The British people are natural deceivers, using guile by instinct, according to intelligence chiefs in the 1970s at a meeting of the newly formed Defence Deception Advisory Group, a declassified file has revealed.
After a visit to the United States to discuss American deception capabilities, the advisory group, which had been set up in 1969, reported: “There is a considerable difference in national characteristics between the US and UK. It's suggested that it's almost a way of life for a UK citizen to use guile in almost all dealings with fellow human beings, whether friend or foe.”
The report went on: “Therefore, in military circles even a junior commander will invariably, as part of his nature, attempt to fox his adversary as to his real operational intentions.”
The Americans did not have to worry about being cunning because they had so much money to spend on defence equipment that the subtleties of deception were not so important in defeating the enemy. The report said: “[In the US] no financial and logistic constraints have in recent times hampered the commander in the field. There has been little requirement to consider the use of tactical deception. For the British, on the other hand, it could be said that the inclination to deceive is already available as a natural asset.”
