The Colonial Office had endorsed the recruitment of ex–Force 136 officers—many of whom were found on the barstools of the Special Forces Club in Knightsbridge—to spearhead Gurney’s “frontier force” or “jungle force” initiative, otherwise known as the Ferret Force. Joining them were former Special Operations Executive (SOE) pioneers like the Chinese expert and colonial administrator Robert Thompson, and together, they directed the police, who constituted much of the force’s rank and file.
