Veterans of undercover operations claim that colluding with terrorists is sometimes necessary for the greater good. Now a new report shatters that myth.
Over decades of bloody conflict in Northern Ireland, a near sacred mystique grew up around the intelligence services. Spoken of in reverential tones, largely unaccountable and unscrutinised, they were depicted by the media as an omniscient elite.
A description, for example, selected at random online, of a book on the “intelligence war”, turns this up: “The men and women who work in this field are a special breed who undertake hazardous risks with unflinching tenacity and professionalism”.
With publication of the interim report of “Operation Kenova” on Friday, that myth crashed to earth. It revealed a squalid, boastful yet tragic reality – more Keystone Cops than James Bond.
Operation Kenova, led by police chief Jon Boutcher, has spent the last seven years, and £40m, investigating 101 murders and abductions linked to the British military double-agent known by the code “Stakeknife” – aka Freddie Scappaticci.
He was a Belfast man of Italian extraction who headed up the IRA’s “Internal Security Unit” (or “nutting squad”).
Over decades of bloody conflict in Northern Ireland, a near sacred mystique grew up around the intelligence services. Spoken of in reverential tones, largely unaccountable and unscrutinised, they were depicted by the media as an omniscient elite.
A description, for example, selected at random online, of a book on the “intelligence war”, turns this up: “The men and women who work in this field are a special breed who undertake hazardous risks with unflinching tenacity and professionalism”.
With publication of the interim report of “Operation Kenova” on Friday, that myth crashed to earth. It revealed a squalid, boastful yet tragic reality – more Keystone Cops than James Bond.
Operation Kenova, led by police chief Jon Boutcher, has spent the last seven years, and £40m, investigating 101 murders and abductions linked to the British military double-agent known by the code “Stakeknife” – aka Freddie Scappaticci.
He was a Belfast man of Italian extraction who headed up the IRA’s “Internal Security Unit” (or “nutting squad”).
Continue reading @ Declassified UK.
The former agent joined Ciarán Dunbar to give his version of events. (BelTel's Spotify---32mins)
ReplyDeleteIan Hurst was what we sometimes call ‘a spook’. During the Troubles he worked for the Force Research Unit, the British Army’s covert military intelligence group.
The Force Research Unit, or FRU, was set up to direct, control and exploit human intelligence – normally referred to as agents, or informers. The unit worked closely with IRA member turned informant, Freddie Scappaticci, aka Stakeknife.
In retirement, Hurst co-authored a book under the pseudonym Martin Ingram. In the book, he exposed the activities of Scappaticci. Controversially, he also maintains that former IRA leader Martin McGuinness was compromised, even claiming that he protected Scappaticci.
Real Clear Politics...it's a piece by Toby Harnden called "McGuinness: The slippery shadow in Irish dirty war"....it's worth a skim..(March 2017)
ReplyDeleteFrom The Good Listener Podcast........"THE IRA-SPY THAT STAKEKNIFE K*LLED ?? | Frank Hegarty, Martin McGuinness & Gaddafi"
ReplyDeleteFor this episode I spoke with author Henry Hemming about his most recent book “Four Shots in the Night”, an excellently written true-story of a British army agent within the IRA named Frank Hegarty.
Henry talks to us about the army unit that recruited and ran Hegarty, the now infamous FRU (force research unit) and their unique approach to running agents, how princess Diana was nearly blown up by the IRA and the role that Gaddafi played in arming the IRA.