Book to detail top secrets of MI6

MI6 has been shrouded in secrecy for most of its history

The secretive world of MI6 is to be revealed in an official "warts and all" history of the spy service.

Professor Keith Jeffery, of Queen's University Belfast, has been given the job of examining files running from MI6's founding in 1909 until 1949.

The historian said he had "complete access" for the book, to be finished by 2010 to mark MI6's centenary.

Professor Christopher Andrew, of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, is writing a parallel history of MI5, due in 2009.

MI6, or the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), was not officially acknowledged to exist until just over a decade ago, but from 1 February next year Professor Jeffery will spend roughly four days a week for three years examining its files.

He said he had no idea how many documents he would have to work through, admitting the project was "exciting" and "intimidating".

Unseen archive

"It's a real privilege and a challenge to be allowed into an archive that is completely virgin - it's a historian's dream," he said.

"On the other hand I have to be particularly careful since I am the only person who is going to be allowed to look at this, so I have to be sure to get it right."

I will be able to throw light on certain parts of history that have not had light shone on them before Professor Keith Jeffery

He added: "I have been given complete access to all of the relevant secret files for the period covered by the book, and the freedom to explore anything I find, although there are some necessary security constraints within which I will be working."

The research will only go as far as 1949 to protect information still considered sensitive, and Professor Jeffery will not be allowed to write anything that could compromise the secrecy of MI6 operations, agents or staff.

But he said: "It will be as authoritative as possible - there are bound to be things they have done well and things they have done badly.

"It seems to me rather grown up of the organisation - it will be able to learn, and should have done already, from its mistakes as well as its successes.

"It will be warts and all."

'Progressive'

Professor Jeffery's appointment was agreed by SIS head John Scarlett - known as C - and approved by Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

Mr Straw said the commission "marks another progressive move by SIS, this time by producing an authoritative history which is intended to appeal both to professional historians and the general public".

Earlier this year, MI6 launched a website to clarify its work and to make it easier for people to apply to join the service.

Professor Jeffery hopes his book will provide an outline history of the organisation, along with case studies to illustrate its changing aims and activities over the years.

"Intelligence organisations in wartime do what you expect them to do against enemies.

"In peacetime it's a little bit more interesting, it seems to me - who you think are your enemies, and you may also be spying on who you think are your friends."

He added: "I will be able to throw light on certain parts of history that have not had light shone on them before."