What is it about?
The UK government wanted to keep its World War I mail interception program secret, and to foil an attempt to tells truths about the conflict -- lest others like Winston Churchill and Lloyd George speak their minds. The attempt to suppress Sir Alfred Ewing's exercise of free speech succeeded and set a precedent.
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Why is it important?
The article exploits hitherto unseen correspondence to address an issue, the balance between secrecy and national security, that still resonates in our own time.
Perspectives
Ewing was an 'Establishment' figure who demanded more open government. Unlike 'rebels from below' he had something to lose, but he still took the risk. I think government do need secrets, but Ewing was a hero for challenging pointless secrecy.
Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones
University of Edinburgh
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The sensitivity of SIGINT: Sir Alfred Ewing’s lecture on room 40 in 1927, Journal of Intelligence History, October 2017, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/16161262.2017.1385197.
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