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PETER Wright, the British agent whose publication in Australia of Spycatcher was a victory for free speech, has been slammed in a new history of MI5 as a dangerous conspiracy theorist, whose work in the intelligence service was as damaging and distracting as that of some traitors. Christopher Andrew, the leading historian who has had unprecedented access to MI5 files to write the first official history of the secret service, concluded that while he was an active officer Wright's "conspiracy theories arguably did as much damage to the service as the treachery" of traitor Anthony Blunt. The Cambridge University historian...

“MI5 hiring Asian teenagers to fight cyber terror” London, September 21, 2009 First Published: 00:09 IST(21/9/2009) Last Updated: 02:44 IST(21/9/2009) SNIPPET: “MI5 head Jonathan Evans has told his staff that the recruits were essential to combat cyber terrorism which has been traced to China, Russia and Pakistan — the hackers have also intercepted messages from terrorists in Belmarsh maximum security prison, the newspaper said. In a report to Lord West, the Security Minister, Evans has revealed that during the summer over 1,000 hits were made on computers in Whitehall. Other targets have been air traffic control, power stations and the...

"MI5 targeted by Islamic extremists in rushed recruitment drive after July 2005 attacks on London" SNIPPET: "MI5 is facing questions over whether it recruited up to six al Qaeda sympathisers in the rush to find Islamic recruits in the wake of the worst terrorist attacks on mainland Britain for a generation." SNIPPET: "In 2007 it emerged that up to eight police officers and civilian staff were suspected of links to extremist groups including al-Qaeda. Some are even believed to have attended terror training camps in Pakistan or Afghanistan. Their names featured on a secret list of alleged radicals said to...

Did MI5 kill Dr David Kelly? Just another crazy conspiracy theory? But, amid claims he wrote tell-all book that vanished after his death, it's one that refuses to go away By Sue Reid Last updated at 11:40 AM on 16th July 2009 The day Dr David Kelly took a short walk to his death in the Oxfordshire countryside, an unopened letter lay on the desk of his book-lined study. Sent from the heart of the British Government, the pages were marked 'personal' and threatened the world-renowned microbiologist with the sack if he ever publicly opened his mouth again. The letter...

"MI5 linked to arrest of Britons in Syria Spy agency investigated woman accused by Damascus of sending UK money to al-Qaida offshoot, says Labour peer" SNIPPET: "Relatives of Maryam Kallis and Yasser Ahmed say they have not been told the reasons for their arrests two months ago and are concerned they may be suffering severe mistreatment. The Syrian embassy in London has alleged that Kallis received funds from an individual "who resides in the UK" and conveyed them to "a terrorist network related to al-Qaida". The assertion suggests that the individual would have been investigated by MI5." SNIPPET: "Kallis, 36,...

A British agent left top secret information about covert operations on a bus in South America when she lost her handbag while on assignment. The MI6-trained agent left her handbag on a transit coach at El Dorado airport in Bogota, Colombia. Intelligence chiefs were forced to wind up operations and relocate dozens of agents and informants amid fears the device could fall into the hands of drugs barons. The incident, which was hushed up by the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca), the agent’s employer, is an embarrassment for the government.

With their long hair, loose ties and flared trousers, the Pupil Power radicals wanted to overthrow the oppression of the cane and the conformity of school uniforms. Special Branch and the Government saw them as pawns in a communist plot to undermine the nation between double maths and PE. Confidential police and Whitehall papers released under the Freedom of Information Act show the official concern at the rise of subversive pupil groups in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Thousands of boys and girls were recruited to the movement, leading to classroom strikes and violent protests. The Schools’ Action Union...

The number of terror plots targeting the UK has dropped over the past 18 months and the threat must no longer be 'hyped up', the head of MI5 said last night. In the first ever interview with a serving head of the Security Service, Jonathan Evans warned there was no room for complacency in the fight against Islamist extremism. But he claimed a series of high-profile convictions in the courts has had 'a chilling effect' on would-be terrorists. 'They are keeping their heads down,' he said. When Mr Evans started work as a spy 30 years ago, MI5 was a...

British-born NHS doctor Bilal Abdulla launched car bomb attacks on London and Glasgow despite having been identified as a terror suspect by MI5, it can be disclosed today. The 29-year-old, an Iraqi doctor born in Aylesbury, Bucks, plotted to bring murder and mayhem on an "indiscriminate" scale to London's West End and Glasgow airport. He was found guilty yesterday of conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions. However, it can be disclosed today that the Security Service had earlier identified Abdulla following a surveillance operation based around another group of radicals. Security sources said they had a name for...

The document, which was drawn up by the intelligence branch of the Ministry of Defence, MI5 and Special Branch, states that "some thousands" of extremists are active in the UK. They are predominantly UK-born and aged between 18 and 30, and many are believed to have been trained in overseas terrorist camps. Under the heading "International Terrorism", the report, which is marked "restricted" states: "For the foreseeable future the UK will continue to be a high-priority target for international terrorists aligned with al-Qaeda. It will face a threat from British nationals, including Muslim converts, and UK-based foreign terrorists, as...

ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Successful counter-terrorism can be described as a non-event. Nothing happens because we are successful in identifying people who are intent on committing an act or acts of terrorism, and manage to somehow intervene to prevent them from doing so. When we fail to identify and focus our efforts on the right people, however, bad things happen."

A former head of MI5 today describes the response to the September 11 2001 attacks on the US as a "huge overreaction" and says the invasion of Iraq influenced young men in Britain who turned to terrorism. In an interview with the Guardian, Stella Rimington calls al-Qaida's attack on the US "another terrorist incident" but not qualitatively different from any others. "That's not how it struck me. I suppose I'd lived with terrorist events for a good part of my working life and this was as far as I was concerned another one," she says. In common with Dame Eliza...

Ministers are considering spending up to £12 billion on a database to monitor and store the internet browsing habits, e-mail and telephone records of everyone in Britain. GCHQ, the government’s eavesdropping centre, has already been given up to £1 billion to finance the first stage of the project. Hundreds of clandestine probes will be installed to monitor customers live on two of the country’s biggest internet and mobile phone providers - thought to be BT and Vodafone. BT has nearly 5m internet customers. Ministers are braced for a backlash similar to the one caused by their ID cards programme. Dominic...

BRITAIN'S domestic intelligence agency MI5 is actively recruiting gay spies and wants its staff to be more open about their sexuality, the Financial Times has reported. The chief executive of Stonewall, a gay rights lobby group, told the business paper it had been hired by the Security Service - better known as MI5 - to help the agency encourage more gay applicants for positions. "Historically, public services were delivered by the man from the ministry, who was white and heterosexual and got the 4.30pm (train) back to Tunbridge Wells every afternoon,'' Ben Summerskill said. "This (move by MI5) is recognition...

British spying chief Alex Allan, the chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, has regained consciousness having been in a coma for 10 days. Mr Allan's committee collates information from MI5, MI6 and GCHQ and briefs the prime minister, ministers and officials on intelligence assessments on issues such as security, defence and foreign affairs.

The head of the Government's top spy committee is in a coma in hospital after falling mysteriously ill, it emerged today. Alex Allan, who chairs the Joint Intelligence Committee, was found collapsed at home on Monday and his condition is said to be critical. Scotland Yard denied speculation that he may have been the victim of an assassination attempt aimed at the heart of Britain's intelligence community. -snip- Mr Allan, who is responsible for assessing material produced by the UK's three main spy agencies, is one of Whitehall's most senior civil servants. As a close adviser of the Prime Minister...

SCHOOLCHILDREN as young as 13 are being "groomed" for terrorism by Islamic extremists in the heartland of the 7/7 suicide bombers, according to Britain's most senior police officer charged with countering radicalisation. Sir Norman Bettison, chief constable of West Yorkshire, said some bright children entering secondary school were picking up extremist messages from internet chat rooms and people who wanted to turn them into terrorists. His force has now identified at least 10 youngsters - including two 13-year-olds - as "vulnerable" and formally referred them to a programme to wean them away from radicalism. ..... "They are not picking up...

AN ALLEGED attempt to kill a former Russian spy who defected to Britain was being investigated by police last night. Oleg Gordievsky was admitted to a hospital in Guildford after falling ill in November last year. And yesterday he claimed he had been poisoned with the highly toxic metal thallium in a botched assassination attempt. Gordievsky, a KGB double agent who spied on Russia for British intelligence during the 1980s, claims he was targeted by a Russian assassin who visited him at his safe house in Surrey. The 69-year-old was unconscious for 34 hours after falling ill last year and...

Watch for the howls of protest to come, in which the possibility of Al-Qaeda's actually obtaining such viruses will be lost amid cries of "racism" and infringement of privacy, etc. "M15 in terrorist checks on 800 killer virus labs," by Jason Lewis in the Daily Mail (thanks to Sr. Soph):

Four police officers in Britain's top force are reportedly under close secret service surveillance after being identified as Al Qaeda spies, it emerged today. MI5 are said to have homed in on the sleeper agents passing secrets from Scotland Yard to the terror group only in recent weeks. The suspected spies are believed to have used methods similar to those employed by the IRA in the 1970s as they infiltrated the police and the Army in Northern Ireland. All four are understood to be Asians living in London and are feared to have links both with Islamic extremists in Britain...

According to a new report out of London, British domestic intelligence service MI-5 has begun investigating four potential al-Qaeda sleeper agents in high positions with Scotland Yard. The four men from southwest Asia have had access to very sensitive information on national-security efforts, including raids on suspected terrorist cells. MI-5 now suspects that they have kept AQ in the loop on British intel initiatives: All four are understood to be Asians living in London and are feared to have links both with Islamic extremists in Britain and worldwide terror groups - including al-Qaeda training camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan.MI5 chiefs...

Four British police officers are under surveillance after being identified as possible Al Qaeda spies, it is being reported. MI5 — Britain's equivalent to the CIA — discovered that the so-called "sleepers" — or agents under deep cover — were planted to keep Al Qaeda abreast of anti-terror raids planned by London's Metropolitan Police, According to the U.K.'s Daily Mail newspaper. Investigators are said to be closing in on the agents — believed to be of Asian descent and living in London — only in recent weeks. The suspects are said to have links to Islamic extremists in Britain and...

Al-Qaeda's white army of terror         Two and a half years on from the 7/7 attack on London, MI5 has identified a worrying new trend in Al-Qaeda recruits Picture: Phil Wilkinson     HUNDREDS of British non-Muslims have been recruited by al-Qaeda to wage war against the West, senior security sources warned last night. As many as 1,500 white Britons are believed to have converted to Islam for the purpose of funding, planning and carrying out surprise terror attacks inside the UK, according to one MI5 source. Lord Carlile, the Government's independent reviewer of anti-terrorism legislation,...

The most senior British intelligence official, appointed yesterday to oversee MI5, MI6 and GCHQ, has a website revealing his home address, phone numbers and private photographs of himself, family and friends. Alex Allan, 56, is the new head of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) with access to sensitive documents and information regarding anti-terrorist operations. But the details on his website, described by a security official as "a serious breach", reveal him as a devoted fan of the American rock band Grateful Dead and a keen cyclist who once windsurfed to work in Westminster during a train strike. The security breach,...

When the top spymaster at Britain's supersecret MI5 comes out from the shadows to warn that things are dire and getting worse in jihadland, it's prudent to be very afraid of what tomorrow may bring. Jonathan Evans, in an extraordinary public appearance, reports his outfit is watching more than 2,000 terrorism supporters in the U.K., homegrown and otherwise, a number that is up exponentially over a year ago. And building. It's clear, Evans says, that Al Qaeda masterminds are recruiting hordes of disaffected youngsters and have "a clear determination to mount terrorist attacks." Pooh, predictably yawns a member of Britain's...

LONDON - Extremists are grooming children and teenagers to plot terrorist attacks against Britain, the director of the domestic spy agency said Monday. But Jonathan Evans, making his first public speech since becoming director-general of Britain's MI5 agency in April, said vital resources needed to tackle terrorism are being diverted to counter the espionage threat from Russia and China. "Terrorists are methodically and intentionally targeting young people and children in this country," Evans said, according to a text of his speech in Manchester, England. "They are radicalizing, indoctrinating and grooming young, vulnerable people to carry out acts of terrorism." Testimony...

MI5 says Saudi king's 7/7 claim is 'a myth' By Robert Winnett and James Kirkup Last Updated: 9:03pm GMT 29/10/2007 The intelligence services have become embroiled in a rare public row with the Saudi government by describing comments about the 7/7 London bombings made by the Saudi king as a "myth". King Abdullah, currently on a state visit to Britain, said in an interview that his country had "sent information before the terrorist attacks" which was not acted upon and which "may have been able to avert the tragedy". King Abdullah accepted that al-Qa'eda remains a problem in his country...

Terrorists' suicide attack on British embassy plot foiled By JASON LEWIS - More by this author » Last updated at 23:32pm on 8th September 2007 Terrorists plotting a suicide attack against the British Embassy in Denmark were rounded up last week as they put the finishing touches to a devastating bomb. The men are believed to be the remnants of the so-called "007" terror network, co-ordinated by London based Islamic militants using a series of secret internet sites. Senior intelligence sources say the group planned to target Western embassies in Copenhagen with the British and American missions at the top...

The secret file that MI5 kept on the author from 1929 until his death in 1950 is being declassified Tuesday by the National Archives. It reveals that in contrast to the fictional "Big Brother," the cruel and all-seeing secret police of Orwell's classic "1984," MI5 took a surprisingly benign view of the writer. Orwell savaged the totalitarianism of Stalin's Russia in "Animal Farm" and "1984." But he was also a socialist who railed against inequality in earlier works such as "Down and Out in Paris and London" and "The Road to Wigan Pier." The documents show Orwell _ whose real...

For years, David Shayler has been a thorn in the flesh of Britain's intelligence establishment. An MI5 officer for six years, he went to jail after leaking secret documents to the press. In the last ten years he's been a novelist, a writer on security matters, and a political activist. But his latest role may be the most talked about yet - that of mystic. Sally Gould went to meet him. In his first broadcast interview on his spirituality, David Shayler has told More4 News: "What I'd say to people is: Do I look mentally ill? Do I sound mentally...

Intelligence service draws up surveillance plans after ministers request US to release ‘enemy combatants’ with British residencyMI5 is to draw up detailed contingency plans for the return of five Guantanamo Bay inmates to Britain, including one accused of having trained at al-Qaeda camps to carry out terrorist attacks in the West. David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, and Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, announced a policy U-turn yesterday by formally asking the US for the release of the five from Camp Delta. The men will be placed under surveillance and could have terrorist control orders imposed on them if they are...

FREED terror suspect Mohamed Haneef was regularly in contact with Islamic radicals under surveillance by British spy agency MI5. Highly classified intelligence documents leaked yesterday reveal the former Gold Coast doctor – still considered a person of interest by British and Australian investigators – made contact using medical chat rooms, international phone cards and phone boxes. The intelligence suggests this was to avoid detection and suspicion. Leaked dossier The leaked dossier, part of the information that formed a key plank in Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews' decision to revoke Dr Haneef's visa, alleges the Indian-born doctor spoke to a number...

SEVERELY burned Glasgow Airport attack suspect Kafeel Ahmed is being kept alive on the orders of MI5, senior police sources have told Scotland on Sunday. Ahmed has third degree burns to 90% of his body and virtually no chance of surviving but insiders claim the security services are keeping him alive to avoid a backlash from radical Muslims. The 27-year-old doctor is on life support at Glasgow Royal Infirmary but two separate police sources - as well as medical staff - claim the decision to keep him alive has more to do with politics than clinical judgment. One insider estimated...

A SUSPECTED Al-Qaeda operative who is believed by MI5 to have played a key role in the events leading up to the July 21 failed bombings is at liberty and living in east London. Mohammed al-Ghabra, a 27-year-old Syrian who has been given British citizenship, is said by security sources to have arranged for the leader of the failed 21/7 London suicide attacks to travel to Pakistan for terrorist training. The sources said al-Ghabra instructed a second terrorist suspect to facilitate a four-month trip to Pakistan by Muktar Said Ibrahim, the leader of the July 21 gang. Ibrahim learnt how...

Military Intelligence Chief Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that dozens, if not hundreds, of al-Qaeda operative arrived in Lebanon lately. "Those who can be harmed by al-Qaeda operatives are UNIFIL and western interests in Lebanon," Yadlin said referring to the United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon.

Al Qaeda fanatics working in police (but they don't dare sack them) By STEPHEN WRIGHT - Last updated at 01:36am on 7th July 2007 Up to eight police officers and civilian staff are suspected of links to extremist groups including Al Qaeda. Some are even believed to have attended terror training camps in Pakistan or Afghanistan. Their names feature on a secret list of alleged radicals said to be working in the Metropolitan and other forces. Scroll down for more Up to eight police officers and civilian staff are suspected of links to extremist groups including Al Qaeda, headed...

There are many reasons why the U.S. has chosen its current strategy in the fight against terrorism. The most crucial of them were underlined last weekend, thanks to events in the UK. The world was fixated on Britain, watching with fascination and a sense of breathlessness, in the hope that yet another shoe would fail to drop, that there would be no other car attack, that the Jihadis have played out their hand for the moment. Two car bombs were found in London, professionally placed, the first discovered not by police but an ambulance crew. Evidently the bombs were triggered (by cell phones) but...

Several doctors arrested over the London and Glasgow car bomb plot were on the files of MI5, it was disclosed last night.At least one was on a Home Office watch list after being identified by security services - meaning their travel in and out of Britain was monitored by immigration officers. advertisement Others were found to be on the MI5 database, which contains an estimated 2,000 suspected jihadists or supporters of terrorism.Whitehall sources said they had not been involved in previous plots, but were "people who knew people'' who were under observation.The fact that they were "on the radar" was...

Bomb suspects on MI5 files By Philip Johnston, Richard Edwards and Duncan Gardham Last Updated: 11:32pm BST 03/07/2007 Several doctors arrested over the London and Glasgow car bomb plot were on the files of MI5, it was disclosed last night. At least one was on a Home Office watch list after being identified by security services - meaning their travel in and out of Britain was monitored by immigration officers. Others were found to be on the MI5 database, which contains an estimated 2,000 suspected jihadists or supporters of terrorism. Whitehall sources said they had not been involved in previous...

LONDON – A surveillance team from Britain's MI5 intelligence service has learned North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is to undergo surgery for a life-threatening heart condition. The discovery emerged after what the Security Service calls "routine surveillance of certain nations." North Korea has a small embassy in the north of London, housed in a red brick building where its staff work and live. News of the 65-year-old dictator's condition reveals he has cardiomyopathy, a serious heart disease that would usually require open-heart surgery. But Kim's physical condition is further complicated because he is massively overweight and only able to walk...

Second World War MI5 documents revealed MI5 has been criticised for releasing documents that reveal the identities of agents serving in the Second World War. A large number of documents dating from the Second World War have been released by MI5 after more than 60 years. Released to the National Archives, the files contain details about the real identities of a number of spies and double agents working during the war. The documents relate to a camp in Ham, Surrey, that was used to hold and interrogate Nazi spies, many of whom later became double agents working for British intelligence....

MI5 adopts paedophile-tracking tactics for Muslim extremists April 16, 2007 Michael Evans, Defence Editor MI5 is adopting tactics used by the police to keep tabs on paedophiles and other sex offenders to monitor the activities of known or suspected Islamic extremists, The Times has learnt. The threat from radicalised young Muslims is growing at such a rate that MI5 has realised that it needs the help of police officers on the streets to help it keep a check on extremists in their areas. The police keep track of known paedophiles by collating sightings of them and noting whom they meet...

ISLAMIC terror cells in Britain have been instructed to carry out a series of kidnappings and beheadings of the kind allegedly planned by the nine terrorist suspects arrested in Birmingham last week. The “strategic” assassination instruction was issued by Al-Qaeda’s leaders in Pakistan and Iraq to dozens of their followers in this country. It was uncovered by MI5 last autumn, senior security sources say. As a result police are on standby for multiple attempts by terrorists to kidnap and then behead people across Britain. MI5 is conducting a counter-terrorism surveillance operation to prevent such an attack. The alleged attempt to...

Excerpt - LONDON (Reuters) - Police arrested two men in northern England under the country's security laws on Tuesday and were searching five properties. The men, aged 25 and 29, were arrested at separate locations in Halifax at about 6 a.m. by detectives from London's Counter Terrorism Command and local West Yorkshire officers under the Terrorism Act 2000, police said in statement. Police were examining four properties in Halifax and an address in north London. The arrested men are being taken to the capital for questioning later on Tuesday. ~ snip ~

MI5 to send out terror alerts via email By Philip Johnston, Home Affairs Editor Last Updated: 8:55pm GMT 08/01/2007 MI5 is to send emails alerting the public to the prospect of an imminent terror attack. From tomorrow, the security service's website will provide a free registration service for those wanting the latest information about the threat level. Subscribers entering their email address will receive a message with the words ''MI5 news update'' whenever there is a change on the website. This could include a warning that the threat of an attack is higher or lower, though given the number of...

The head of MI5 has resigned weeks before full details of the role of her agents in a surveillance operation involving two of the July 7 bombers are due to be revealed. Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, whose organisation has been at the forefront of the war on terror, is leaving after more than four years as director general. Dame Eliza, 58, said the date of her departure after 33 years with the security service had been agreed with the former Home Secretary Charles Clarke, who was sacked in May. She has maintained an unprecedentedly high profile in the fight against terrorism,...

Head of MI5 quits her post By Paul Willis and PA Last Updated: 7:17am GMT 15/12/2006 The head of MI5 is to leave her post after four and a half years. Eliza Manningham-Buller at the CBI conference in November Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, who has been director general of the security service since October 2002, said she had been planning the move since before last year's terrorist attacks on the London Underground. Her replacement will be appointed by the Home Secretary John Reid in the New Year. The daughter of a former Conservative Lord Chancellor, Dame Eliza became only the second...

British Muslims volunteering to fight against coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan are being sent back to Britain to become al-Qaeda "sleeper" agents, The Sunday Telegraph has learned. MI5 agents believe that young Asian men, who have been trained to take part in the so-called "global jihad" in al-Qaeda camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan, are now regarded as too valuable an asset to be used fighting British and American troops. MI5 and MI6 are working on the assumption that they are being ordered to return to their communities in Britain with instructions to establish secret, autonomous cells and to conduct...

Excerpt - Scotland Yard is investigating the attempted murder of a top Russian defector poisoned by political enemies in London. Alexander Litvinenko, an ex-KGB colonel who fled the current Russian regime to claim asylum in Britain, is under armed police guard in hospital. Sources have confirmed that the Russian was taken suddenly and dangerously ill on November 1 while investigating the recent murder of dissident Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya. Mr Litvinenko was poisoned following a clandestine meeting with an associate at a sushi bar in London's Piccadilly. ~ snip ~

Tony Blair has said he supports MI5's assessment that Britain is facing the threat of multiple terror plots. He said the dangers were "very real" and he spoke of "poisonous propaganda" warping the minds of young people. MI5's boss has said she knows of 30 terror plots threatening the UK and revealed that her staff had 1,600 individuals under surveillance. Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller said attacks could be chemical or nuclear and al-Qaeda was linked to many plots. The prime minister said the threat had "grown up over a generation" and Dame Eliza warned that it was "serious" and "growing". Hard...