Annie Machon
Annie Machon (* 1968 ) is a former employee of the British Intelligence Service Security Service (MI5), which together with her former colleagues and today's journalists David Shayler as whistleblower operated illegal operations within the MI5.
Career
Machon was recruited by MI5 after graduating from Cambridge University in 1991. There she first worked in the department for "counter-subversion (F2)" (for example: counter-espionage and counter-revolution), then she was employed to investigate terrorism in the Northern Ireland conflict , later in global counter-terrorism, until she and her partner Shayler in 1997 left the service to reveal internals.
As a whistleblower
After the initial idealism , clear differences quickly emerged between the ideal situation you had imagined and political reality:
“We were basically trying to track down old communists, Trotskyists and fascists, which to us seemed like a waste of time. The Berlin Wall had come down several years before. We were both horrified that during the 1992 election we were summarizing files on anybody who stood for parliament. We were also horrified by the scale of the investigations. "
“Basically we were trying to track down the old communists , Trotskyists and fascists , which seemed to us to be a waste of time. The Berlin Wall had already fallen for a number of years, and we were both appalled by the extent of the investigations in which we kept files on everyone who ran for election in the 1992 election. "
Operational discrepancies were also evident to Shayler and Machon:
"They had all these old managers who had been there for donkey's years. They were caught in the wrong era - instead of dealing with static targets, they had a mobile threat in the IRA and they just couldn't hack it. It was a nightmare, especially because there were so many agencies involved - MI5, Special Branch, the RUC, GCHQ. They all had their own interests. That was why Bishopsgate happened. "
“They had all of these old leaders who had been in these positions for ages, trapped in the wrong era - instead of static targets, we had the threat of the mobile IRA and they just didn't get it. It was a nightmare, especially given the multitude of services involved - MI5, Special Branch , RUC , GCHQ . They all had their own interests - that's why Bishopsgate happened. "
After 14 of Machon's colleagues gave up their activities as spies instead of the average number of four layoffs per year in 1997, Shayler sold details of the above-mentioned transactions for 40,000 pounds sterling to the British daily Mail on Sunday . In addition, he published information on:
- secret files on members of the government who were entrusted with the supervision of the secret service
- deliberate lies to the intelligence agency
- illegal wiretapping of journalists
- the knowingly false convictions of the 1994 terrorist attack on the Israeli embassy in London
- the attempted attack by MI6 on Muammar al-Gaddafi
“It was very scary. Dave is someone who thinks he should fight for what he believes in. And I knew what he was talking about. I knew he had to have the support against the massed forces of darkness. "
“It was very scary. Dave believes in fighting for his ideals and I knew what he was talking about. I knew that he needed support against these massive dark forces. "
The night before the publication, the two fled together to Utrecht and from there to a rural area in France . The return to Great Britain linked Shayler to the promise to refrain from prosecution and the guarantee to investigate the allegations publicly, however, met with no interest on the part of the authorities. During a later stay in Paris, he was arrested on the basis of an extradition request , which was rejected by a French judge because the extradition was politically motivated.
The couple returned to London in 2000, and while Shayler was indicted, Machon remained free. The judge, however, confirmed Shayler's noble motives, and the prison sentence for him was six months.
After 14 years of relationship, the couple separated.
literature
- Annie Machon: Spies, Lies and Whistleblowers: MI 5, MI 6 and the Shayler Affair. The Book Guild 2005, ISBN 978-1-85776-952-4 .
Web links
- anniemachon.ch - Official website
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Spy who loved me , The Guardian website. Retrieved November 24, 2013.
- ↑ How the bullying State crushed him , Daily Mail - site. Retrieved November 24, 2013.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Machon, Annie |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British spy, whistleblower |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1968 |