The Authorised Centenary History

Penguin Books has published "The Defence of the Realm", the first authorised history of the Security Service, by Cambridge University historian Christopher Andrew.

The book marks the centenary of the Security Service and documents the work of MI5 from its establishment in 1909 to the present day.

Christopher Andrew is Professor of Modern and Contemporary History, former Chair of the Faculty of History at Cambridge University and chair of the British Intelligence Study Group. He has published a number of previous books on intelligence history, including "Secret Service: The Making of the British Intelligence Community", "For The President's Eyes Only: Secret Intelligence and the American Presidency from Washington to Bush" and "The Mitrokhin Archive". He has also presented radio and television documentaries.

Professor Andrew was appointed as MI5's official historian in December 2002. In writing "The Defence of the Realm", he was given virtually unrestricted access to much of the Security Service's archives and no restriction was placed on the judgements he arrived at.