Kim Philby became one of the most successful double agents in history.
Some spies turn double agent for the excitement. Others do it for the money. There are also those who never take a single penny. They decide to become double agents because of their political beliefs. If a spy truly believes in the ways of a certain government, he or she may agree to work for a country that has those same beliefs. That may even mean betraying his or her own country.
That is how the Soviet Union found many of their double agents. Communism was the Soviet Union’s form of government before the late 1900s. It was different from the government in the United States. During the 1930s, many double agents liked the idea of Communism.
That is especially true of Kim Philby. It led him to become one of the most successful double agents in history. Philby was a college student at Cambridge in England. He and four friends believed in Communist ideas. Together, they created the Cambridge Five spy ring.
Kim Philby became one of the most successful double agents in history.
Kim Philby’s real name was Harold Adrian Russell Philby. He was called Kim after a character in a Rudyard Kipling novel.
Philby began his spy career posing as a journalist. He was working undercover for the Soviets to spy on his British homeland. In 1940, he landed a job with the British secret services called the SIS. It was the perfect position to be in as a double agent. He was on the inside now. Philby would have access to even more information to send to the Soviets.
Over the next few years, Philby received promotions to higher positions. In 1944, he schemed his way to the head of the SIS Section IX department. This was the agency’s anti-Soviet department. Philby had more access than ever. He now knew which Soviet agents were, in reality, spying for England. He also had access to top secret documents. Philby gave it all to the Soviets.
Kim Philby (right) began his spy career posing as a journalist. But he got a job with the British SIS and moved up the ranks. All this time, he gave British secrets to the Soviets.
Over the years, Philby had relied on a few of his old Cambridge pals. Two of them were Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean. In 1950, both were found to be passing weapons secrets to the Soviets. To escape punishment, both men defected to the Soviet Union.
Kim Philby was part of the Cambridge Five. Four members of the spy ring are seen here, clockwise from top left: Anthony Blunt, Donald Maclean, Philby, and Guy Burgess.
It was the beginning of the end for Kim Philby. His relationship to Burgess and Maclean was well known. Philby fell under suspicion. He was asked to resign from the SIS. He was questioned several times. But no proof was ever found to say he was a double agent. Philby was rehired, fired, and questioned many other times. Each time, like the master spy he was, he lied his way out of being caught.
As the years passed, Philby grew more careless. He often drank too much and said things he should not. In 1962, Flora Solomon, a woman who Philby had tried to recruit as a spy for the Soviets in the 1930s, gave information about him to the British. Philby was once again under suspicion.
He knew there was no way out this time. His only hope was to defect to the Soviet Union, which he did in 1963. There, he was seen as a national hero. No one knows how many British agents may have been killed because of the information Philby gave to the Soviets. He also passed along important secrets from the American CIA. These actions made Philby one of the most notorious double agents in British history.
When Philby died in 1988, he was given a hero’s burial in the Soviet Union. He was even honored on a postage stamp in 1990.