the case of Malaya, MI5 director-general Percy Sillitoe looked to augment and systematize the colony’s intelligence operations. In August 1948 he made a personal visit to Kuala Lumpur, where he declared the Malayan Security Service an unmitigated disaster. It was soon disbanded. He then transferred his Middle East go-to operative, Alex Kellar, who was by then head of the Security Intelligence Middle East station in Cairo, to take charge of its sister operation in Southeast Asia.
