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''Spycatcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer'' (1987) is a memoir written by Peter Wright, former
MI5 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...
officer and Assistant Director, and co-author
Paul Greengrass Paul Greengrass (born 13 August 1955) is a British film director, film producer, screenwriter and former journalist. He specialises in dramatisations of historic events and is known for his signature use of hand-held cameras. His early film ' ...
. He drew on his own experiences and research into the history of the British intelligence community. Published first in Australia, the book was banned in England (but not Scotland) due to its allegations about government policy and incidents. These efforts ensured the book's notoriety, and it earned considerable profit for Wright. In 2021, the Cabinet Office was still blocking
freedom of information Freedom of information is freedom of a person or people to publish and consume information. Access to information is the ability for an individual to seek, receive and impart information effectively. This sometimes includes "scientific, Indigeno ...
requests for files on the ''Spycatcher'' affair despite the rule that documents should be released after 30 years.


Content

In ''Spycatcher'', Wright says that one of his assignments was to unmask a Soviet
mole Mole (or Molé) may refer to: Animals * Mole (animal) or "true mole", mammals in the family Talpidae, found in Eurasia and North America * Golden moles, southern African mammals in the family Chrysochloridae, similar to but unrelated to Talpida ...
in MI5, who he says was
Roger Hollis Roger is a given name, usually masculine, and a surname. The given name is derived from the Old French personal names ' and '. These names are of Germanic origin, derived from the elements ', ''χrōþi'' ("fame", "renown", "honour") and ', ' ...
, a former MI5 Director General. His book also discusses other candidates who may have or may not have been the mole. He explores the history of MI5 by chronicling its principal officers, from the 1930s to his time in service. Wright also tells of the
MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...
plot to assassinate President Nasser during the Suez Crisis; of joint MI5- CIA plotting against Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson (who had been secretly accused by Soviet defector
Anatoliy Golitsyn Anatoliy Mikhaylovich Golitsyn CBE ( Russian: Анатолий Михайлович Голицын; August 25, 1926 – December 29, 2008) was a Soviet KGB defector and author of two books about the long-term deception strategy of the KGB lead ...
of being a
KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
agent); and of MI5's eavesdropping on high-level Commonwealth conferences. Wright examines the techniques of intelligence services, exposes their ethics, notably their "eleventh commandment", "Thou shalt not get caught." He described many MI5 electronic technologies (some of which he developed), for instance, allowing clever spying into rooms, and identifying the frequency to which a superhet receiver is tuned. In the afterword, he said that he wrote the book chiefly to work to regain compensation for losses of significant pension income when the British government ruled his pension for earlier work in
GCHQ Government Communications Headquarters, commonly known as GCHQ, is an intelligence and security organisation responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance (IA) to the government and armed forces of the Uni ...
was not transferable.


Publication and trial

Wright wrote ''Spycatcher'' in
Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...
, after his retirement from MI5. He first attempted publication of his memoirs in 1985. The British government immediately obtained a court order banning publication in the UK, but the order applied only in the United Kingdom, and the book continued to be available elsewhere. In September 1987, the UK government applied for similar orders to prevent publication in Australia, but lawyer
Malcolm Turnbull Malcolm Bligh Turnbull (born 24 October 1954) is an Australian former politician and businessman who served as the 29th prime minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. Turnbull grad ...
representing the publisher, successfully resisted the application, as he did on appeal in June 1988. English newspapers attempting proper reporting about ''Spycatcher''s principal allegations were served
gag order A gag order (also known as a gagging order or suppression order) is an order, typically a legal order by a court or government, restricting information or comment from being made public or passed onto any unauthorized third party. The phrase may ...
s; on persisting, they were tried for contempt of court. These charges were eventually dropped. Throughout all this, the book continued to be sold in Scotland; moreover, Scottish newspapers were not subject to any English gag order, and continued to report on the affair. Quantities of the book easily reached English purchasers from Scotland, while other copies were smuggled into England from Australia and elsewhere. A notable television report at the time featured a reporter flying to Australia, and returning to England with ten copies of the book, which he declared to Heathrow airport's customs officers. After some discussion, he was allowed to take the books into England, as the customs service had not been told to confiscate them. In mid-1987, a High Court judge lifted the ban on English newspaper reportage on the book. In late July, the
Law Lords Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, commonly known as Law Lords, were judges appointed under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 to the British House of Lords, as a committee of the House, effectively to exercise the judicial functions of the House of ...
again barred reporting Wright's allegations. ''
The Daily Mirror ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
'' published upside-down photographs of the three Law Lords, with the caption 'You Fools'. British editions of ''
The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...
'' ran a blank page with a boxed explanation that Eventually, in 1988, the book was cleared for legitimate sale when the Law Lords acknowledged that overseas publication meant it contained no secrets. However, Wright was barred from receiving royalties from the sale of the book in the United Kingdom. In November 1991, the
European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that ...
ruled that the British government had breached the
European Convention of Human Rights The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is an international convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by th ...
in gagging its newspapers. The accuracy of various allegations made in the book by Wright was questioned in a 1993 review of ''Spycatcher'' published by the Center for the Study of Intelligence, an in-house think tank for the CIA. While admitting (on page 42) that the book included "factual data", the document stated that it was also "filled with nspecifiederrors, exaggerations, bogus ideas, and self-inflation". The book has sold more than two million copies. In 1995, Wright died a millionaire from proceeds of his book.


See also

*
Cambridge Five The Cambridge Spy Ring was a ring of spies in the United Kingdom that passed information to the Soviet Union during World War II and was active from the 1930s until at least into the early 1950s. None of the known members were ever prosecuted ...
*
Julia Pirie Julia Pirie (8 July 1918 – 2 September 2008) was a British spy working for MI5 from the 1950s through her retirement in the 1990s. She was initially recruited to and primarily involved in spying on the Communist Party of Great Britain. In 1978, ...
* Streisand effect


References


Literature

*{{cite journal , last1=Burnet , first1=David , last2=Thomas , first2=Richard , date=Summer 1989 , title=Spycatcher: The Commodification of Truth , journal= Journal of Law and Society , volume=16 , number=2 , pages=210–224 , doi= 10.2307/1410360 , jstor= 1410360


External links

* ECtHR judgments in case
Sunday Times ''v. UK (No. 2)''
an
Observer and Guardian ''v. UK''
1987 non-fiction books Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights Censorship in the United Kingdom European Court of Human Rights cases involving the United Kingdom Heinemann (publisher) books Works about the Secret Intelligence Service Works subject to a lawsuit Censored books British autobiographies Collaborative autobiographies