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Wife blows new British spy chief's cover online
The Times of India ^ | 6 Jul 2009, 0011 hrs IST | The Times of India

Posted on 07/05/2009 1:46:06 PM PDT by MyTwoCopperCoins

LONDON: He’s the spy who came in from the beach.

Holiday snapshots and family details about the newly appointed head of Britain’s MI6 intelligence agency have been removed from a social networking page after a newspaper told the government about them.

Pictures from the social networking website published in the Mail newspaper show John Sawers posing with his children, wearing a Santa hat and playing Frisbee on a beach. The paper said the information was posted by Sawers’ wife on the site. It included vacation photos, details about the couple’s three children and the location of their London home.

Shelley Sawers’ page has been removed from the site, although a cached page can still be viewed that shows a picture of the spy chief’s wife.

Some politicians called the details a security lapse — but others said they revealed nothing but a few mildly embarrassing domestic details.

“It’s not a state secret that he wears Speedo swimming trunks,” said foreign secretary David Miliband. “For goodness’ sake, let’s grow up.”

The Foreign Office would not comment further, but Conservative lawmaker Patrick Mercer, who heads Parliament’s counterterrorism subcommittee, said the revelations left Sawers open “to criticism and blackmail”.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: britain; espionage; mi6; spy; wife
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins

That’s what you get when you marry a dingbat!


21 posted on 07/05/2009 2:28:18 PM PDT by My hearts in London - Everett (There is a demand today for men who can make wrong appear right. Terrence, c. 160 B.C.)
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To: DGHoodini

I had an acquaintance who was planning a visit to England last time I saw him. I made a point not to caution him against introducing himself with a smile, a proffered hand, and saying “Hi. I’m Randy”.

I was waiting for a good story or two to come of it.


22 posted on 07/05/2009 2:28:25 PM PDT by Riley (The Fourth Estate is the Fifth Column.)
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins

I don’t see the problem when James Bond always identifies himself as such whenever he checks into a hotel or meets a stranger.


23 posted on 07/05/2009 2:33:32 PM PDT by rabidralph (www.sarahpac.com)
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To: Gay State Conservative

Has Scooter Libby been questioned yet?


No doubt Axelrod is taking notes :)


24 posted on 07/05/2009 2:46:44 PM PDT by ak267
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To: DGHoodini
England and America, separated by a common language.
25 posted on 07/05/2009 3:40:02 PM PDT by Rumplemeyer
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To: Riley

“I had an acquaintance who was planning a visit to England last time I saw him. I made a point not to caution him against introducing himself with a smile, a proffered hand, and saying “Hi. I’m Randy”.

I was waiting for a good story or two to come of it.”

I hope you aren’t holding your breath while you wait as no-one in England has used the word randy since 1963. :D

You do know Austin Powers wasn’t a documentary don’t you? ;)


26 posted on 07/05/2009 9:10:15 PM PDT by IsleofWight
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To: MyTwoCopperCoins

Seems like a non-story to me, I mean it’s not like the head of MI5 is a secret anyway:

http://www.mi5.gov.uk/output/director-general.html


27 posted on 07/05/2009 9:10:23 PM PDT by IsleofWight
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To: IsleofWight

I never saw it.


28 posted on 07/06/2009 2:25:08 AM PDT by Riley (The Fourth Estate is the Fifth Column.)
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To: rabidralph

Sawers. John Sawers.

Hmmm, not sure about that.


29 posted on 07/06/2009 2:36:00 AM PDT by Larry Lucido (Why excerpt your own blog? If its that damned important, then (Excerpted. Click here to read more))
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To: IsleofWight; Riley
I hope you aren’t holding your breath while you wait as no-one in England has used the word randy since 1963. :D

They were using it in the Suffolk area when I was stationed at RAF Lakenheath. That was around 1989.

30 posted on 07/06/2009 2:42:46 AM PDT by Grizzled Bear ("Does not play well with others.")
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