Honey Trap

The quasi official history of BSC (Nigel, ed West, British Security Coordination: The Secret History of British Intelligence in the Americas 1940-1945 (Boston: Little, Brown, 1998), 16), which will be discussed later in some detail, dances neatly around the subject of Stephenson’s relationship with FDR: “…for WS kept in close touch with the White House [...]

Robert E Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins: An Intimate History: Enigma Books, 2008), 270

source: Thomas F. Troy, Wild Bill and Intrepid: Donovan, Stephenson, and the Origin of CIA, 1st ed. (Yale University Press, 1996), 35

The British are emphatic about Hoover’s role in coming up with the name for William S. Stephenson’s organization: The British Security Coordination. They make constant reference to it:
Hyde, H. Montgomery (foreword by Ian Fleming). 1964. Room 3603. Dell Books, New York,  3, 58.
Hyde, H. Montgomery. 1982. Secret Intelligence Agent British Espionage in America and the [...]

Athan G. Theoharis, The FBI: A Comprehensive Reference Guide, ed. Athan G. Theoharis, Tony G. Poveda, Susan Rosenfeld, and Richard Gid Powers: Checkmark Books, 2000), 161

Nigel, ed West, British Security Coordination: The Secret History of British Intelligence in the Americas 1940-1945 (Boston: Little, Brown, 1998), 5
This document is also often referred to as “The BSC Papers,” particularly before their initial publication by St. Ermin’s Press.
A history of the document, according to Tim Naftali, and Nigel West, the publication’s editor: H. [...]

Thomas F. Troy, Wild Bill and Intrepid: Donovan, Stephenson, and the Origin of CIA, 1st ed. (Yale University Press, 1996), 95

Thomas F. Troy, Wild Bill and Intrepid: Donovan, Stephenson, and the Origin of CIA, 1st ed. (Yale University Press, 1996), 93

Thomas F. Troy, Wild Bill and Intrepid: Donovan, Stephenson, and the Origin of CIA, 1st ed. (Yale University Press, 1996), 63

Jeffrey M. Dorwart, Conflict of Duty: U.S. Navy’s Intelligence Dilemma, 1919-1945: Naval Inst Pr, Annapolis, Maryland, U.S.A., 1983), 126 [Graf Spee], and 131-132 [naval observers]
At that time, reserve officers were designated “naval observers,” to mitigate the neutrality issue.

The search for Paul Fairly began like this:
Mr. Shear,
I have no information pertaining to a LT Paul Fairly. You may be able to track him down in the Register Commissioned Officers the U.S. Navy.  [Author's note: Efforts to find Fairly's name in the Register, which is on deposit at Davis Libarary at [...]

What developed should have been obvious: Fairly was not an officer. Instead, a search of the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis revealed this crucial document:

The document shows Fairly to be a lowly Yeoman and, more, not even a member of USN at the time of his encounter with Cynthia/Betty Pack/Madame Brousse.

From an email:
Subject: Re: Research questions
Date: Tuesday, November 20, 2007 10:42 AM
From: Karen Jania
To: Jeff Shear
Cc:
Conversation: Research questions
Dear Mr. Shear:
According to the necrology file on Ms. Wells, (a file of information collected by the Office of Alumni Records on deceased University alumni), her father was H.H.Wells, a Banker and Merchant in Morris, Minnesota. She was [...]

This letter was either retained by Madame Brousse or by her mother, most likely her mother. Obviously no operative would want to be caught with any evidence suggesting that they were leading a double life. The letter was signed, J. Howard, a name commonly used by British intelligence as a generic cover, much as the [...]

Source for both views of the address book: Churchill Archives Center, Churchill College, Cambridge
Harford Montgomery Hyde Papers, “Cynthia” File number 2
There is something especially interesting and odd about Madame Brousse’s address book. Curiously, virtually every name entered into her “little black book” is written (it was actually brown and wallet-sized) — in the [...]