Interdoc
| Interdoc | |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1961 |
| Founders | Brian Crozier, Dick Ellis, Walter Bell |
| Interests | anti-communism |
| An "information and documentation centre" which specialised in research on the European left. Spooky anti-communist group. | |
Interdoc was a 1960s "anti-communist" think tank, described briefly in issue #11 of The Lobster.
Origins
Interdoc was established in the early 1960s "by Western intelligence services as a multinational effort to coordinate an anti-communist offensive."[1] An appendix in Lobster stated that it was financed by the Dutch Secret Service.[2] Hermann Foertsch was involved in its establishment.
Stewart-Smith's publishing company, Foreign Affairs Publishing Co. (FAPC) had links to The East-West Institute in The Hague, which was run by Mi Van Den Heuval, the Dutch representative on the World Anti-Communist League. According to one report (Liberation 9 October 1975), "Interdoc was set up during a meeting at Brabizon, near Paris, on 5-8 October 1961 ... the participants decided to unite behind the new organisation ... all the efforts and initiatives of the struggle against communism and place them on a serious and expert footing."
Funding
Initial funds for Interdoc "were provided by Royal Dutch Shell, who would later be a benefactor to the ISC and to other MI6 front groups like the Ariel Foundation."[3]
Operations
The Italian participant was Professor Luigi Gedda, the CIA and Vatican's man. An Italian secret service document[4] states that the whole endeavour had been financed by the Dutch secret service. There is also a report that it received support from the CIA and Moral Re-armament(!)[5]. This latter piece states that Interdoc gave financial assistance to the Lady Birdwood - Ross McWhirter 'Inter-City Research'. There were also links with The Monday Club and ISC.[6]
Actions?
The British representative of Interdoc at the London office during the sixties and early seventies was Major Charles Howard Ellis. Ellis' intelligence career went back to Czarist Russia. During WW2 he worked for William Stephenson's British Security Coordination in the US. Post-war he rose to no.3 in the MI6 hierarchy and ended his career weeding MI6 files. He had been recommended to Interdoc by ex MI6 head Stewart Menzies. While working for Interdoc, 'with the other chaps' Ellis put together an 'action group', keeping it 'private and confidential as publicity would kill it'.[7] What this 'action group' did isn't known.
References
- ↑ http://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9780230221260
- ↑ http://www.8bitmode.com/rogerdog/lobster/lobster11.pdf
- ↑ Document:Rogue Agents
- ↑ Sifar, October 1973
- ↑ Mole Express No 28 1973
- ↑ Time Out, 29 August 1975
- ↑ Stevenson 1985 p 272