But you see this memo that went out to everyone in your area. AMY GOODMAN: I know. MARTIN BRIGHT: It was one of those huge, huge, huge stories. It was a crisis meeting because they had failed to get a second UN resolution, to give legal cover for the war. After the meeting, the Brits and the Americans shook hands on the tarmac and walked to their planes. The next morning, Katharine returned to the office as normal and got on with her work, trying as best as she could to not think about it. is a 501(c)3 non-profit news organization. It took two hours for the cops from special branch to reach GCHQ in Cheltenham. Two days later, she gave the email to a friend who had several contacts in the press. Nayib Bukele Touts Megaprison with Shocking Images of Shackled Detainees, Reporter Seymour Hersh on How America Took Out the Nord Stream Pipeline: Exclusive TV Interview, Outrage Soars in Occupied West Bank After Israel Kills 11, Injures 500 Palestinians in Nablus Raid. Was it? And those six swing nations, their delegates, they wanted , AMANPOUR: When you say swing nations, they were once at that the U.S. and the U.K. were trying to get on side . "And I immediately decided the public should know the lengths the Americans were going to in order to secure legitimacy for this war. Tell us the moment. I did, rather naively, try calling the press office and getting an interview. Keira Knightley says she doesn't think she'd have the courage to follow in the footsteps of the "true hero" whistleblower Katharine Gun, whom she plays in new thriller Official Secrets . Katharine Gun. Currently, Katharine Ross is 82 years old as she was born on 29th January 1940. I mean, what are you doing here? MARTIN BRIGHT: The paperthe editorial line was supporting the war, but obviously there were those of us within the paper who didnt. How frustrating it was for Gun to sit in her modest home next to her husband, and see fiction portrayed on the evening news. And I felt it was explosive information. Heeding the dictates of conscience and true patriotism, Ms. It actually didnt really make a big difference at all., Gun and her legal team decided to fight charges in late 2003. Gun believes that because there was no specific UN authority to attack Iraq, in theory Bush and Blair could be put on trial for waging an aggressive war (the charge at Nuremberg). I disappeared with my husband down to the coast in Brighton, on the coast of England, and spent some time away from the limelight, Gun said in the interview. And then, finally, it came to me. The diplomats were due to vote on a second United . She'd be tried at the High Court; the press and the public would know this whistleblower's name. Acclaimed Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg described Guns action as the most important and courageous leak I have ever seen. Guns incredible story is depicted in the new film Official Secrets, which premieres in the U.S. August 30. Koza's email outlined an American plot to conduct surveillance on the United Nations offices in Angola, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Chile, Guinea and Pakistan to find out whether they would vote in favour of supporting the American invasion of Iraq. Official Secrets is a 2019 British drama film based on the case of whistleblower Katharine Gun, who leaked a memo exposing an illegal spying operation by American and British intelligence services to gauge sentiment of and potentially blackmail United Nations diplomats tasked to vote on a resolution regarding the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Two, there is a shadow intelligence operation going on through the Pentagon, all your favorite names on this programDouglas Feith, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle. Therefore, on August 27, 2002, he was convicted of four counts of first-degree murder by a jury and subsequently sentenced to death. He said there were no WMD left, just a few old mustard gas shells already given to the UN weapons inspectors. Tweet. GAVIN HOOD: Yes. "Official Secrets," which opened Friday in New York and . TINTIN: [played by Peter Guinness] Your supervisor speaks highly of your integrity. "As soon as I got home I sat with my husband, who was still in bed. I felt guiltylike, I leaked this memo, and now theres going to be a witch hunt for the person who did it, and Im not going to be able to deny it. That contact had connections with the antiwar movement. Don't worry, we'll never share or sell your information. It was a Friday when I saw the email. The email was a request to tamper with the debate of whether or not to invade Iraq. CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: But basically, you tried to blow the whistle on what you thought was a false intelligence directive to try to cook up a reason for the Iraq war. Katharine Teresa Gun (ne Harwood) (born 1974) is a British linguist who worked as a translator for the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). Release date September 13, 2019 No, you just do not do stuff like that. And also, the memo itself contained language that was consistent with intelligence service language, so we had experts look at that, as well. A year after she walked down the aisle, Ross gave birth to their only child, Cleo Rose, on September 17, 1984, in Malibu, California. But this needed finding Koza. On the night of the 19th of March, 2003, the bombs began to fall. Plus a change The warI mean, our obligation is not whether we support or are against the war. Katharine had assumed a journalist would use the letter as a springboard for their own wider investigation. AMANPOUR: And that spoke was this memo that had , AMANPOUR: been leaked to you and then you leaked it to the press, not leaked but delivered to you . Two weeks later, on the 15th of February, 2003, a million people took to the streets of London to protest the prospect of Britain joining the war in Iraq. I mean, my first reaction was shock and anger. Youre working on translating Mandarin. You wanted to stop the Iraq war. Raising the issue with a manager briefly crossed Katharine's mind, but time was limited the threat of war was escalating fast and ultimately this operation had already been signed off by British top brass. She was brought up in Taiwan her parents moved there to work when she was three and so was fluent in Mandarin. And what happened? Our writers hold no party line; their only allegiance is to clarity of thought, elegance of expression and independence of opinion. As a young translator at GCHQ, she leaked a secret email. In Official Secrets, Gun is played by Keira Knightley while Matt Smith takes on the role of Martin Bright. And I hope that it can get people, Americans, to follow their conscience, and do the right thingstand up for what they believe in., With the world at an even more critical inflection point under controversial leadership, Gun hopes that others might find the courage to speak up if they come across as damning evidence as she dideven if it means temporarily sacrificing comfort. During that period of purgatory, I ask, did she regret it all? After a long weekend of contemplation, Gunwho had been one of about 100 people to receive the memodecided to print out the letter and send it to a journalist via an intermediary. KATHARINE GUN: Governments change. . Democracy Now! And I justyou know, I just collapsed. This presented a problem. AMY GOODMAN: Well, Martin, you tried that. GCHQ whistleblower Katharine Gun speaks out. It wasn't that she was naive. You walk in. The message requested Katharine's assistance in co-ordinating an illegal US-UK spy operation which would secure UN authorisation for the Iraq invasion. When Gun exposed that the U.S. and U.K. wanted information on United Nations diplomats to persuade the vote on the invasion of Iraq, George W. Bush was President of the United States and Tony Blair was the British Prime Minister of the U.K. Guns information affected Blairs politics and government at the time, but he has seemingly recovered from the incident. Yes, I mean, these were, as Martin has suggested, divisive, divided, bitter, difficult times. Katharine Gun who's played by Keira Knightley in a forthcoming film blew the whistle on a dodgy scheme by the American government. KATHARINE GUN: Detective, I dont object to being asked to collect information that could help prevent a terror attack. Neither have many others, especially . Former employee of Britain's global surveillance center GCHQ (Government Communications Head Quarters) Katharine Gun smiles as she speaks to . It was particularly explosive in Chile, which has obviously been used to American intelligence. Hood's film dramatizes events in 2003 and 2004, beginning with British whistleblower Katharine Gun's decision to leak a memo exposing the criminality of the Iraq War and ending with her . It was a Friday afternoon. I work for the British people. KNIGHTLEY: Governments change. The Americans had sent GCHQ a request to spy on the UN ambassadors of the six countries with the important, perhaps swing, votes. It was too dangerous to make the 20-minute drive from the airport to the British base in Basra. A month later, the Observer splashed the story over its front page. But, in 2003, when she came across an email suggesting that the United States and the U.K. governments were intending to blackmail members of the United Nations to authorize an invasion of Iraq, Gunthen just 28felt morally obligated to leak the letter. Her net worth has been growing . In fact, your husbandwould they attempt to deport him? Famed U.K. whistleblower Katharine Gun joins Justin on Extension 720 to talk about, "Official Secrets," the new movie based on her real life story.Gun leaked a secret memo exposing an illegal spying operation by the United States of America, looking for information with which to blackmail United Nations diplomats tasked to vote on a resolution regarding the 2003 invasion of Iraq. "It worries me, it should worry us all. It is based on the whistleblowing investigation by Katharine Gun and Martin Bright. Sam Eliott and Katharine Ross . And you were what? Our obligation is to the truth. This is a clip. Yes, in 2003, Gun was working for British intelligencethat's GCHQ, the intelligence agency similar to the . Woman who tried to stop a war. We're sitting together in a quiet room at the headquarters of human rights organisation Liberty, just around the corner from the streets through which she'd been marching. At the time, the paper, their paper, The Observer, was openly supporting the Iraq invasion, leading up to it. AMANPOUR: And in the film, your character played by Keira Knightley basically says I mean, you say you were proud of working in GCHQ until you saw this memo. Thanks so much for joining us. Katharine Gun, former intelligence specialist turned whistleblower, discusses the new film "Official Secrets" which details why she leaked a classified memo. Some call that treason. Guns story being told in Official Secrets. The ripple effect from that initial invasion is continually being felt in worldwide institutions, in the U.S. and the U.K. Nobody really has been held responsible for it, and the fact remains that the nation of Iraq is still very much traumatized by what happened. The western leading man, Sam Elliott, first met his famous actress wife, Katharine Ross, on the set of a movie. And then, in November, came the call from her lawyer. Gun leaked the memo to the press, setting off a chain of events that jeopardized her freedom and safety, but also opened the door to putting the entire legality of the Iraq invasion on trial. KATHARINE GUN: [played by Keira Knightley] Do you mean have I leaked anything else? Keira Knightley is persuasive as Katharine Gun, a British GCHQ employee who in 2003 leaked a sensitive document in the hopes of preventing her country from invading Iraq a decision that did . Between the worlds greatest democracy and a murderous dictatorship, it seemed easy to know whom to believe. By Nick Wall/IFC Films/Everett Collection. Please do your part today. Courtroom porn and social media have turned innocent bystanders into a mass of mudslingers. This article was originally published inThe Spectators UK magazine. That night, Katharine posted the letter to a contact whose identity she continues to withhold. We speak with a British whistleblower whose attempts to expose lies about the Iraq invasion was called "the most important and courageous leak" in history by. People are traumatizedmilitary personnel are coming back extremely traumatized. What was the headline? We came up with an idea for a defence that I acted out of necessity but generally there isn't one for breaching the Official Secrets Act.". The Drudge Report, famous right-wing website, had followed the story up. I had found a source called Mel Goodman, namesake of yours, who was the ex-head of the Soviet desk at the CIA, had kept his clearance. The true story of British Intelligence whistleblower Katharine Gun, who leaked a top-secret NSA memo exposing a joint US-UK illegal spying operation. But, so you have to track down Frank Koza. KATHARINE GUN: Well, I was just appalled. As he spoke at the base, a volley of mortars came in. And so, all the header information that you would usually have was not there. The Case Against Mary Katherine Higdon 43:11. How old were you at the time? She'd been reading up on the preparations being made for a US-led invasion and wasn't convinced by the arguments; images of the first Gulf War she'd seen in her teenage years had forever been seared onto her mind. Former British intelligence officer Katharine Gun didnt set out to become a whistle-blower. . Katharine was charged with an offense under section 1 of the Official Secrets Act 1989 on 13 November 2003. I had no idea what was going to happen to me and my life kind of came to a standstillit was a struggle emotionally, financially, mentally, said Gun of that time. Please do your part today. And at the time, The Observer newsroom wasand The Observer itself was split, because some people supported the war, some people didnt. GAVIN HOOD: Who were the nonpermanent members on the U.N. Security Council at the time. Katherine Louisa Ryan was born on June 30, 1983, to Finbar and Julie McCarthy in the city of Sarnia in southwestern Ontario, Canada. We still dont know, to this day, why they did that. The highly confidential memo revealed the United States was collaborating with Britain in collecting sensitive information on United Nations Security Council members in order to pressure them into supporting the Iraq invasion. We were basically going to put the Iraq War on trial, she said. AMY GOODMAN: And then everyoneFOX, CNNand then they all cancel. Due to the pandemic, the event was then canceled. A Chinese translator? It seemed inevitable. Blogus by Themeansar. Yes, in 2003, Gun was working for British intelligencethats GCHQ, the intelligence agency similar to the NSA, the National Security Agencywhen she leaked a memo revealing the United States was collaborating with Britain in collecting sensitive information to hold over U.N. Security Council members to get them to support the Iraq War. "My boys," the "Waitress" actress captioned the snap . The CIA knows it. Katharine Gun. In February, Gun attended a demonstration in opposition to the Iraq War. A translator for UK intelligence agency GCHQ, Gun read a brief from the US National Security Agency urging its British sister organisation to spy on members of the UN Security Council, to gain influence i n a vote on whether to sanction an invasion of Iraq. We speak with Katharine Gun; the British journalists who reported on Guns revelations in The Observer newspaper, Martin Bright and Ed Vulliamy; and Gavin Hood, director of Official Secrets.. . So, where I had failed with my whistleblower, Mr. Goodman, Martin, with brave and extraordinary Katharine Gun, succeeded. She remains an intensely private personbut, when director Gavin Hood began the process of adapting 2008s The Spy Who Tried to Stop a War: Katharine Gun and the Secret Plot to Sanction the Iraq Invasion, by Marcia and Thomas Mitchell, Gun felt it necessary to revisit this difficult chapter of her life to help make the film. It is my fault and I'm sorry. These actors are so clever, Amy. Former British intelligence officer Katharine Gun didn't set out to become a whistle-blower. We were going to bring all of this out and it was all going to be in the public. Instead, the case was droppeda temporary relief for her, but a troubling outcome on a greater scale, since it essentially meant they slammed the door shut on that discussion.. Im Amy Goodman. But it seemed inevitable. Theyd already escorted him down to the custody suite and begun the process. So, I decided that the risk to my career was minute compared to the upcoming war in Iraq, and the best thing to do for me was to leak this information to the press, so that everybody else could have the information, and hopefully it could avert this disastrous course of events that have occurred. I didnt know why, but I was going nuts. Never heard of Gun? I could tell this email was pretty explosive.". Marcia Mitchell. But when she arrived for her trial at the Old Bailey, the prosecution dropped the case with no explanation. It seemed like it might be more interesting than some import-export company. Now her story has been adapted into the film Official Secrets starring Keira Knightley. You know, I thought it was something that people needed to know about, because it was basically exposing what was going on behind the scenes and the fact that, you know, all the flowery words that they used in front of the cameras about doing everything diplomatically was a sham. Katharine Gun speaks out for 'Official Secrets'. Theyre lying about what their motives arethat immediately made me think, I have got to get this out. She was sitting at her computer in GCHQ when an email arrived from one Frank Koza, chief of staff at the regional targets division of the US National Security Agency. AMY GOODMAN: That was a clip from Official Secrets. Yes. Official Secrets is a movie about real-life whistleblower Katharine Gun, a relatively low-level British Intelligence agent (she was a translator in the Government Communications Headquarters) who . The following Monday, she walked out of work, a printed copy of the email folded up and hidden in her handbag. Katharine McPhee shared a sweet snap of her 6-month-old son, Rennie, playing with husband David Foster in the cabin of a private jet. AMY GOODMAN: You said, May I please speak to Mr. Koza?, MARTIN BRIGHT: May I please speak to Mr. Koza? And they said, We dont give out names. And he says, Excuse me, Mr. Bright.. And truth was having a hard time at The Observer at that point. The daughter of Maurizio Gucci and Patrizia Reggiani was overwhelmed as a child by a wave of tragedy and looked for a gasp of air to breathe, even as sharks circled all around. Now, she tells, Monica Lewinskys Verdict on the Johnny DeppAmber Heard Trial: We Are All Guilty. Yasar Gun is the husband of a British whistleblower, Katharine Gun, who revealed top-secret information. Katharine smuggled the printed email out of GCHQ and leaked it to the media, on the 2nd March it was . Katharine Gun. In 2019, she finally returned to the general public eye for the promotional press occasions for Official Secrets. KATHARINE GUN: Well, it was a memo from a chap called Frank Koza, who worked at the NSA. She was angered by how nonchalant the email was in asking GCHQ to carry out an illegal operation but she didnt know what to do. She couldnt shake the indelible images of the turkey shoot of retreating Iraqis on the Highway of Death during the first Gulf War in 1991, the road out of Kuwait strewn with burnt-out vehicles and charred bodies. Maybe reporters decided it was a fake, Katharine thought; maybe she'd just entirely misjudged its significance. KATHARINE GUN, WHISTLEBLOWER: Its you know, its very hard to explain the point of view I had or the mental state I was in at the time. Katharine Gun, a shy and studious 28-year-old who spent her days listening in to obscure Chinese intercepts, decided to tell the world about a secret plan by the US government to spy on the United . This is viewer supported news. Katharine McPhee was initially hesitant about dating David Foster . 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