Hugh Fraser
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Born | September 22 1921 Malaysia |
Died | July 2001 (Age 79) |
Alma mater | Wellington, Exeter College (Oxford) |
Hugh Fraser was an officer in the Special Operations Executive and MI5.[1]
Contents
Official narrative
His Telegraph obituary declares that "by nature, Fraser was exceptionally modest and discreet, and blessed with evident integrity".[2] His career as described there closely matches that of an unnamed officer mentioned in Christopher Andrew's authorised history of MI5:
- The Service officer who chaired the inter-departmental Forcible Attack Working Group (FAWG) , founded on C Branch's initiative, had had an adventurous career in SOE during the Second World War, which included travelling though Crete dressed as a shepherd with explosives hidden in animal dung. FAWG specialized in devising and testing perimeter fencing and intruder-detection systems.[3]
Career
Hugh Fraser was called up in 1942 and commissioned in the 13th/18th Hussars before being transferred to the SOE.
WW2 - SOE
His 2001 obituary states that Fraser "joined the Special Operations Executive in 1943, and initially spent much of his time accompanying the fishing boats which crossed the Libyan Sea on moonless nights to deliver supplies to the guerrillas in Crete. Then on June 1 1944 he was landed on the island, where for nine months he worked with the resistance under the overall command of Lieutenant-Colonel Tom Dunbabin."[2]
Post- WW2
He joined the Colonial Service in 1947, and was sent to Uganda. "After the war, Fraser joined the Colonial Service, and then in 1965 was taken on by MI5. For five years he worked in D Branch, which dealt with counter-espionage. There he ran agents against Russian diplomats serving in Britain in an effort to establish whether they were actually KGB agents."[2]
War On Terror
Hugh Fraser spoke at the 1979 Jerusalem Conference on International Terrorism on The Tyranny of Terrorism. By that time, he was reportedly "an expert in devising counter-terrorist and counter-sabotage measures".[2]
Retirement
The Telegraph reports that "His expertise was highly valued by MI5, and he accordingly retired seven years later than was usual." (1993?)[2]
Event Participated in
Event | Start | End | Location(s) | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
Jerusalem Conference on International Terrorism | 2 July 1979 | 5 July 1979 | Israel Jerusalem | The birthplace of the "War on Terror" doctrine, "a major international forum for the movement against détente". |
References
- ↑ Obituaries: Hugh Fraser, telegraph.co.uk, 19 July 2001.
- ↑ a b c d e http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1334494/Hugh-Fraser.html
- ↑ Christopher Andrew, Defence of the Realm, The Authorized History of MI5, Allen Lane, 2009, p.655.