The Emergence of the British ‘Security State’? An Evaluation of the Security Executive, 1940 – 1953

Duncan, Emma

The Emergence of the British ‘Security State’? An Evaluation of the Security Executive, 1940 – 1953

Duncan, Emma

Authors

Emma Duncan

Contributors

Dr Christopher Murphy C.J.Murphy@salford.ac.uk
Supervisor

Abstract

This thesis explores the origins and development of the Home Defence (Security) Executive (HD(S)E), a body set up in 1940 to address the supposed ‘Fifth Column’ threat present in Britain. Through a detailed examination of this organisation, hitherto overlooked by historians, it is possible to discern the creation and subsequent expansion of Britain’s official ‘machinery of security’; the bureaucratic apparatus through which Whitehall could discuss and address security specific concerns. The Executive survived both the end of the Fifth Column threat and the end of the Second World War, first as the Security Executive and subsequently as the Standing Inter-Departmental Committee on Security, continuing to survive well into the 1950s and beyond. Drawing on archival material from a range of government departments the thesis demonstrates both the rapid expansion of the state’s security apparatus and the evolution beyond the Executive’s initial remit, its wartime work ultimately encompassing a range of security issues that included the control of information and communication, identity cards, passes and permits, and overseas security. The expansion of the machinery of security itself is demonstrated through an analysis of the various sub-committees created by the Executive, including the Security Intelligence Centre, the Committee on Communism, and the Liaison Officers’ Conference. These organisations filled a gap in the machinery of government that Whitehall had not fully appreciated existed – and consequently proved reluctant to give up in 1945, and thereby continued into the post-war world. While rebranded under yet another change of name, the core functions of the post-war organisation can be traced back to its wartime roots, seeing the ‘Security State’ survive well into the 1950s, and beyond.