The Deadly Game: A British Army Secret Agent Handler in the Troubles

‘This was life in the Force Research Unit, and this was how we ran agent operations. Will is revelatory, insightful, thoughtful and honest. It doesn’t get better or more real than this!’ – ‘TC’ GM, QGM, recruiter of ‘Stakeknife’

SOUTH ARMAGH, NORTHERN IRELAND, 1983. Will Britten, 23, has just qualified as an agent handler for the British Army’s ultra-secret Force Research Unit. He and a fellow agent handler complete the detailed paperwork following a covert meet with one of the Detachment’s most important agents, who has successfully infiltrated ‘Mad Dog’ McGlinchey’s INLA Active Service Unit.

A few days later, there is a phone call. The draft Contact Form wasn’t put in the burn bag. Both PIRA and INLA now know his real name.

What would you do?

The Deadly Game is the memoir of a military intelligence officer with the FRU – a unit so secret that the rest of the army barely knew it existed. Their role was to infiltrate terrorist cells on both sides of the Troubles, to gather intelligence and disrupt them from the inside. In this updated edition, Will Britten provides a unique insight into one of the most successful intelligence units of all time, and the part they played in ultimately bringing Republican terror to the negotiating table.