International Law

Sunday Telegraph - British Jobs For British Spies ? MI5 overwhelmed, or lobbying for even more resources ?

The Sunday Telegraph has two stories about Foreign Spies in the United Kingdom, which, if true, raises serious Questions about the current performance of MI5 the Security Service., claiming that the traditional espionage threat against the UK is not being dealt with because of the resources diverted to anti-terrorism investigations.

Just as seriously, the Sunday Telegraph seems to be claiming that a Foreign Intelligence agency, the CIA is actively snooping on, and recruiting informers and "intelligence assets" here on the streets of the United Kingdom, outside of the direct control of the British intelligence agencies and outside of the legal powers and protections under which they are supposed to work.

• Is MI5 the Security Service lobbying for more money and resources i.e."British Jobs for British Spies"

• Why has the CIA been allowed to spy on British citizens, directly here in the United Kingdom, independently of the British intelligence agencies ?

• What happened to British Sovereignty ?

• How can we be sure that they are not using their usual tactics of entrapment or perhaps torture, here on British soil, things which we are supposed to believe that UK intelligence agencies do not indulge in, but which US ones certainly do when operating outside of the United States ?

• How can we be sure that the US agents, especially if "they don't tell us the names of all their sources" are not wastefully duplicating the work already done by the British agencies ?

• How can we be sure that both British and US agents are not being played off against each other by their informers and "intelligence assets" ?

• What guarantee is there that the US agents are all really targeting Al Quaeda etc. in the UK, and are not also indulging in their own economic and political espionage and insider trading etc ?

• Has Home Secretary Jacqui Smith illegally conspired to evade the provisions of the various Acts of Parliament which are supposed to regulate British intelligence agency operations, by allowing the CIA to operate illegally here in the UK ?

• Will the Intelligence and Security Committee under their new chairman Kim Howells bother to investigate this dire situation, or will they just publish Yet Another Anodyne Censored Annual Report ?
  

Britain under attack from 20 foreign spy agencies including France and Germany

Spies from 20 foreign intelligence agencies, including Nato allies such as France and Germany, are attempting to steal Britain's most sensitive secrets.

By Sean Rayment, Security Correspondent
Last Updated: 9:05PM GMT 07 Feb 2009

Russia and China have been identified as having the most active spy networks operating in the UK but it is understood that some European countries are also involved in espionage attacks against Britain.

Details of the spy plots were revealed in a government security document obtained by The Sunday Telegraph which states that Britain is "high priority espionage target" for 20 foreign intelligence agencies.

Full post as published by Spy Blog on February 08, 2009 (boomark / email).