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Mon 10 Mar, 2003 06:31 pm
GCHQ arrest over Observer spying report
Martin Bright, home affairs editor
Sunday March 9, 2003
The Observer UK
An employee at the top-secret Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) has been arrested following revelations in The Observer last weekend about an American 'dirty tricks' surveillance operation to win votes at the United Nations in favour of a tough new resolution on Iraq.
Gloucestershire police confirmed last night that a 28-year-old woman was arrested last week on suspicion of contravening the Official Secrets Act. The woman, from the Cheltenham area, has been released on police bail pending further inquiries. More arrests are expected.
A top-secret memo from the National Security Agency, which monitors communications around the world, was passed to this newspaper by British security sources who objected to being asked to aid the American operation. The leak marks a serious breach between the Blair government and elements of the intelligence community opposed to using British security resources to help the US drive towards war.
Officials at GCHQ, the electronic surveillance arm of the British intelligence service, were asked by the Americans to provide valuable information from 'product lines', intelligence jargon for phone taps and e-mail interception. The document was circulated among British intelligence services before being leaked.
A GCHQ spokesman confirmed last night that the woman was an employee.
Pardon the dust, just doing some autumn cleaning in the unanswered posts closet to make room for the new harvest.
From my own research, Britain's Official Secrets Act has been much abused by the government for political agendas. (It has been much used to "shortcut" due process on IRA suspects, most notably). Who knows what this woman really did, if anything? This is what happens when the government loses credibility through abuse of a law.
Unfortunately, I think it's happening here with the Patriot Act. Also, unfortunately, it may be years (if ever) that we find out just how badly. Any time the government sets aside freedoms because of purported "emergencies," then you've got the Genesis of a totalitarian regeime. It's a dark time for Democracy.
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