The Intrigue Master: Commander Long and Naval Intelligence in Australia, 1913-1945 by Barbara Winter is a definitive biography of Commander Rupert "Cocky" Long, the driving force behind Australia's early secret service and wartime espionage.
The book chronicles the life of Commander Long, who entered the Royal Australian Navy in 1913 and rose to become the nation's wartime Director of Naval Intelligence. From 1932 to 1945, Long was covertly involved in every major intelligence and security apparatus in Australia, including the Naval Intelligence division, the Commonwealth Investigation Branch (CIB), and the Security Service. As a mastermind of wartime espionage, he founded the powerful Allied Intelligence Bureau (AIB) and acted as the vital domestic contact point for elite foreign agencies, including MI5, MI6, the American OSS, and Dutch Intelligence.
Operating in the shadows of World War I and World War II, Long handled ultra-secret Enigma decrypts and designed intelligence networks that directly foreshadowed the creation of modern Australian intelligence agencies like ASIO and ASIS. For this critical era, Long's personal biography serves as the definitive secret history of Australian military intelligence.
WW2 Australian Naval Intelligence historyRoyal Australian Navy WWII secret operationsDirector of Naval Intelligence Australia historyAllied Intelligence Bureau WWII Pacific
