MI5 officer has evidence of torture?
Well, this story is interesting me extremely, and for the obvious as well as the perhaps more arcanely legal reasons. Apparently a former senior MI5 officer is asking permission to give evidence to the...
View ArticleUK spies target women for recruitment
My recent interview on RT show “In the Now” about gender equality in the British spy agencies: Gender Equality in UK Spy Agencies — RT In the Now from Annie Machon on Vimeo. UK spies target women for...
View ArticleRT Breaking the Set — interview about spies with Abby Martin
Here’s my interview from yesterday on RT’s excellent Breaking the Set show with host, Abby Martin. We discussed all things spy, surveillance, Snowden, oversight, and privacy. A fun and lively...
View ArticleChannel 4 interview re UK spy accountability
On the day the UK spy chiefs were called to account for the first time by the Intelligence and Security Committee in the British parliament: Spy accountability and the ISC — Channel 4 News from Annie...
View ArticleRendition and torture — interview on RT
Here’s my recent interview on RT’s excellent and incisive new UK politics programme, “Going Underground”. In it I discuss rendition, torture, spy oversight and much more: Rendition and torture —...
View ArticleVoice of Russia radio interview about spies, oversight, whistleblowers, and...
Here is an interview I did for Voice of Russia radio in London last week about spies and their relationship with our democratic processes, oversight, Edward Snowden and much more: Voice of Russia radio...
View ArticleBBC World interview re UK spy accountability
Here’s a recent interview I did for BBC World about the three top British spies deigning, for the first time ever, to be publicly questioned by the Intelligence and Security Committee in parliament,...
View ArticleBBC “World Have Your Say” debate
A recent interview on BBC World Service radio, on “World Have Your Say”. An interesting debate with some other former intelligence types: BBC World Service “World Have Your Say” interview from Annie...
View ArticleRT interview on spy oversight
Here’s my interview on RT about the failure of political oversight of the spies in the UK and US: RT: Snowden files reveal spy agency’s efforts to escape legal challenge from Annie Machon on Vimeo....
View ArticleLondon Real TV Interview — coming soon
Here is a taster of my recent interview on London Real TV. It was diverse, lively and fun, and should be broadcast in full tomorrow: Annie Machon — Whistleblower — London Real TV from Annie Machon on...
View ArticleThe Empire Strikes Back
First published by RT Op-Edge. Sir Andrew Parker, the recently elevated Director General of the UK’s domestic security Service (MI5) yesterday made both his first public speech and a superficially...
View ArticleUS/UK spy chiefs cover up NSA surveillance scandal
First published on RT Op-Edge. Also on Information Clearing House and The Huffington Post. The disparity in response to Edward Snowden’s disclosures within the USA and the UK is astonishing. In the...
View ArticleEuropean Parliament LIBE Inquiry on Electronic Mass Surveillance of EU Citizens
Below is some background material from my submission to the European Parliament’s LIBE Committee on the implications of the NSA scandal. Here is a video link to the hearing. LIBE Committee Inquiry on...
View ArticleThe Secret Policemen’s Balls-Up
First published on RT Op-Edge, with the slightly more circumspect title: “British police secretly operated outside democratic control for years”. Also on HuffPo UK. In the wake of the global impact of...
View ArticleSpies need more oversight, not new powers
Published on www.politics.co.uk, and Huffington Post UK. Following the awful murder of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich last week, the political securocrats who claim to represent the interests of the...
View ArticleLawyers challenge integrity of UK spy torture inquiry
It was widely reported today that a number of well-respected British lawyers and civil liberties organisations are questioning the integrity of the much-trumpeted inquiry into UK spy complicity in...
View ArticleAlastair Campbell — guilty of breaching the OSA?
I have long suspected that Alastair Campbell, Labour’s former Director of Communications, may potentially have broken the UK’s Official Secrets Act. Now prima facie evidence is beginning to emerge...
View ArticleUK Intelligence and Security Committee to be reformed?
The Guardian’s spook commentator extraordinaire, Richard Norton-Taylor, has reported that the current chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) in the UK Parliament, Sir Malcolm Rifkind,...
View ArticleUK spies continue to lie about torture
What a difference a year makes in the mayfly minds of the old media. In February 2010 The Guardian’s resident spook watcher, Richard Norton-Taylor, reported that the serving head of MI5, Jonathan...
View ArticleAlan Johnson’s MI5 File?
I wonder what information, if any, MI5 has on file about new-ish UK Home Secretary, Alan Johnson? Or, more pertinently, what HE thinks the spies might have.….. How else explain his recent comments in...
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