Since the preceding pages were written, and as proofs are being passed
for press, the following statement has been issued for publication by
the Home Office with regard to British counter-espionage measures:
"In view of the anxiety naturally felt by the public with regard to the
system of espionage on which Germany has placed so much reliance, and to
which attention has been directed by recent reports from the seat of
war, it may be well to state briefly the steps which the Home Office,
acting on behalf of the Admiralty and War Office, has taken to deal with
the matter in this country. The secrecy which it has hitherto been
desirable in the public interest to observe on certain points cannot any
longer be maintained, owing to the evidence which it is necessary to
produce in cases against spies that are now pending.
"It was clearly ascertained five or six years ago that the Germans were
making great efforts to establish a system of espionage in this country,
and in order to trace and thwart these efforts a Special Intelligence
Department was established by the Admiralty and the War Office which has
ever since acted in the closest co-operation with the Home Office and
Metropolitan Police and the principal provincial Police Forces. In
1911, by the passing of the Official Secrets Act, 1911, the law with
regard to espionage, which had hitherto been confused and defective, was
put on a clear basis and extended so as to embrace every possible mode
of obtaining and conveying to the enemy information which might be
useful in war.
"The Special Intelligence Department, supported by all the means which
could be placed at its disposal by the Home Secretary, was able in three
years, from 1911 to 1914, to discover the ramifications of the German
secret service in England. In spite of enormous efforts and lavish
expenditure of money by the enemy, little valuable information passed
into their hands. The agents, of whose identity knowledge was obtained
by the Special Intelligence Department, were watched and shadowed
without in general taking any hostile action or allowing them to know
that their movements were watched. When, however, any actual step was
taken to convey plans or documents of importance from this country to
Germany the spy was arrested, and in such case evidence sufficient to
secure his conviction was usually found in his possession. Proceedings
under the Official Secrets Acts were taken by the Director of Public
Prosecutions, and in six cases sentences were passed varying from
eighteen months to six years' penal servitude. At the same time steps
were taken to mark down and keep under observation all the agents known
to be engaged in this traffic, so that when any necessity arose the
Police might lay hands on them at once, and accordingly on August 4,
before the declaration of war, instructions were given by the Home
Secretary for the arrest of twenty known spies, and all were arrested.
This figure does not cover a large number (upwards of two hundred) who
were noted as under suspicion or to be kept under special observation.
The great majority of these were interned at or soon after the
declaration of war.
"None of the men arrested in pursuance of the orders issued on August 4
has yet been brought to trial, partly because the officers whose
evidence would have been required were engaged in urgent duties in the
early days of the war, but mainly because the prosecution, by disclosing
the means adopted to track out the spies and prove their guilt, would
have hampered the Intelligence Department in its further efforts. They
were, and still are, held as prisoners under the powers given to the
Secretary of State by the Aliens Restriction Act. One of them, however,
who established a claim to British nationality, has now been formally
charged, and, the reasons for delay no longer existing, it is a matter
for consideration whether the same course should now be taken with
regard to some of the other known spies.
"Although this action taken on August 4 is believed to have broken up
the spy organisation which had been established before the war, it is
still necessary to take the most rigorous measures to prevent the
establishment of any fresh organisation and to deal with individual
spies who might previously have been working in this country outside the
organisation, or who might be sent here under the guise of neutrals
after the declaration of war. In carrying this out the Home Office and
War Office have now the assistance of the Cable Censorship, and also of
the Postal Censorship, which, established originally to deal with
correspondence with Germany and Austria, has been gradually extended (as
the necessary staff could be obtained) so as to cover communications
with those neutral countries through which correspondence might readily
pass to Germany or Austria. The censorship has been extremely effective
in stopping secret communications by cable or letter with the enemy;
but, as its existence was necessarily known to them, it has not, except
in a few instances, produced materials for the detection of espionage.
"On August 5 the Aliens Restriction Act was passed, and within an hour
of its passing an Order-in-Coundl was made which gave the Home Office
and the Police stringent powers to deal with aliens, and especially
enemy aliens, who under this act could be stopped from entering or
leaving the United Kingdom, and were prohibited while residing in this
country from having in their possession any wireless or signalling
apparatus of any kind, or any carrier or homing pigeons. Under this
Order all those districts where the Admiralty or War Office considered
it undesirable that enemy aliens should reside have been cleared by the
Police of Germans and Austrians, with the exception of a few persons,
chiefly women and children, whose character and antecedents are such
that the local Chief Constable, in whose discretion the matter is vested
by the Order, considered that all ground for suspicion was precluded.
At the same time the Post Office, acting under the powers given them by
the Wireless Telegraphy Acts, dismantled all private wireless stations;
and they established a special system of wireless detection by which any
station actually used for the transmission of messages from this country
could be discovered. The Police have co-operated successfully in this
matter with the Post Office.
"New and still more stringent powers for dealing with espionage were
given by the Defence of the Realm Act, which was passed by the Home
Secretary through the House of Commons and received the Royal Assent on
August 8. Orders-in-Council have been made under this Act which
prohibit, in the widest terms, any attempt on the part either of aliens
or of British subjects to communicate any information which is
calculated `to be or might be directly or indirectly useful to an
enemy'; and any person offending against this prohibition is liable to
be tried by court-martial and sentenced to penal servitude for life.
The effect of these Orders is to make espionage a military offence.
Power is given both to the police and to the military authorities to
arrest without a warrant any person whose behaviour is such as to give
rise to suspicion, and any person so arrested by the police would be
handed over to the military authorities for trial by court-martial.
Only in the event of the military authorities holding that there is no
prima-facie case of espionage or any other offence tryable by military
law is a prisoner handed back to the civil authorities to consider
whether he should be charged with failing to register or with any other
offence under the Aliens Restriction Act.
"The present position is, therefore, that espionage has been made by
statute a military offence tryable by court-martial. If tried under the
Defence of the Realm Act, the maximum punishment is penal servitude for
life; but if dealt with outside that Act as a war crime the punishment
of death can be inflicted.
"At the present moment one case is pending in which a person charged
with attempting to convey information to the enemy is now awaiting his
trial by court-martial, but in no other case has any clear trace been
discovered of any attempt to convey information to the enemy, and there
is good reason to believe that the spy organisation crushed at the
outbreak of the war has not been re-established.
"How completely that system had been suppressed in the early days of the
war is clear from the fact--disclosed in a German Army Order--that on
August 21 the German Military Commanders were still ignorant of the
despatch and movements of the British Expeditionary Force, although
these had been known for many days to a large number of people in this
country.
"The fact, however, of this initial success does not prevent the
possibility of fresh attempts at espionage being made, and there is no
relaxation in the efforts of the Intelligence Department and of the
Police to watch and detect any attempts in this direction. In carrying
out their duties, the military and police authorities would expect that
persons having information of cases of suspected espionage would
communicate the grounds of the suspicion to local military authority or
to the local police, who are in direct communication with the Special
Intelligence Department, instead of causing unnecessary public alarm,
and possibly giving warning to the spies by public speeches or letters
to the Press. In cases in which the Director of Public Prosecutions has
appealed to the authors of such letters and speeches to supply him with
the evidence upon which their statements were founded in order that he
might consider the question of prosecuting the offender, no evidence of
any value has as yet been forthcoming.
"Among other measures which have been taken has been the registration,
by Order of the Secretary of State, made under the Defence of the Realm
Act, of all persons keeping carrier or homing pigeons. The importation
and the conveyance by rail of these birds have been prohibited; and,
with the valuable assistance of the National Homing Union, a system of
registration has been extended to the whole of the United Kingdom, and
measures have been taken which it is believed will be effective to
prevent the possibility of any birds being kept in this country which
would fly to the Continent.
"Another matter which has engaged the closest attention of the police
has been the possibility of conspiracies to commit outrage. No trace
whatever has been discovered of any such conspiracy, and no outrage of
any sort has yet been committed by any alien--not even telegraph-wires
having been maliciously cut since the beginning of the war.
Nevertheless, it has been necessary to bear in mind the possibility that
such a secret conspiracy might exist or might be formed among alien
enemies resident in this country.
"Accordingly, immediately after the commencement of hostilities,
rigorous search was made by the police in the houses of Germans and
Austrians, in their clubs and in all places where they were likely to
resort. In a few cases individuals were found who were in possession of
a gun or pistol which they had not declared, and in one or two cases
there were small collections of ancient firearms, and in such cases the
offenders have been prosecuted and punished; but no store of effective
arms--still less any bombs or instruments of destruction--have so far
been discovered.
"From the beginning, any Germans or Austrians who were deemed by the
police to be likely to be dangerous were apprehended, handed over to the
military authorities, and detained as prisoners of war; and, as soon as
the military authorities desired it, general action was taken to arrest
and hand over to military custody Germans of military age, subject to
exceptions which have properly been made on grounds of policy. About
9,000 Germans and Austrians of military age have been so arrested, and
are held as prisoners of war in detention camps, and among them are
included those who are regarded by the police as likely in any possible
event to take part in any outbreak of disorder or incendiarism."