secret Service. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 370. ISBN 9780521641869. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
colonel C E Dixon security India.
- West, Nigel (2014). Historical Dictionary of British Intelligence. Scarecrow Press. p. 534. ISBN 9780810878976. Retrieved 3 June 2017.
- Shaw, Alexander Nicholas (15 February 2017). "MI5 and the Cold War in South-East Asia: examining the performance of Security Intelligence Far East (SIFE), 1946–1963" (PDF). Intelligence and National Security. 32 (6): 797–816. doi:10.1080/02684527.2017.1289695. ISSN 0268-4527.
- The National Archives, UK. "Organisation and functions of Security Intelligence Far East (SIFE)". discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. The Discovery Service. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
- Walton, Calder (2014). Empire of Secrets: British Intelligence in the Cold War and the Twilight of Empire. The Overlook Press. ISBN 9781468310436. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
- The National Archives, UK. "Singapore: Security Intelligence Far East (SIFE); Defence Security Officer, Kuala Lumpur". discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. The Discovery Service. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
- National Archives, Singapore. "FCO 141/17036: Singapore: Security Intelligence Far East (SIFE); Defence Security Officer, Kuala Lumpur - migrated archives". www.nas.gov.sg. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
- Shaw, Alexander Nicholas (15 February 2017). "MI5 and the Cold War in South-East Asia: examining the performance of Security Intelligence Far East (SIFE), 1946–1963" (PDF). Intelligence and National Security. 32 (6): 3. doi:10.1080/02684527.2017.1289695. ISSN 0268-4527.
- >Shaw, Alexander Nicholas (15 February 2017). "MI5 and the Cold War in South-East Asia: examining the performance of Security Intelligence Far East (SIFE), 1946–1963" (PDF). Intelligence and National Security. 32 (6): 3. doi:10.1080/02684527.2017.1289695. ISSN 0268-4527.