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Kim Philby (continued)
After Germany defeated France, Philby returned to Britain. Despite his previous membership in the pro-Fascist Anglo-German Fellowship as well as his wife's communist past, Philby was brought into the British Secret Intelligence Service in 1941 (he was aided by is father, who contacted Sir Stewart Menzies, the head of SIS, directly. As part of the counterespionage division of SIS, he he coordinated information exchanges between MI6 agents and Sandor Rado Soviet spy ring in Switzerland, obtaining valuable military information for Britain. Also was aligned closely with the Special Operations Executive, an espionage network which worked with underground resistance forces fighting against Germany. His success in these areas gained him high praise within the British intelligence community.
Was assigned, in October 1944, to Section IX of SIS, establishing an anti-communist desk. He was in charge of a movement to seek out communists in the British government, particularly those who had infiltrated British intelligence agencies. The basis for placing Philby in this position was his familiarity and friendliness with high-ranking Russian military and diplomatic officials. Philby's new Soviet handler was Anatoli Lebedev. Philby grew the section from a one man shop to a 30 person department in only 18 months. Worked hand in hand with William J. Donovan and Allen Dulles of the United States Office of Strategic Services, the predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency.
Barely escape exposure in August 1945 when Konstantin Volkov, vice consul at the Soviet consulate in Istanbul, defected. Volkov, an NKVD intelligence officer, warned of several moles in the British intelligence community, including one who was the head of a counterintelligence unit. Volkov warned against sending the information to Britain. via cable because of security concerns.
The information was therefore delivered via diplomatic pouch and ended up on the desk of Kim Philby. An astonished Philby recognized that he was one of the moles Volkov was about to uncover. Philby insisted in interviewing Volkov himself, instead of leaving that task to an agent in Istanbul. By the time Philby arrived there, however, Volkov had disappeared, presumably executed after Philby notified to the Soviets about the impending defection.
When Igor Gouzinko, a Soviet cipher clerk in Ottawa, Canada defected in September 1945, Philby managed the information so that although a number of Soviet agents were exposed (including Allan Nunn May), he (Philby) was not.
Was awarded the Order of the British Empire in late 1945 for his work in wartime intelligence work, after being nominated by Sir Stewart Menzies.
Divorced Alice Friedman and in 1946 married Aileen Furse with whom he had three children. Was sent during this period of time to Istanbul, Turkey, a hotbed for espionage activity in post-war Europe, serving as acting first Secretary of the Foreign Office In this position, he identified to his Soviet handler, several Albanian nationalists planning to overthrow the communist government in place. The operatives were summarily captured and murdered. Also, worked to foil and British and American invasion of Albania, while at the same time passing along information about Soviet plans for the region. He was commended for his information which was ultimately useless due to its untimeliness.
 Was sent to the United States in 1949 to serve as the First Secretary to the British Ambassador in Washington, D.C., acting as a liaison officer between British Intelligence and the CIA and FBI. This placed him in the position of working amongst the elite of the Western intelligence committee. Guy Burgess was also assigned to Washington, D.C. and they two worked together to channel information to Moscow. Met every week with James Angleton, sharing information and coordinating counterespionage efforts.
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