State surveillance

The files at Kew provide insights into British thinking in the 1970s.

Surveillance technology was in its infancy but was being deployed in Northern Ireland.

Just as interesting, the army did not trust the RUC. This problem persisted throughout the Troubles and led to turf wars over informants. Though there were attempts to knock heads together, it never really worked. See my previous post on this.

The lesson is that , by 1990, nothing moved in certain Republican areas that the State did not know about.