Military & Intelligence

Research into the backgrounds of characters in the Starbirth Assignment books took place over several years and is still ongoing. It has proved to be a fascinating area of study. Listed below are some of the places visited and sources investigated, including short details of books read.

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Military Links

UK Armed Forces related, official sites

 


UK Armed Forces, unofficial sites

 

Army Rumour Service (forum)
http://www.arrse.co.uk/?name=Forums

Special Forces Roll of Honour
http://www.specialforcesroh.com/

Stirling Assynt private security company
http://stirlingassynt.com/?page=home

Close Protection World
http://www.closeprotectionworld.co.uk/

Elite UK Forces
http://www.eliteukforces.info/

Special Air Service
http://home.hccnet.nl/22.sas/

Secret Armies
http://www.secretarmies.com/

Special Operations
http://www.specialoperations.com/

Allied Special Forces Association
http://www.memorialgrove.org.uk/

Peter Scholey ex-SAS
http://www.ospreysas.com/index.php

Soldier I Pete Winner ex-SAS official website
http://www.soldieri.com/index.html

Rusty Firmin ex-SAS official website
http://www.rusty-firmin.com/


UK Intelligence Agencies


Secret Intelligence Service (SIS, MI-6)
http://www.sis.gov.uk/

MI5
https://www.mi5.gov.uk/

GCHQ
http://www.gchq.gov.uk/

Intelligence and Security Committee
http://isc.independent.gov.uk/


World Intelligence Agencies


CIA
https://www.cia.gov/

FBI
http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/terrorism/terrorism

Department of Homeland Security (US)
http://www.dhs.gov/index.shtm

CIA World Factbook
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/

DGSE (France) General Directorate For External Security
http://www.defense.gouv.fr/dgse (website in French)


Other military, intelligence and related website sources

Cryptome
http://cryptome.org/

Terrorism Research Centre
http://www.terrorism.com/

Long War Journal
http://www.longwarjournal.org/

SITE Intelligence Group
https://www.siteintelgroup.com/Pages/Default.aspx

Secret Bases
http://www.secret-bases.co.uk/

Global Research
http://globalresearch.ca/

Federation of American Scientists (FAS)
http://www.fas.org/index.html

UPI
http://www.upi.com/

Jane’s Information
http://www.janes.com/

US Defense Contractors
http://www.hk94.com/defense-contractor.php

Military and Special Forces Books

Eye of the Storm
Peter Ratcliffe, DCM, ex-SAS
Book covers the Dhofar Rebellion in Oman, the Falklands War and the 1991 Gulf War. Ratcliffe spent 25 years in the SAS.

Highway to Hell
John Geddes, ex-SAS
Book deals with his time in Iraq after 2003 as a private security contractor. Geddes was a Warrant Officer in the SAS and now works in security.

Bravo Two Zero
Andy McNab, ex-SAS
Dealing with the Bravo Two Zero patrol. McNab is a famous author who has written many fiction books depicting characters in Special Forces.

The Real Bravo Two Zero
Michael Asher, ex-Territorial Army SAS
Author of many books. This one cast doubt on McNab’s and Ryan’s accounts of the ill-fated Bravo Two Zero patrol (1991 First Gulf War).

Soldier Five (about Bravo Two Zero)
Mike Coburn, ex-SAS
Another patrol member who put forward his own account of events drawn from his experience, and exonerated the memory of Vince Phillips.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2004/mar/12/biography.stephenmoss
(link to an interview with the Guardian newspaper in 2004)

The One That Got Away
Chris Ryan, ex-SAS
Dealing with the Bravo Two Zero patrol. Ryan is a famous author who has written many fiction books depicting characters in Special Forces.

Soldier Against The Odds
Donald ‘Lofty’ Large, ex-SAS
Details time from Korean War to SAS. Lofty Large was one of the few Non-Commissioned Officers to write books before those that came out after the First Gulf War. A career soldier for 27 years with 16 years’ service in the SAS.

SAS Secret War
Major General Tony Jeapes, CB, OBE, MC, ex-SAS
Book relates details of a secret war fought in Oman from 1971-76. Jeapes went on to become commanding officer of 22 SAS.

Close Quarter Battle
Mike Curtis, ex-SAS
Deals with author’s time in 2 Parachute Regiment in the Falklands War in 1982 and in the SAS during the conflicts in the Gulf and Bosnia.

Who Dares Wins
Tony Geraghty
A history of the SAS. The author has written several books about the SAS.

Shoot To Kill
Michael Asher, ex-TA SAS
Autobiography including recruitment into Parachute Regiment and SAS, and time spent in Ireland with the Paras.

No Mean Soldier
Peter McAleese, ex-SAS
The book covers time as a mercenary after leaving the SAS and an aborted operation in Colombia

Once A Pilgrim
Will Scully, ex-SAS
Covers a short time in Sierra Leone in 1997 when Scully’s hotel was under siege by armed terrorists. A very good book of an extraordinary event.

The SAS Survival Handbook
John Wiseman, ex-SAS
How to survive in the wild, in any climate, on land or at sea. John ‘Lofty’ Wiseman was Chief Survival Instructor for the SAS and was in the SAS for 26 years.

Battlefield Afghanistan
Mike Ryan
Author has drawn on first-hand accounts of war in Afghanistan from men in 3 Para, 16 AAB, the Royal Marines and the Special Forces community. Published 2008.

Operation Certain Death
Damien Lewis
Details SAS/Parachute Regiment operation in Sierra Leone in 2000 to rescue 11 British Army hostages from armed rebel gangs
http://www.damienlewis.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=62&Itemid=74

Ultimate Risk
Mark Nicol
The biggest and most destructive mission in SAS recent history, half of the world's most elite regiment took on Al Qaeda's crack forces in Afghanistan. The target $100 million opium storage plant, which doubled as an Al Qaeda local command centre, in Kandahar province. Published 2003

Task Force Black (SAS in Iraq)
Mark Urban

The Joker, 20 years inside the SAS
Pete Scholey, ex-SAS
(see link below)

Intelligence Books


The Big Breach
Richard Tomlinson, ex-SIS (MI6) officer
New Zealand – born former British MI6 officer who was imprisoned during 1997 for violating the Official Secrets Act by giving the synopsis of a proposed book detailing his career in the Secret Intelligence Service to an Australian publisher. Book details his time in MI6.

Spies, Lies and Whistleblowers
Annie Machon, ex-MI5 officer
Book about the Shayler affair (the MI6 plot to assasinate Col. Gaddafi) and experiences as an Intelligence Officer in MI5.
http://www.anniemachon.com/annie_machon/Spies_Lies_and_Whistleblowers.html

How to Break A Terrorist
Matthew Alexander (pen name)
How to Break a Terrorist: The US Interrogators Who Used Brains, Not Brutality, to Take Down the Deadliest Man in Iraq is a book written by an American soldier who played a key role in tracking down Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq. Published 2008

Defending the Realm (Inside MI5 and the War on Terrorism)
Mark Hollingsworth and Nick Fielding
Provides a rare insight into the secret world of M15

UK Eyes Alpha
Mark Urban
An account of British intelligence since Gorbachev came to power in 1985. Published 1997.

MI6
Stephen Dorril
Looking at the workings of the SIS during the Cold War in particular