An intriguing question here, one I don't think any of us have a firm answer for. Thank you, Errant. Ed [talk] [majestic titan] 22:03, 23 April 2013 (UTC)
This is a really interesting article. As ErrantX notes, the quality of sources on intelligence topics vary wildly, and there can be considerable inconsistencies in the 'facts' they provide. Much of this is due to the 'cloak and dagger' nature of the topic, which leads to records being deliberetly not kept, destroyed or declassified long after the event (some WW2-era British intelligence files are apparently still not available to historians as they would identify possibly still-living people). However, the authors of books on intelligence matters are also often at fault: many approach their subject either with an axe to grind against the wickedness of spies or with the deliberate goal of writing a positive 'puff piece'. The trope of the intelligence agency being under-appreciated by unimaginative bureaucrats for far too long also still turns up (as a ridiculous recent example, in his recent book Spies in the Sky Talyor Downing tries to present a supposed slowness to assign Spitfires to RAF photo recon units at the start of WW2 as being a considerable scandal - as the book progresses it turns out that it only took about six weeks for PR Spitfires to go into action after the outbreak of the war, and the PR units were actually given priority access to the type from late 1939!). The official histories of the British intelligence services which have been published since the 1980s are probably the best thing which has been written on the subject of military intelligence, but are far too detailed for casual readers (and, it would seem, many hack historians). Nick-D (talk) 00:13, 25 April 2013 (UTC)
Only just spotted this was published :) thanks for the kind words. One thing I forgot to mention was the risk in Wikipedia publishing similar falsehoods - because more and more we are being used a basic reference by the pop history writers. A very recent book a friend lent me actually referred to my article on Clarke - the book only tangentially referred to Dudley Clarke and his work (so using Wikipedia is, I suppose, at least excusable) but embarrassingly it seems to have been written during the articles development when a glaring inaccuracy existed... later fixed, but not immortalised in print. A similar problem occurs with my discussion of Clarke being photographed in womens clothing. I was careful in the timeline section not to make mention of sexuality etc. However naturally those photographs raised eyebrows in whitehall. Clarke may have like cross dressing (although only one source really goes that far, so I was uncomfortable saying as much) and certainly within the Army establishment people privately wondered about his sexuality. Sadly none of the sources seem to take a firm stand on the matter and carefully skirt the issue with a few pages of "knowing looks". Anyway, the point it, I recently read a news article mentioning Clarke which again clearly drew on my article - they made a real meal of his arrest in female clothing and *did* go as far as questioning his sexuality. So I am left wondering whether me mentioning those raised eyebrows in the personality section is unfairly casting Clarke in that light. Or perhaps that is a fair way to cast him? Who knows!! --Errant (chat!) 14:09, 12 May 2013 (UTC)