Will Erikson on Found
Will many congratulations on the new book. There is plenty to ask about here, since this was such a major event in Britain’s recent history. Is that why you wanted to write it?
Thank you.
Very much so, it was divisive at the time, and it turned out to be a complete mistake, and yet, it’s vanished beneath the waves hasn’t it? It was 22 years ago and so much else has happened since. I’m biased because I was part of this, but I don’t think it should be a forgotten episode. There’s little written about the ISG in particular, whether scholarly work or fiction, so I wanted to share some of what it felt like to be there.
What’s the storyline, and what sort of man is our hero, Harry Smith?
The story is set in Baghdad in the immediate aftermath of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. UKSIS knows there’s no WMD to find, but the men – and women – who built the programmes are very real and still at large. They cannot be allowed to join terrorist groups or rogue nations, so the hunt is on. Harry Smith is just a junior intelligence officer, but he knows he helped contribute to the mistaken invasion. As a token gesture, UKSIS sends him alone to look for a handful of these scientists. He needs to find not only them, but closure, peace, and purpose for himself as well. Easy!
What came first, the novel’s plot or the characters?
Definitely the characters, as they are based on various people I encountered. I hope some of them recognise parts of themselves – while still understanding that I stretched aspects of their personalities, the same way I stretched reality, to make an entertaining story. It was nice to “see” them again in my mind’s eye, as we once were, back then.
Many readers will be aware of the fruitless search for WMDs, but did you join the Iraq Survey Group (ISG) with an open mind or did you expect to find something?
In my book, the UKSIS boss tells Harry “we know there’s no WMD.” That never happened. When I was assigned to the ISG, we all still had the impression we just had to look in the right place. As time went on, though, it was clear what a huge mistake we’d made. Personally, I found this quite shaking really; to suddenly grasp the limits of our collective ability.
Did you feel the political pressure during the search for WMDs?
Initially, there was the sense of “hurry up and find the damned stuff,” but that’s all. I never felt pressured to take risks or make things up. The ISG leaders must have had some very awkward conversations over the secure video-link, but once the interim report was issued in October 2003, I got the impression that everyone in Washington and London just moved on.
You’ve written about a ‘group think’ mentality within the intelligence community and the expectation of finding WMDs. Why do you think that was – it might seem bit convenient to some in simply blaming politicians?
Oh, it definitely wasn’t the politicians alone, and we were all equally to blame really, one way or another. It might sound odd, but intelligence agencies are service-providers to their customers, who are the government of the day. It’s uncomfortable, to say the least, to tell your paying customers that you cannot find what they have, perhaps ill-advisedly, publicly claimed exists. You’ve also got national security to consider. This is not the planning permission for the Stroud bypass. This is classified material and even if the agencies believed product was mis-used, they can’t just expose the politicians.
When reading plenty of le Carré novels and non-fiction espionage, scepticism is a vital weapon in the armoury of an intelligence officer. Why was such a key element of spy work discarded during this time?
I can only really speak about the microcosms that I experienced, and I left the service a long time ago, so maybe things have changed for the better, but despite what the entertainment industry would have us believe, intelligence officers are just normal people. They’re civil servants. They want to make a name for themselves and get promoted. There are some brilliant ones, some totally useless, and the vast majority who are just average. I think it’s fair to say that most wanted to be the one to collect and deliver earth-shattering material, which may have driven some of the more unscrupulous or sloppy to only see what they wanted to see. There are checks and balances to stop this, but as history now shows, that’s not always effective.
Were the British security services strong-armed by the CIA?
I don’t think so. I remember, we all rather assumed there must be some super-secret compartmented NOFORN codeword material the CIA had not released to us. In hindsight, of course, that was naïve, but you have to remember that not all intelligence is shared freely, especially HUMINT material as it’s more sensitive. In this case, though, we had everything there was.
Which spy writers have inspired you?
My favourite remains the late Nelson DeMille. He wrote some excellent cold war classics, like the Charm School and Talbot Odyssey, along with some detective/intelligence crossovers like Plum Island, The Panther, and Up Country. These were so well-researched that you’d think he had been in the service.
The first literary spies I encountered, though, were Kenneth Aubury and Patrick Hyde in the “Bears Tears” by Craig Thomas. It took me a long time to read it as a teenager, but then I was hooked.
More recently, I have discovered Mick Herron’s Slow Horses series – the central premise of unwanted, successful agents is a welcome change from the more typical superhero meme, even if the misfits do still always magically win out!
Will Harry Smith return? After all the Iraq War lasted until 2011 or later in one form or another.
He certainly will be back and my publisher is very supportive. Found is the first of a trilogy of novels; “Act 1” of the drama and the remaining two volumes are well-advanced. Although the Iraq occupation did indeed drag on for many more years, the WMD mission was winding down by the end of October 2003. I have lots of source material on which I can base extensions of Harry’s life into other books – assuming he survives the ISG!
Will Erikson is the author of Found, published by Fisher King.