Editor's Note

This issue begins with an article by Ariane Knüsel discussing the counterintelligence operations of the Swiss Federal Police against spies working for the People's Republic of China (PRC) during the Cold War. Because Switzerland was one of the first Western countries to recognize the PRC's Communist regime as the government of China, Chinese intelligence services used the PRC's diplomatic outpost in Bern and consulate general in Geneva for political and commercial espionage throughout Europe in the 1950s and 1960s. The role of counterintelligence in Cold War Europe has received little scholarly attention, and the role of Swiss counterintelligence has been largely ignored, in part because of lack of archival access. Knüsel shows that even though Switzerland embraced neutrality in its foreign policy, the Swiss Federal Police worked closely with Western counterintelligence agencies to counter and disrupt espionage by Chinese and Soviet-bloc agents. This cooperation was undertaken quietly to avoid controversy,...