GCHQ Translator 'Revealed Secrets' (US Spies On UN)

A former employee of GCHQ, the signals intelligence agency, was charged yesterday with leaking details of an Anglo-American operation to eavesdrop on members of the United Nations Security Council in the run-up to the war in Iraq.

Katharine Gun, 29, who was sacked from her job as a translator with the agency, is accused of passing classified information to an unauthorised person under Section 1 (1) of the Official Secrets Act.

The charge follows the publication of an article in The Observer in early March disclosing a request from the Americans for GCHQ's help in intercepting diplomatic traffic to help predict the outcome of any vote on Iraq at the UN. It is understood Mrs Gun's lawyers will not dispute that she was the source of the article but will argue that she was justified in disclosing the information.

Mrs Gun, who was dismissed in June, said in a statement: "Any disclosures that may have been made were justified on the following grounds: because they exposed serious illegality and wrongdoing on the part of the US government, who attempted to subvert our own security services; and to prevent widescale death and casualties among ordinary Iraqi people and UK forces in the course of an illegal war.

"No one has suggested (nor could they) that any payment was sought or given for any alleged disclosures. I have only ever followed my conscience." Mrs Gun is being represented by the civil rights group Liberty, which conducted the defence of David Shayler, the former MI5 officer jailed for passing secrets to a newspaper.

The case will inevitably cast light on the Government's conduct in the run-up to the war, with Liberty hoping to extract details of the legal advice offered to the Cabinet by the Attorney General. But, as in the Shayler case, the terms of Section 1 require the prosecution to prove only that information was passed to an unauthorised person, regardless of motive.

The Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in Cheltenham is by far the largest agency in Britain's intelligence community but there have been few prosecutions of staff. Its last great embarrassment was the discovery of the Soviet spy Geoffrey Prime in 1982.

Mrs Gun was arrested in March, shortly after the publication of the article, which claimed that GCHQ's sister organisation in the United States, the National Security Agency, had asked for a "surge" in eavesdropping on UN delegations from Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Bulgaria, Guinea and Pakistan, which were members of the 15-strong Security Council.

The memo requesting the surge was said to have been written by Frank Koza, defence chief of staff (regional targets) at the NSA.

Mrs Gun, from Cheltenham, was charged at the town's police station by officers of the Metropolitan Police Special Branch.

A spokesman for Liberty said: "It is clear that the Government must be uncertain about the wisdom of this prosecution. It has taken six months to decide to proceed to charge."

Shaun Williams, the director of corporate affairs for Guardian Newspapers, the parent company of The Observer, said: "The story we published exposed serious illegality and wrongdoing on the part of the US government. It was a story of enormous public interest at a time of extreme international tension which was followed up worldwide."

Mrs Gun was granted bail and will appear at Bow Street magistrates' court on Nov 27.

Katharine Gun, 29, who was sacked from her job as a translator with the agency, is accused of passing classified information

The liberals are right--Guns are dangerous!

"Katharine Gun, 29, who was sacked from her job as a translator with the agency, is accused of passing classified information to an unauthorised person under Section 1 (1) of the Official Secrets Act"

Ahhh - to go back to those days where slimey pieces of S**T like this simply had an accident - like their fishing boat blowing up - a fall down into the depths of an outhouse - choacking on a powdered sugar donut.....

That made it so much neater and gave the next slime ball something to think about if he/SHE thought about becoming a TRAITOR.

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