Kim Philby

CounterintelligenceUnited Kingdom

The SIS officer who spied for Moscow and nearly rose to lead the service

Overview

Kim Philby worked for Soviet intelligence from the 1930s while rising inside the Secret Intelligence Service to head its anti-Soviet section and serve as liaison in Washington. He tipped off Maclean and Burgess before their 1951 flight, survived suspicion for years under Establishment protection, and fled from Beirut to Moscow in 1963. He lived in Moscow until 1988, honored by Soviet intelligence. His betrayal cost agents their lives and ignited the paranoid mole hunts of CIA counterintelligence chief James Angleton.

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