John Cairncross (* 25 July 1913; "† 8 October 1995) was a British secret agent during the Second World War, which spied together with four other one, which admits Cambridge Five under the name became, for the Soviet Union.

Cairncross enjoyed training at the University of Glasgow and at the Trinity college (Cambridge), where it studied modern languages and the remaining Cambridge Five became acquainted with. After its conclusion he worked for the Foreign Office. 1937 it joined the communist party. it changed 1942 to the MI6 and to Bletchley park, where it worked as a coding specialist. In this time it passed documents on over secret channels to the Soviet Union. With the information passed on by him it made the Soviet coding specialists possible, who distrusted to their British allied ones, although they had been warned by these in time of the German attack to always be a step before the British secret service.

After MI5 found loading material in its possession, Cairncross granted 1951 to spy. Some it believe that the information about the western nuclear weapon program, supplied by it, sets the Soviet on. Nevertheless it was never punished, which led later to the reproach, which would be government secretly involved to hide its role. The identity of the fifth man Cambridge Five remained actual until 1990 when the KGB defectors loaded Yuri Modin and Oleg Gordievsky Cairncross.

To its confession Cairncross changed to Rome, where he worked for the United nation Food and Agricultural Organization up to its retirement. Afterwards it withdrew itself after Southern France. John Cairncross died 1995.

He was the brother of the economist Sir Alexander Kirkland Cairncross and uncle of the journalist Frances Cairncross.

see also

Anthony Blunt, Kim Philby, Donald Maclean, Guy Burgess, George Blake, Melita Norwood, Profumo affair

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