So what is the BAKERS PROJECT and who are the BAKERS?
During the COLD WAR in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s the United States military had the added burden of many in its ranks who did not agree with the role the country was playing in international affairs and the dangerous escalation of the arms race with the Soviet Union. Their solution was to share with the Soviets classified information. While this was a matter of conscience for most it was a financial endeavor for some.
The problem with finding these individuals was that most military personnel followed protocol and would report any concerns in this regard to their superior officer, who might also be providing information to the Soviets. After several internal attempts to rectify the problem it was concluded that only an external group could address it properly and ideally one that would not follow rank or the various divisions of the military.
A small group of British communications and coding experts who had gone back to the private sector after the war but still were bound under the Official Secrets Act were recruited to operate outside the conventional chain of command, to design and execute a network of operatives in several locations in the United States to collect, analyze and share information on these informants and to then provide their information to this small oversight group in England. The findings of that group were then in turn shared with the Americans through political channels not military channels and actions taken accordingly.
The operatives for this mission, which lasted from 1959 to 1965 were military wives. Some were Americans but most were the spouses of allied personnel seconded from the British, Australian , Canadian and New Zealand forces.
They met in their homes for baking clubs. Some were married to more senior officers, some to those in lower ranks, and by virtue of being linked only by the common interest of baking, they also crossed many different branches of the military. Each BAKER was very active in many military wives clubs or kids activity clubs and report back to the group the “unfiltered ” comments of a spouse.
Coding for the sharing of information was, even for the times quite rudimentary, but with a simplicity that also ensured its difficulty in detection. Each BAKER had a favorite book and the local Project Commander had her own copy of each of those books. Pages and names were linked to recipe cards so even when they were not meeting they could transfer information openly at public events with these innocent cards for brownies or scones.
Many of those women never shared their experience with their families or spouses, initially because of the secrecy involved, and often later because of not knowing how it would be received by a spouse to learn they had been kept in the dark for so long. Many divorces and worse events occurred for the women who did eventually share their stories. Others have gone to their grave with their secret lives intact.
For the BAKERS or their descendants who do want to share, and be celebrated, we have created this website.