Tonight The Pensive Quill carries a statement by Carrie Twomey

Neither myself on his behalf nor Anthony have requested asylum. I have never worked for Boston College and did not do any work, paid or unpaid, on the Belfast Project.

However, I have been in contact with the US Consulate in Belfast and the Embassy in Dublin since the start of this nightmare asking for help and have maintained contact throughout. I have never made a secret of this, and have referred to it in numerous interviews. It has been made clear to me throughout my dialogue with the State Department, in no uncertain terms, that Anthony is not ever going to be allowed into the US.

These claims now circulating are a direct result of a phone conversation I had with the Embassy on Wednesday 14 May, 2014 and subsequent email correspondence sent Thursday 15 May, 2014 in which I highlighted the heightened risk to our safety and the safety of the participants in the project as a result of Sinn Fein’s orchestration.

That contents/aspects of our communication, however inaccurately spun, appeared days later in a Sunday tabloid is a matter of serious concern, not least because of the privacy violations and increased risk it indicates.

I have requested from the State Department a formal investigation into how information that I had raised our safety with the Embassy last week ended up in the papers. Either our phone/email is compromised, or the Embassy’s communications are, and/or there has been a serious breach of protocol and illegal privacy violations have occurred.

I have also filed a complaint with the Garda and requested an investigation from them into the matter.

Carrie Twomey


Excerpt from email sent by Carrie Twomey to US State Department, Wed 21 May 2014:


“Can you also please advise on the status of the requested investigation into the Sunday World article based on our communications of last week?

The fact that contents of a phone conversation and email correspondence between ourselves that took place on Wednesday and Thursday appeared to have been published in the Sunday World tabloid is alarming and may mean that Embassy correspondence has been compromised, whether by unauthorized electronic access to my phone and email or monitoring of U.S. governmental communications. In the alternative, it means that communications between U.S. citizens have been monitored by agencies in the U.K.

If this information was not obtained via electronic means then there is a leak which indicates at the least extremely serious and illegal privacy violations and/or breach of protocol. Neither of these scenarios are appealing but must be addressed immediately. As I have not had any response to my previous email requesting an investigation, I am again repeating my request for a formal investigation and would like to know what steps will be taken.

I have also today filed a complaint regarding the issue with the Garda and requested they investigate what, if any, illegal surveillance is on our home/phone/internet, as the violation of my communication with the US State Department is a serious breach.”


Email sent by Carrie Twomey to US State Department, Wed 15 May 2014:


“Thank you again for taking the time to speak with me yesterday afternoon. I believe I have made my position clear. I understand that our children and I can go to America at any time but that in doing so we must abandon their father to his fate. [The Consul General] was also unequivocal on our options. Given Anthony’s conviction, he will not be allowed into the United States. As we discussed yesterday this was conveyed to me when we first spoke a year ago. You outlined the difficulties any visa application would encounter due to his status and spoke of the best possibility being what you referred to as a remote long shot of a ‘golden ticket’. This was the conversation where you also suggested Boston College would be the ideal place to employ Anthony, which eloquently demonstrated to me the level of interest and seriousness this issue was being treated with: none. It was not being taken seriously at any level and its ramifications obviously not understood and glibly dismissed.

In other words, Anthony was not going to be allowed entry. In subsequent meetings and conversations with yourself and [the CG] this was consistently and clearly conveyed, including during yesterday's conversation. In my last meeting with [the CG] and in yesterday's phone conversation with you my options are either to break up my family or wait until either Anthony is killed or the children are harmed before the US State Department can and/or will do anything. Neither yourself nor [the CG] contradicted or denied that view when it was put to either of you.

In addition to my own family’s safety, as I have explained, all those who have participated in the Boston College oral history project are at risk. I noted to you yesterday that people who had nothing to do with the project are being put at risk due to the vicious hate campaign being orchestrated and conducted by Sinn Fein. Ivor Bell, the only person charged as a result of the seizure of the archives -- the 77 year old man charged with aiding and abetting based on the tapes of “Z” -- is being referred to as the “Boston Tout” as you will have seen on the Sunday World front page previously sent to you. Mr Adams will not want the trial of Mr Bell to go forward given what would be revealed in court should the tapes of “Z” be aired. Bell, who lives in West Belfast, is at great risk of serious harm.

I will reiterate that none of this should be happening. Whoever made the decision to facilitate the MLAT subpoena request has not only put my family at risk but has also destabilized the security of the situation in Northern Ireland. It was not a matter of being forced to comply with legal obligations, as the MLAT is not de facto automatic (and no nation would give up its own sovereignty and interests so easily). Scope is provided to seek consultation and refuse cooperation based upon established foreign policy and the likelihood of successful prosecution arising. In the case of the subpoenas of the Boston College archive, neither threshold is met. The agreement of the US-UK extradition treaty specifically states that persons wanted for pre 1998 crimes in Northern Ireland will not be sought. This is due to America’s established foreign policy of supporting and facilitating the peace process which has been the policy under numerous Presidents. So it is ridiculous that no person can be extradited but archival material apparently can be. Someone should have been asking questions and clearly they dropped a massive ball.

In addition, it is astounding that the British even need the Boston archives in the first place. They are utterly useless in court beyond hearsay. Gerry Adams's driver, Roy McShane, was working for the British for years. The Chief of Staff of Sinn Fein, Denis Donaldson, was also working for the British for decades. The head of the IRA’s internal security, Freddie Scappaticci, was a British agent, as were many other people. The PSNI do not need the Boston College oral history archives to prosecute anyone and it is ludicrous that the only evidence they produced upon arresting Adams was the archives, books, and newspaper articles. That alone makes a mockery of the whole ‘legal obligation’ chimera of the disastrous decision to issue the subpoenas.

I am not going to let my family become collateral damage for whatever idiotic decisions are being made by people who should know better. I have spent 3 years now begging you people to stop this train wreck and all that’s been done is taking my warnings to protect the assets of the British. I am beyond angry.

The oral history was bravely done in good faith and should have been a testament to the benefits of the peace process and foreign policy success of the United State’s investment in supporting and nurturing it. Its confidentiality should have been protected. Instead the lives of all those who participated in it are at risk, and my family, my children, are on the line.

You and I will both be lighting candles for very different reasons and praying that no lives are lost or ruined as a result. The State Department and the Department of Justice better be praying that their incompetence does not result in the needless sacrifice of American lives abroad or harm coming to anyone who participated in an American university’s noble project. I am just praying this nightmare ends with everyone intact.

I have been and will continue to document everything.”


Sunday World, May 18, page 4, Boston Tapes Wife Begs US for Asylum by Paula Mackin



Reproduced on Irish Central, 23 May, "Political asylum move by BC tapes researcher Anthony McIntyre", by James O'Shea.

Neither Paula Mackin, James O'Shea nor anyone from the Sunday World and Irish Central contacted us prior to their publication of the inaccurate Sunday World piece. The Irish Central piece went out over the wires and was replicated across the web. Neither of the reporters nor the papers involved have attempted to contact us either pre or post publication.


See previously

Carrie Twomey Letter to Senator Lugar, forwarded to Department of Justice and State Department, 18 January, 2012

Affidavit of Carrie Twomey, 29 December 2011



Surveillance Complaint

Tonight The Pensive Quill carries a statement by Carrie Twomey

Neither myself on his behalf nor Anthony have requested asylum. I have never worked for Boston College and did not do any work, paid or unpaid, on the Belfast Project.

However, I have been in contact with the US Consulate in Belfast and the Embassy in Dublin since the start of this nightmare asking for help and have maintained contact throughout. I have never made a secret of this, and have referred to it in numerous interviews. It has been made clear to me throughout my dialogue with the State Department, in no uncertain terms, that Anthony is not ever going to be allowed into the US.

These claims now circulating are a direct result of a phone conversation I had with the Embassy on Wednesday 14 May, 2014 and subsequent email correspondence sent Thursday 15 May, 2014 in which I highlighted the heightened risk to our safety and the safety of the participants in the project as a result of Sinn Fein’s orchestration.

That contents/aspects of our communication, however inaccurately spun, appeared days later in a Sunday tabloid is a matter of serious concern, not least because of the privacy violations and increased risk it indicates.

I have requested from the State Department a formal investigation into how information that I had raised our safety with the Embassy last week ended up in the papers. Either our phone/email is compromised, or the Embassy’s communications are, and/or there has been a serious breach of protocol and illegal privacy violations have occurred.

I have also filed a complaint with the Garda and requested an investigation from them into the matter.

Carrie Twomey


Excerpt from email sent by Carrie Twomey to US State Department, Wed 21 May 2014:


“Can you also please advise on the status of the requested investigation into the Sunday World article based on our communications of last week?

The fact that contents of a phone conversation and email correspondence between ourselves that took place on Wednesday and Thursday appeared to have been published in the Sunday World tabloid is alarming and may mean that Embassy correspondence has been compromised, whether by unauthorized electronic access to my phone and email or monitoring of U.S. governmental communications. In the alternative, it means that communications between U.S. citizens have been monitored by agencies in the U.K.

If this information was not obtained via electronic means then there is a leak which indicates at the least extremely serious and illegal privacy violations and/or breach of protocol. Neither of these scenarios are appealing but must be addressed immediately. As I have not had any response to my previous email requesting an investigation, I am again repeating my request for a formal investigation and would like to know what steps will be taken.

I have also today filed a complaint regarding the issue with the Garda and requested they investigate what, if any, illegal surveillance is on our home/phone/internet, as the violation of my communication with the US State Department is a serious breach.”


Email sent by Carrie Twomey to US State Department, Wed 15 May 2014:


“Thank you again for taking the time to speak with me yesterday afternoon. I believe I have made my position clear. I understand that our children and I can go to America at any time but that in doing so we must abandon their father to his fate. [The Consul General] was also unequivocal on our options. Given Anthony’s conviction, he will not be allowed into the United States. As we discussed yesterday this was conveyed to me when we first spoke a year ago. You outlined the difficulties any visa application would encounter due to his status and spoke of the best possibility being what you referred to as a remote long shot of a ‘golden ticket’. This was the conversation where you also suggested Boston College would be the ideal place to employ Anthony, which eloquently demonstrated to me the level of interest and seriousness this issue was being treated with: none. It was not being taken seriously at any level and its ramifications obviously not understood and glibly dismissed.

In other words, Anthony was not going to be allowed entry. In subsequent meetings and conversations with yourself and [the CG] this was consistently and clearly conveyed, including during yesterday's conversation. In my last meeting with [the CG] and in yesterday's phone conversation with you my options are either to break up my family or wait until either Anthony is killed or the children are harmed before the US State Department can and/or will do anything. Neither yourself nor [the CG] contradicted or denied that view when it was put to either of you.

In addition to my own family’s safety, as I have explained, all those who have participated in the Boston College oral history project are at risk. I noted to you yesterday that people who had nothing to do with the project are being put at risk due to the vicious hate campaign being orchestrated and conducted by Sinn Fein. Ivor Bell, the only person charged as a result of the seizure of the archives -- the 77 year old man charged with aiding and abetting based on the tapes of “Z” -- is being referred to as the “Boston Tout” as you will have seen on the Sunday World front page previously sent to you. Mr Adams will not want the trial of Mr Bell to go forward given what would be revealed in court should the tapes of “Z” be aired. Bell, who lives in West Belfast, is at great risk of serious harm.

I will reiterate that none of this should be happening. Whoever made the decision to facilitate the MLAT subpoena request has not only put my family at risk but has also destabilized the security of the situation in Northern Ireland. It was not a matter of being forced to comply with legal obligations, as the MLAT is not de facto automatic (and no nation would give up its own sovereignty and interests so easily). Scope is provided to seek consultation and refuse cooperation based upon established foreign policy and the likelihood of successful prosecution arising. In the case of the subpoenas of the Boston College archive, neither threshold is met. The agreement of the US-UK extradition treaty specifically states that persons wanted for pre 1998 crimes in Northern Ireland will not be sought. This is due to America’s established foreign policy of supporting and facilitating the peace process which has been the policy under numerous Presidents. So it is ridiculous that no person can be extradited but archival material apparently can be. Someone should have been asking questions and clearly they dropped a massive ball.

In addition, it is astounding that the British even need the Boston archives in the first place. They are utterly useless in court beyond hearsay. Gerry Adams's driver, Roy McShane, was working for the British for years. The Chief of Staff of Sinn Fein, Denis Donaldson, was also working for the British for decades. The head of the IRA’s internal security, Freddie Scappaticci, was a British agent, as were many other people. The PSNI do not need the Boston College oral history archives to prosecute anyone and it is ludicrous that the only evidence they produced upon arresting Adams was the archives, books, and newspaper articles. That alone makes a mockery of the whole ‘legal obligation’ chimera of the disastrous decision to issue the subpoenas.

I am not going to let my family become collateral damage for whatever idiotic decisions are being made by people who should know better. I have spent 3 years now begging you people to stop this train wreck and all that’s been done is taking my warnings to protect the assets of the British. I am beyond angry.

The oral history was bravely done in good faith and should have been a testament to the benefits of the peace process and foreign policy success of the United State’s investment in supporting and nurturing it. Its confidentiality should have been protected. Instead the lives of all those who participated in it are at risk, and my family, my children, are on the line.

You and I will both be lighting candles for very different reasons and praying that no lives are lost or ruined as a result. The State Department and the Department of Justice better be praying that their incompetence does not result in the needless sacrifice of American lives abroad or harm coming to anyone who participated in an American university’s noble project. I am just praying this nightmare ends with everyone intact.

I have been and will continue to document everything.”


Sunday World, May 18, page 4, Boston Tapes Wife Begs US for Asylum by Paula Mackin



Reproduced on Irish Central, 23 May, "Political asylum move by BC tapes researcher Anthony McIntyre", by James O'Shea.

Neither Paula Mackin, James O'Shea nor anyone from the Sunday World and Irish Central contacted us prior to their publication of the inaccurate Sunday World piece. The Irish Central piece went out over the wires and was replicated across the web. Neither of the reporters nor the papers involved have attempted to contact us either pre or post publication.


See previously

Carrie Twomey Letter to Senator Lugar, forwarded to Department of Justice and State Department, 18 January, 2012

Affidavit of Carrie Twomey, 29 December 2011



19 comments:

  1. I am curious as to who is pushing the spin that Carrie was involved in the BC project.
    Are they just ramping up the intimidation and harassment as they wouldn’t have to look too far to obtain the right information regarding who was employed by BC on the project?

    More sinister is the leaking of confidential information to the shoddy rag, one that some people would believe as they sensationalise and twist lies into acceptable printable facts.
    This flies by as ethical journalism but amounts to malicious smearing with an alarming angle of very possible intercepted confidential information.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Don't know what to say to all that Carrie, quite frightening really. This is what these bastards can do to people unfortunately. You and your family have my full support, this is beyond sickening

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think the Boston tapes are nothing more than a pawn in the Brits end game,they have won the dirty war ,now they are into the dirty peace, I mean by this I believe they will use every and any means to make sure that their role in crimes such as Dublin and Monaghan and collusion on a massive scale never see,s the light of day,they will use the threat of prosecution to keep Adams and his cronies in place,had an honourable and just settlement been reached in 94 then none of this would be of any relevance other than to historians and those who study conflict, what we are witnessing now is proof if needed just what a complete fuckup the gfa really is.

    ReplyDelete
  4. My guess is you are being monitored by Mi5/PSNI. Personally if you are using windows don't. And use a Linux/Debian disto such as Tails and use it from a live USB to send messages or other .
    video of how Tails works


    Tails was the same system Eddie Snowden used..

    ReplyDelete
  5. Marty you are spot on with that, British Intelligence have their fingerprints all over this entire unseemly episode and are skilfully using it in the chess-match that is their campaign to retain control of Ireland. Those traitors who facilitate the utter lies they are putting into the public domain are out and out scum. This is worrying on many, many levels - not least the safety of those kids. We long argued that those in the Unionist community who hyped people up to go out and commit all sorts of vicious acts bore responsibility. Should anything happen anyone associated with Boston College we should be prepared to acknowledge the same of the vermin in the upper echelons of Sinn Fein who unleashed this despicable campaign of hate. They are the lowest of the low and far from republicans, out-and-out fascism is what we're dealing with here

    ReplyDelete
  6. marty ur bang on. and that monodrone monotone never-shut-up favourite of rte Doormat Farter shows his true colours again in todays irish times. he is a total hypocrite but hey what else is expected. he reckons it shouldnt even be presented as a "history project" . heres a quote from his article - ...This is deeply problematic. A "history project" driven by a crusade to expose the alleged lies of certain individuals inevitably invites suspicion that it is more about contemporary politics and journalistic priorities than historical posterity. - end quote.

    hey farter, hav u read the archive, what sort of historian are you to make a comment like that and you havent even read what is in the archive. If one of your students did that you would FAIL them. asshole. and who are u to talk about "journalistic priorities", ur never out of the fuc*king media both print, radio and tv. u mediaslut rent-a-gob.

    on a serious note, mackers and family, its terrible you are going thru this,for what its worth i wish u the best and i hope you win the lotto and move to france or some country that isnt full of bastards.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Inclined to take it for granted everything is monitored and stored these days. Just the freedom and democracy people are continually being asked to fight and die in illegal wars to defend.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Absolutely bang on the money.....least we have the x factor and the premier league to keep us all quiet

      Delete
  8. Carrie,

    Given that I was there with you in your living room when you sent that email on 15 May, I can corroborate the version of events you've outlined.

    I distinctly remember you telling me that night what the purpose of your engagement with the American Embassy staff was: to call their attention to the serious danger Anthony and the other participants in the Belfast Project now face because of Sinn Féin hate campaign.

    If I recall correctly, you raised the visa issue with them again because the Embassy's previous response to the concerns you had raised about the risks to your family was to blithely say, "Well, being American citizens, if you or your children feel in danger, you can return to the US."

    I also remember talking to Anthony the next morning about his being refused entry into the US. He said that he had only ever wanted to go to the States on holidays so that he could bring his children to visit their grandparents. He was adamant that he wouldn't even consider leaving Ireland while the other participants in the project were at risk.

    I think we ought to remind ourselves about the kind of people who work for the Sunday World. They are bottom feeders who bully and humiliate sex workers. Personally, I have so little regard for the Sunday World that I wouldn't let my dog lower himself by shitting on a copy of the newspaper. I use the Daily Mail for that.

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  9. Grouch I sympathise with your intentions to be supportive of Carrie and Anthony in their ongoing challenges ... I don't know how they manage to to keep going ... and can't even begin to imagine how they are going to handle all that's going on for them presently ... that said, Diarmaid Ferriter's opinions and observations do pose some valid questions in relation to the collection of oral histories in general and the Belfast Oral History Project in particular


    I am curious as to why historians at Boston College claim they were not informed of the Belfast Project; why were they excluded?
    For whose benefit?
    And at what cost?

    ReplyDelete
  10. All communications are sought to be monitored .... and then manipulated and/or mentored. Privacy and confidentiality are a popular myth attractive to the masses, which it is at all times both foolish and dangerous to believe in, and hope exists.

    Get used to it, and if you must try to share something which be of great benefit and danger to others, change to novel ways of more difficult to crack communication, although even then whenever it be thought to be more secure, is the likelihood of it broken and compromised by smarter forces/entities/persons of interest more than just possible and most probable.

    Such is the age and the space in which all are now living/work, rest and playing. And the future will be even more surveilled and listened to.

    Uncle Sam and Snowden tells everyone that pertinent fact ..... which you may like to consider is a convenient fiction too, in order to try and curtail the growing sharing of sensitive truthful information which reveals the lack of intelligence in systems which are employed for human command and global control. But whether fact or fiction, both have the same effect and greater Great Game purpose ........ Astute Advanced Active Applications in Sublime Absolute Power with Pre-Programmed Virtual Machinery.

    ReplyDelete


  11. This is quite troubling.


    Frankie, not necessarily Mi5/PSNI, though of course GCHQ are watching everything. But if I recall correctly a few years back the son of a shinner councillor hacked the fine gael website and i think garda email too. Of course I'm not saying he was involved, but just mention it to illustrate the possible involvement of non-gov actors. Shit after the phone hacking, who knows what these rags (germalists) will try.

    Regardless of who has done this, it is the act of a craven thug. For to surveill and intimidate a mother of two is on the same continuum of behavior that led to what happened to ms mcconville.

    Anthony and Carrie, be strong.

    ReplyDelete
  12. aragman a man from mars, fair ball to ye. maybe posting a letter in the old stylee is safest bet now, i dont know anyways because im from the stone age. henry, i just cant stand that droop. i dont listen to mms a long time now but occasionally i switch it on - radio telly etc and flick up and down. there was a time a few months ago when everytime i switched on the radio and the telly he was on it. i am not joking you, it was weird. the same unceasing waffle in that read from a book drone voice recks my head. and then he has the nerve to talk about journalistic priorities. There is no such thing as objective history and all history is flawed, partisan etc to a certain degree ESPECIALLY the goons like Farter and other mms journostorians. they are all crap and if had any balls would be men.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Google and Facebook can be legally intercepted, says UK spy boss


    The UK government has revealed that intelligence service GCHQ can snoop on British citizens' use of Facebook and Google without an individual warrant because the firms are based overseas.

    UK spy boss Charles Farr said that the services are classified as external communications.
    The policy was revealed as part of a continuing legal battle with campaign group Privacy International (PI).
    PI said the interpretation of the law "patronises the British people".

    It is the first time the UK has commented on how its legal framework allows the mass interception of communications as outlined by US whistleblower Edward Snowden in his leaks about global government surveillance

    ReplyDelete