This was in stark contrast to many of the Greek officials who, for reasons of politics or pay, were not as reliable. Redmond reported that one Greek corporal who had been sent to work for him, told him that the rate of pay was totally inadequate and therefore the result of any searches he was ordered to carry out depended on the size of the bribe he was given.
Even high ranking officers such as Major Mavrakakis of the Ministry of the Interior despaired of the Greek way of doing things, telling Redmond that “his life had been made a misery since the arrest of a certain notorious character, as he had been pestered by close on 300 friends either begging his intercession or deliberately threatening him.” (18) This was quite apart from the political manoeuvring – Captain Kolokotroni had been dismissed on a trumped up charge because he wouldn’t let certain Royalists come back. Many of the police had been “bought body and soul” by the Royalists and Redmond felt that his work was like “sitting on top of a volcano”. (19)
As well as Anglo-Greek tensions, relationships between the various branches of the British services didn’t always run smoothly. Redmond was resolute in his support for C’s way of doing things – building up the Secret Service from nothing in 1909 to the world-wide organisation it had become by 1918. The army and navy didn’t always see things in this way though. At a conference about Greek strategy, Commander Talbot, the Naval Attaché, in particular proposed that M.I.1 (c) shouldn’t use Greek Agents but intelligence gathering should be handed over to the Greeks themselves, an attitude which made Redmond exclaim “Ye gods and little fishes!!!” in frustration. (18)
Quite apart from passports and politics, there was also the business of recruiting and getting information from agents. As in Switzerland, Redmond used a mixture of nationals and foreign agents. There were clearly defined duties which included keeping the office informed of:
1) suspects’ and agents’ movements.
2) information about submarines and signalling
3) news and rumours
4) local sentiments and politics, especially if unfriendly to the allies.
5) other suspicious activities.
It was equally clearly spelt out that if the agent broke confidentiality, then the arrangements and pay would be terminated immediately.