Kim Philby

Just read an interesting novel on Kim Philby -- Young Philby -- the British intelligence officer who spied for the Soviets. The author, Robert Littell, posits that Philby was, in fact, a triple agent, who was working for the Brits feeding disinformation to the Soviets. From my cursory research the book seems to be historically accurate. Anyone have any idea as to the validity of the author's claim?

Since Philby fled to Russia when he thought his cover was blown and lived there the rest of his life, it doesn't sound plausible to me.

The author says that this was part of the grand plan to maintain Philby's cover and allow him to continue to feed intelligence to the Brits. I agree this sounds far fetched but it is what the author asserts. Interestingly enough, Philby apparently lived under virtual house arrest for the first 10 years that he lived in Moscow.

If it were true, I'd rather think the British secret service would have touted the news by now, since his spying is such a black mark for them. But anything is possible.

The problem with being a spy is that no one can really trust you. It doesn't surprise me that the Russians kept him under surveillance after he defected.

Yes i would have thought that he would have won't public with the truth before he died. He lived until 1988 so with glasnost, etc I thik he would have had the opportunity. It is fun to speculate, however. Thanks for your responses