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Short abstract

This paper recovers the hidden labour histories of GPO engineers who worked at the analogue-digital interface in Britain's wartime intelligence infrastructure. Drawing on archival materials, I argue understanding intelligence infrastructure requires theorising adversarial sociotechnical relations.

Long abstract

When we discuss Britain's WWII intelligence success, we credit radar technology, brilliant cryptanalysts, and organisational innovation. But what about the 10,000 General Post Office engineers who installed and maintained 30,000 miles of telephone cables connecting radar stations to Fighter Command? Their labour made "the system" work—yet they remain invisible in historical accounts.

This paper recovers the hidden labour histories of GPO engineers who worked at the analogue-digital interface in Britain's wartime intelligence infrastructure. Drawing on archival materials, I show how these telecommunications workers installed cable networks under bombing, maintained connections under wartime conditions, and adapted existing analogue infrastructure to carry digital radar signals. Their skilled practices—improvisation, repair, continuous maintenance—constituted what intelligence historians treat as "technological capability."

Building on Shapin's concept of "invisible technicians," I argue that understanding intelligence infrastructure requires theorising adversarial sociotechnical relations. Unlike cooperative Large Technical Systems, adversarial systems are characterised by strategic exploitation through shared infrastructure, where success depends on both hiding capabilities from adversaries and maintaining them through labour. This creates a double invisibility: workers must be hidden from enemies and are subsequently erased from histories privileging technology and elites.

This matters because contemporary cybersecurity debates systematically erase infrastructure workers—system administrators, network engineers—whose expertise makes security systems function. Recovering historical labour reveals patterns persisting from radar to cyberspace.