[…] at the time of writing Trimble’s long term survival looks very much in doubt. Interestingly, the diehards’ explanation of Trimble’s treachery is that he is an M15 agent! One last point of interest: McDonald reveals the identities of a key group of advisers that Trimble has gathered around him. Ruth Dudley Edwards, the historian […]
Responsibilities, old boy The Big Breach Richard Tomlinson Cutting Edge, Edinburgh, 2000, £9.99 I found it hard to ‘see’ this because so much of its contents have been published in the media. There have been some changes – names altered – since the newspaper versions; and I am told that the original hardback version … Read more
Denis McShane Clarendon Press, Oxford, £37.50 The origins of the Cold War in Europe has been a major battle ground now for nearly 40 years. The first version of the story, written while the Cold War was still going on and produced as part of the ideological struggle, was a simple folk tale of evil … Read more
[…] be depressed that senior police personnel could be so far off the pace? How should we react to the reported recent death of Force Research Unit (FRU) agent Brian Nelson in the midst of the reaction to the publication of the summary of the Stevens Report? (1) Was this tidying-up by a murderous state? […]
[…] the Munster and Leinster Bank to handle funds from the North for weapons purchases. Having drawn a blank at weapons supplies from America, and uncovered an MI6 agent called Captain Peter Markham-Randall who came to Dublin posing as an arms dealer, Northern representatives began negotiating with a Hamburg arms dealer called Otto Schleuter and, […]
[…] of activity around current political questions. The success of Brian Crozier (transnational security) has already been discussed.” Der Speigel (Spring 1982) noted that Crozier was a CIA agent for several years. Moreover, none of his activities are unknown to the agency in Langley. He is acquainted with most important former members of western intelligence […]
[…] with photocopied police and intelligence files on the IRA, and we have learned that the UDA’s ‘intelligence officer’ in the 1980s, Brian Nelson, was an Army Intelligence agent, this is a pretty stupid line to defend. Nonetheless this line is at the heart of both of the Bruce and Urban books. Urban is an […]
[…] upon any sensitive operational techniques of the security and intelligence services, and in particular upon their sources of information, including the identity of any officer, contact or agent.’ After the House of Lords ruling (see below), Liberty is taking the issue of whether the Official Secrets Act 1989 is compatible with the ECHR to […]
The Diana inquest – the people’s verdict? Well we now know who didn’t do it. It wasn’t the Royals. Not that they and their associates don’t have past form when it comes to helping family members into the next world. George V was given a fatal injection on his deathbed in order that news of … Read more
[…] functioned as an army intelligence officer during Vietnam, turning to civilian spookery in the late 70s. In 1982 he met Oliver North, who posed as a CIA agent named John Cathey. North coveted Reed’s Piper turboprop airplane for use in the contra war. Reed was asked to give up the plane, report it as […]
