Draft:Alan Pemberton

Alan Pemberton was born in Peshawar, Sindh, Pakistan on 11 September 1923 to Eric Harry Pemberton (1883-1971) and Phyllis Edith Brooke-Alder (1892-1967). Alan Pemberton married Pamela Kirkland Smith (1922-2015). Alan Pemberton passed away on 1 April 2010 in Hook, Hampshire, England.

Officer in the British Army

Alan Pemberton's full name was Alan Brooke Pemberton. His British Army Service Number was 235904. In the Second World War he served in the 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards. Alan Pemberton's detailed comprehensive service record up until 13 March 1967 (including his own audible commentary thereon) is reproduced on the Imperial War Museum (IWM) website and is summarised on the IWM website as follows:

Alan Brooke Pemberton was a "British officer served with 2nd Bn Coldstream Guards, 1st Guards Bde in North Africa and Italy, 1943-1944; served with 5th Bn Coldstream Guards, 32nd Guards Bde, Guards Armoured Div in North West Europe, 1944-1945; served with 3rd Bn Coldstream Guards, 1st Guards Bde, Palestine Command in Palestine, 1946-1947; served with 2nd Bn Coldstream Guards, 2nd Guards Bde, Malaya Command in Federation of Malaya, 1948-1950; served as Aide-de-Camp (ADC) to General Sir Gerald Templer in Federation of Malaya, 1952-1953; various postings in Caribbean, 1956-1963."

Highlights, all of which are referred to in the Imperial War Museum's detailed account of Alan Pemberton's service record in the British Army, include:

(a) When in action in Europe in 1944-45 he was severely wounded in the arm (13 February 1944) while fighting the Germans in the battle of Monte Ornito in Lazio, Italy. Notwithstanding that, he was involved in more front line fighting in 1945 when the allies advanced from Nijmegen, Holland into Germany (after Operation Market Garden).

(b) Once the Second World War ended, Alan Pemberton served in Palestine (1946-47) and in Malaya (1948-53). When in Malaya he fought in the guerrilla war known as the Malayan Emergency. He was promoted to ADC (Aide-de-camp) to Field Marshall Sir Gerald Walter Robert Templer who commanded the British forces and defeated the Malayan National Liberation Army.

(c) Alan Pemberton initially served in the UK after leaving Malaya and later served in the Caribbean (notably Jamaica and British Guiana) from 1956-1963. On 13 March 1967 he retired from the British Army with the honorary rank of Colonel.

Officer and executive in British Intelligence

From 1968 until the 1990s Alan Pemberton worked for British Intelligence, both MI5 and MI6, plus some other countries’ intelligence agencies including the Central Intelligence Agency in the USA as explained in a news article published by The New Statesman and written by Duncan Campbell and as referred to in other news articles.

Duncan Campbell's article of 22 February 1980 was highly critical of Alan Pemberton and many others who worked for him (at the time colloquially referred to as Pemberton's People in MI6). It is unusual to name let alone try and shame in the press any contemporaneously serving officers in British Intelligence because those contributing to such articles risk being charged with breaching the UK's Official Secrets Act.

In 1977 Duncan Campbell had been arrested by Special Branch under the Official Secrets Act 1911 for contributing to an article about GCHQ: it was the first time the British news media had ever printed the acronym GCHQ (for Government Communications Headquarters), a highly secretive arm of the British secret services, responsible for communications interception. Duncan Campbell was later acquitted of the charges at what became known as the ABC trial.

From 1970-1986 Alan Pemberton was also the majority (70%) shareholder, chairman (and director) of an “unconventional outfit” called Diversified Corporate Services Limited (DCS) which he founded. DCS was a clandestine Section within MI6 and an English company (Registered No. 990443). All its corporate filings with Companies House that are still available at Companies House are included in this 445 page (searchable) article.

DCS had subsidiary, associated and related or affiliated companies around the world during its corporate existence. Throughout its corporate life in the 1970s and 1980s it acted as a front or cut-out for MI6 and the Central Intelligence Agency. Indeed, to make contact with DCS was just as difficult as making contact with MI6. DCS was a most unusual organisation as noted in the aforementioned article by Duncan Campbell in the New Statesman of which this is an extract.

''“First, using a team of specialists in surveillance, 'surreptitious entry', bugging, tapping, debugging and so on, they provided training for intelligence agencies of other governments which HMG was anxious to assist, but only at 'arm's length'. Second, DCS employees were able to 'freelance' for the Secret Service (MI6) carrying out overseas operations too hot for official involvement. … it was an 'unusual' way for MI6 to work - though the word in this context seems to be a euphemism for 'irregular', rather than an index of rarity. DCS was 'never hired directly' … 'but always through a cut-out'. However, operational reports, once completed, would be 'handed directly on to MI5 or MI6'.”''

In the New Statesman article, Duncan Campbell noted several countries that DCS worked in. The wider DCS group actually operated in all the Five Eyes countries as did MI6 (the USA, the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand), the Caribbean (notably the Bahamas and Haiti), much of Central America and Southern America, Eire, Germany, Ghana, India, Iran, Italy, Kenya, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Oman, Rhodesia, South Africa, Sudan and Syria. That list is not exhaustive.

In addition to establishing DCS in 1970, in 1978 Alan Pemberton helped John William Percy Fairclough FCA MSCI MCT (Bill Fairclough)  establish FaireSansDire , a niche UK based global intelligence agency. Fairclough was apparently in the Caribbean at the time working with the CIA investigating Robert Vesco et al (cf Robert Vesco#"Vesco law"). From 1978 to 2018 FaireSansDire conducted assignments in over 100 countries/jurisdictions.

Controversy about and criticism of Alan Pemberton in British Intelligence

In the New Statesman article Duncan Campbell wrote, he drew attention to how controversial Alan Pemberton's covert operations were; it was difficult to even try to determine whose side of which conflict or political turmoil Pemberton's People were on. To cite one example, DCS advised Harold Wilson in his second term of office (1974-76) about the Clockwork Orange plot which involved one of Pemberton's People, namely a DCS director (Colonel Peter John Goss  ). On another occasion, one of Pemberton's people (Major Frederick Mace ) advised Robert Mugabe how to avoid MI5 and MI6 surveillance during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 1979 at Lancaster House.

DCS was much criticized within MI5 and MI6 and government circles. Its modus operandi using various corporate veils depending on the country of operation seemed inappropriate for covert activities. For example, in the UK DCS appeared to conform with most prevailing Companies Act disclosures thereby seemingly compromising its own security. Similarly, its operations outside the UK, such as in the Caribbean, were conducted in accordance with whatever colonial laws applied thereto. Accordingly, setting aside disinformation, unnecessary disclosures about the whereabouts of DCS or who worked in it were made around the globe.

As Duncan Campbell noted in the New Statesman article, lists of DCS (group) directors, shareholders, employees, recruits and associates were in the public domain and read like a “Who’s Who of the secret world”. Maybe that is why Alan Pemberton opted for a non-corporate vehicle when establishing FaireSansDire in 1978. For much of its life, even when supported by corporate vehicles, up until 2010 FaireSansDire was untraceable being de facto an unincorporated organisation with no visible public presence and no reporting requirements other than privately such as when required to report to the Inland Revenue or British Intelligence.

The DCS model adopted by MI6 was to be ditched although other corporate associations with British Intelligence for other purposes such as through Hakluyt & Company continue to this day. Just why the DCS corporate or limited liability model was adopted ab initio remains a mystery. The likelihood of lawsuits against DCS was negligible given its sponsor. Furthermore, limited liability protection wasn’t much of a defence against abduction, unlawful imprisonment, torture or murder at the hands of some despotic government.

Authors Jonathan Block and Patrick Fitzgerald who co-wrote "British Intelligence and Covert Action" in 1983 were also critical of DCS because they saw it as becoming an embarrassment to MI6). They cited May 1973 when the Business Section of The Observer, with DCS input, allegedly explained in depth how some of MI6's state-of-the-art surveillance equipment worked . To quote from the book "British Intelligence and Covert Action", they wrote Alan Pemberton "made the unique move in 1973 of demonstrating some of [MI6's} electronic equipment to the Observer, to the consternation of the government agencies who arrange contacts for it".

Nevertheless, notwithstanding the criticism, Alan Pemberton must have been assessed by the powers that be to have done more right than wrong as he was made a Commander of The Royal Victorian Order (CVO) in 1988. Earlier in 1961 he had been made a Member of the British Empire (MBE). He was also appointed to The Queen's Bodyguard of The Yeomen of the Guard.

Alan Pemberton's staff and associates: "Pemberton's People"

## In the 1970s and 1980s, within MI5 and MI6, given the unwanted publicity courtesy of Duncan Campbell et al, those who worked with Alan Pemberton (Pemberton’s People) in British Intelligence were perceived to be an infamous clique of maverick albeit patriotic mischief-makers. He became an almost legendary personality and seemingly a rule unto himself in MI5 and MI6. As for his "rapscallions", many of them embodied in real life the qualities depicted in fiction in Winston Churchill’s “Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare” and Ben Macintyre’s “SAS Rogue Heroes”.

## In simple English, Pemberton’s People did the "dirty work" that MI6, MI5 and the CIA could not even be seen to plausibly deny.

Alan Pemberton started assembling a maverick team of "friends" with combat experience during the Second World War. Roughly a couple of decades later, this motley gang had become known colloquially in British Intelligence as Pemberton's People, working under him in MI5, MI6, the CIA and other organisations referred to earlier, namely Diversified Corporate Services which he controlled and FaireSansDire which he helped establish. There was also the J Donne Holdings group which came under his sphere of influence and to which much work was delegated thereby adding yet another layer of cut outs and preserving the anonymity of the intelligence agencies involved.

## J Donne Holdings Ltd was controlled by an ex-British Intelligence Corps Major called Freddy Mace. Its subsidiary companies were Donne Equipment Ltd, Donne Installations Ltd, Donne Security Appointments (International) Ltd and Donne Security Systems Ltd. During its active years, the J Donne Holdings group disclosed £millions of turnover whereas the accounts of the Diversified Corporate Services group seem to suggest that most of its activities must have been farmed out to other intelligence agencies and accounted for elsewhere. Nevertheless, given its profile within British Intelligence it would have been compliant with UK company law in all respects.

## Many of Pemberton's People in British Intelligence were referred to somewhat colourfully in the New Statesman article by Duncan Campbell. Some of the more noteworthy members of Pemberton's People are listed as shareholders, directors and/or employees of DCS (and its subsidiary company Communication Security Ltd) in Companies House records. Most of these are either mentioned in Duncan Campbell's New Statesman article and/or are included in DCS's Companies House records. Pemberton's People included:


 * 1) Winston Mackinley Scott (ex-Office of Strategic Services or OSS), the CIA's first station chief in London, who helped set up DCS's offices on the American continent starting with an office in Mexico City.
 * 2) Ferguson Dempster (an MI6 officer) who set up DCS's offices on the American continent starting with an office in Mexico City.
 * 3) Major General Sir John Evelyn Anderson KBE, who had headed up British Royal Corps of Signals as Signals Officer-in-Chief, held various positions in the War Office and was a DCS director.
 * 4) Peter "Scrubber" Stewart-Richardson OBE CDG, an eccentric British Brigadier who was once refused permission to join the Afghan Mujahideen to fight the Russians. He was a DCS director.
 * 5) Peter Goss  , an SAS Colonel, who had not only headed up intelligence for the British Army in Northern Ireland but also had been a Joint Intelligence Committee member involved in the Clockwork Orange Plot concerning Prime Minister Harold Wilson. He was a DCS director.
 * 6) Bill Fairclough (MI6 codename JJ), who was an MI6 and CIA agent and Chartered Accountant recruited by Alan Pemberton.
 * 7) Major Freddy Mace, ex-British Intelligence Corps, who used to audaciously highlight his cat-burgling and silent killing skills in his CV and listed Colonel Quadhafi among his clients. Apart from being associated with DCS, he was also a director of J Donne Holdings Ltd which despite its covert calling featured in Hansard in 1977 when questions were raised about its purported ties with the Admiralty Surface Weapons Establishment at Funtington, near Chichester.
 * 8) Roy Astley Richards OBE, an MI6 operative, who was best known for being Winston Churchill’s wartime bodyguard. He was a DCS director.
 * 9) John Farmer (an MI6 operative) who helped Alan Pemberton establish DCS as a global organisation.
 * 10) Barrie Northend Parkes BEM  who along with Alan Pemberton helped establish FaireSansDire held many positions in British Intelligence and in the Royal Air Force Police under George Innes CBE Provost Marshall of the Royal Air Force and caught spies such as the notorious Russian spy Douglas Ronald Britten.
 * 11) John Richard Pilkington (an MI6 operative) who helped Alan Pemberton establish DCS as a global organisation and was a DCS director.
 * 12) Apart from those persons disclosed above there were many other persons of interest in DCS referred to in its Company House records including Guy Lomax (a DCS director), Bruce Burgess, Ralph Austin and Margaret Craig as well as Freddy Mace’s associates involved in the J Donne Holdings group.

## For legal and security reasons (including the UK's Official Secrets Act and its equivalents in other countries), certain other British Intelligence and CIA officers and operatives who were perceived to be Pemberton's People cannot be named yet. Apart from those, other noteworthy associates of Alan Pemberton were Freddy Mace’s co-directors in the J Donne Holdings group who were:


 * 1) John Lewis Donne (ex-British Intelligence Corps and the founder of Donne Holdings ).
 * 2) Barry Wynne aka Robert Barry Wynne-Hughes (ex-SAS and the CEO of Donne Holdings ).
 * 3) Major John William Antcliff (ex-British Intelligence Corps and a director of Donne Holdings ).
 * 4) William Arthur Ross-Smith (ex-Royal Regiment of Artillery Officer and the operations director of Donne Holdings ).
 * 5) H. M. Harclerode (ex-SAS and the training director of Donne Holdings ).

Alan Pemberton's other notable directorships

For several years after the dissolution of DCS in 1986, Alan Pemberton continued operating commercially as a director in companies such as Berkeley Travel Limited and Abbey Fire Services Limited. He retired from commerce in the mid nineteen nineties.

Alan Pemberton in literature

One of Pemberton's People Bill Fairclough who has to date published one book (Beyond Enkription ) in his memoirs entitled The Burlington Files. In Beyond Enkription, the character Colonel Alan McKenzie (Mac) is based on Alan Pemberton and various other characters are based on Pemberton's People that Bill Fairclough worked with in real life.