-Caveat Lector-
from:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_429000/429393.stm
Renegade MI5 officer David Shayler has said he will reveal further secrets
from his work with the UK's intelligence services.
In an interview with Channel 5 News, the ex-spy claimed that the secrets
were stored in his computer and ready to be published on the Internet.
Speaking from Paris, Mr Shayler said: "I have a computer on my desk and with
that computer I have an Internet site.
"Now all I have to do is push a button and I could put state secrets on the
Internet."
"I've always said that I intended to get these things into the public domain
in some way," he added.
The former spy is wanted in the UK for allegedly breaking the Official
Secrets Act by speaking about the intelligence services in a Sunday paper in
1997.
Ministers denied his claims that MI6 planned to assassinate Libyan leader
Colonel Gaddafi, and that MI5 was warned about the bombing of the Israeli
embassy in London in 1994.
No regrets
Mr Shayler fled to France two years ago, where he now lives with his
girlfriend and fellow ex-MI5 employee Annie Machon.
He fears he will be arrested if he returns to the UK.
Attempts to extradite him to stand trial in the UK failed when a Paris court
threw out the case last November.
Mr Shayler warned: "At the moment they're [the UK Government] relying very
much on my goodwill because they can't extradite me from France.
"What I would hope is that I could come to some arrangement with the
government whereby we could do that in a way that was satisfactory to both
sides."
Mr Shayler stressed that he did not regret his actions: "Despite what people
try and say about me being a traitor and damaging national security, a
special branch officer and a judge have said that my disclosure in the Mail
on Sunday did not damage national security."
Referring to the Official Secrets Act, he added: "I have broken a law that
should be illegal in western democracy."
from:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/newsid_347000/347912.stm
Former MI6 intelligence officer, Richard Tomlinson, who has threatened to
publish state secrets on the World Wide Web, says the Internet spells the
end for the world's intelligence services.
His prediction came in an e-mail interview with BBC News Online. "I think
the Net will eventually make intelligence agencies defunct as there will be
a lot less secrets around the world that they can steal," he said.
Mr Tomlinson criticised the government's attempts to suppress the
publication of a list of more than a hundred alleged MI6 operatives on the
Internet last week, describing it as "foolish".
Already more than 100 copies of the list have been put up on Internet
bulletin boards. A Website reproducing the list has recorded more than
27,000 views of the page and hoax lists have appeared.
Chain e-mail carries MI6 list
There is even a chain e-mail carrying the names across the Net. It was
started in New Zealand by Peter Wills, a physics professor at the University
of Auckland and a well-known campaigner on civil liberties, anti-nuclear and
Greenpeace issues.
"None of these agents would be at risk if the British immediately withdrew
them, disbanded MI6 and pensioned their agents off in respectable jobs (or
handed those who had committed crimes in other countries over to the
appropriate authorities for justice)," he says in an e-mail justification.
"We used the technique of rapid email dispersal a few years ago when Nicky
Hager published his book "Secret Power", now a classic of its genre. In the
early hours before its publication I distributed copies to about 6 different
locations internationally, rendering ineffective any injunction to halt
distribution of the book the following morning.
"I also headed an effort to defy the UK Govt's ban on Peter Wright's
"Spycatcher" in New Zealand in 1987. I wrote a review of the book in which I
quoted all of the offending sections and provided an evaluation of the
relevance of the information to assessing the activities of NZ's
intelligence establishment. We advertised in a newspaper and gave away
copies of the review to all applicants, thereby "publishing" what the UK
Govt was claiming should remain secret, lest its "national security" be
damaged."
Tomlinson's e-mail death threats
Mr Tomlinson says in his e-mail that he has received both supportive
messages and hostile ones blaming him for the publication - some amounting
to death threats have been referred to his lawyer.
He continues to deny that he sent the list to Executive Intelligence Review
magazine, founded by conspiracy theorist Lyndon LaRouche, where they were
first published online, and says many of the names are unknown to him.
The e-mail exchange in full:
What kind and amount of e-mail have you been receiving?
When The Sun first published my address alongside a very hostile and
one-sided article, I got quite a lot of threatening e-mail. But I got even
more supportive e-mail from people who thought that MI6 should be exposed
anyway. I am writing back to everybody who e-mailed me to explain to them
that it wasn't me who was responsible for the leak.
Virtually everybody who was hostile has written back and apologised. Some
have responded with even more hostile and threatening e-mail, and I am
forwarding those that amount to death-threats to my solicitor.
How important has the Internet become to you?
I use e-mail a great deal. Phone calls where I live are very expensive, so I
cannot spend much time online, which is a shame. I do occasionally e-mail
David [Shayler], but not for a few months. We always use PGP [Pretty Good
Privacy] encryption to stop the French intelligence service from
eavesdropping.
What are your thoughts on whether Executive Intelligence Review should have
published the anonymous e-mail with the names?
I think that they have the right to publish whatever they want. Governments
and intelligence services should learn to live with the Internet and not try
to censor it.
Who could have sent it if it was not you, how accurate is it?
I don't know who could have sent it. After examining the list, I don't think
it is particularly accurate. All the names that I recognise are retired or
resigned from MI6, or are widely accpeted as being "blown".
Most names I just do not know, so I cannot say whether or not they are from
MI6. I don't think the publication of the list was in itself damaging to
MI6. HMG [Her Majesty's Government] made it damaging by announcing to the
world that it existed and that it was accurate. I can't explain why they did
this.
How many sites have you had? How skilled have you become in constructing
them?
I am really only a beginner, but I use Front Page so learning really was not
at all difficult. I really enjoyed the process.
What was the timeline of them being opened and closed?
My Swiss site was up for about a day before MI6 obtained an injunction. My
first Geocities site lasted about a weekend before MI6 found it. My second
Geocities site lasted about a week. None of these sites contained the list
that is causing all the fuss.
How supportive have Internet Service Providers (ISPs) been and other hosts?
Why did you obey the injunctions when they were aimed at the ISPs or were
without jurisdiction?
In general, none of the ISPs I have used have been very supportive or
robust. They have all folded to government censorship without a whimper. I
think that is disappointing.
What are your thoughts on the power of the Internet to overcome any attempts
to censor you and the reaction on the Net to all this?
I think it very foolish for MI6 to try to censor the Net. They should accept
that this sort of freedom of information is here to stay. I think the Net
will eventually make intelligence agencies defunct as there will be a lot
less secrets around the world that they can steal.
Given the government's commitment to a Freedom of Information bill, what are
your thoughts on its behaviour in this affair?
Rather hypocritical - but that is to be expected of any government in power.
But I have no doubt that this incident has got the public talking and
thinking about the power of the Internet, and eventually that public opinion
will filter its way into legislation.
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