UK high spy alert

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HIGH SPY ALERT Feb 29 2004


Warning as UK targeted by foreign agents

By Rupert Hamer


BRITAIN'S spy masters have issued a red alert warning to the armed forces, police and Whitehall mandarins after a series of damaging security breaches by foreign agents.

Classified documents seen by the Sunday Mirror reveal several worrying incidents in the last few weeks with Russian spies even getting information which enabled them to monitor all UK military flights. It led to a Russian with suspected links to al-Qaeda being detained and then expelled.Now a secret document entitled "Espionage Threat" has been circulated to key personnel, warning that they are being actively targeted by foreign powers, many with terrorist links.
It lists a series of recent incidents, including a spy ring from South East Asia trying to recruit a senior police officer, and a Middle East intelligence agent pressuring a top civil servant to leak information. Another Whitehall civil servant, originally from China, was told it would "help his family" back home if he provided Beijing agents with intelligence. And Russian agents used the internet to gain information on senior British military figures and target them, as well as gaining access to UK military traffic movements.

"No doubt there are many more (incidents) of which we are unaware," says the document, written by Army intelligence officers from information provided by M15 and its sister organistion the Secret Intelligence Service. It goes on: "Government departments and public servants continue to be of interest to foreign intelligence services from a surprisingly wide range of countries." The report says it is a mistake to believe the espionage threat ended with the Cold War, and that military personnel, civil servants and police officers of all ranks are still being targeted.

"With the spread of information technology and the build-up of electronic databases, almost everyone with access to a networked computer is in a position to provide information to foreign intelligence services," the document adds. Last night a security source said: "The police, military and civil service have effectively been put on red alert. These incidents are embarrassing as there is an ever-present threat from al-Qaeda.

"Information, particularly of military flights, could have devastating consequences. The threat of a September 11-style attack here is a real one and the security services are becoming increasingly concerned about leaks." The revelations come just three days after MP Clare Short revealed that Britain spied on United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan in the run-up to war in Iraq.

The former Cabinet Minister's bombshell came after secret service whistleblower Katharine Gun had her case against her dropped at the Old Bailey. Gun, 29, a translator at the GCHQ spy listening centre in Cheltenham, was charged with revealing secrets about the build-up to the Iraq war. She had leaked an email from US security services to their British counterparts, asking the UK to spy on UN officials from Angola, Cameroon, Chile and Pakistan.

But the case was dropped at the last minute after her defence team demanded to see confidential papers assessing if the invasion of Iraq was legal.

ESPIONAGE THREAT REMINDER.

Government departments continue to be of interest to foreign intelligence agencies from a wide range of countries. Military personel and civil servants are being deliberately targeted by foreign intelligence officers.

Agents from South East Asia attempted to recruit a senior police officer into their spy ring. A high-ranking London-based civil servant was approached by a Middle Eastern intelligence officer who tried to persuade him to leak information.

Chinese intelligence officers approached another Whitehall civil servant - originally from China - and told him it would "help his family" back home if he began providing them with intelligence.

Russian agents successfully began monitoring the movements of military aircraft in the UK. Also used the internet to target military experts with access to secret information.

SECRETS OF GCHQ

GCHQ - which is nicknamed the Doughnut - is Britain's most secret building. The "spy city" houses more than 4,000 experts - and the high-tech equipment they use to eavesdrop on millions of people all over the world. Two-thirds of Britain's intelligence comes from the HQ, near Cheltenham, through the monitoring of phone calls, e-mails, faxes and even coded messages between terrorists.

During the Vietnam War GCHQ tracked messages between America's communist foes. And it helped Britain win the Falklands War by being able to find out the exact number of Argentinian troops who had invaded the island.

BETRAYED..BY BRITS

ANTHONY BLUNT

THE Queen's art adviser spied for the KGB during the Cold War. He and fellow spies Kim Philby and Donald Maclean were responsible for countless deaths of British agents. He died in disgrace in 1983 aged 76 after being stripped of his Knighthood.

JOHN VASSALL

THE Admiralty clerk was blackmailed into working for the KGB in the 1950s after being photo graphed at a homosexual party. Vassall, who was working for the British Embassy in Moscow, was sent to prison for 18 years.

MELITA NORWOOD

SHE worked as a secretary - and betrayed Britain for 40 years by passing atomic secrets to the Russians. Her activities came to light in 1999 when she was 87 and the Attorney General decided not to prosecute because of her age.

GEOFFREY PRIME

AN RAF Sergeant who joined GCHQ in 1968. He confessed to his wife in 1981 that he was both a spy and a paedophile. His wife told the police - and in 1983 he was sentenced to 35 years for espionage and three for sexual offences.


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