Kevin Core: Julian Assange and the Wikileaks saga is a lesson for the spy world
Dec 11 2010 by Kevin Core, Huddersfield Daily Examiner
OF ALL the fascinating snippets of the secret world revealed in the Wikileaks saga, guess which one generated the biggest initial flurry of internet searches?
It was not the fact that China would not support North Korea or the fact that President Obama thinks David Cameron is the political equivalent of the fat kid who never gets picked for games.
It was the cable released by US Diplomat Gene Cretz who drew attention to the “voluptuous blonde” who Libya’s Colonel Gaddafi rarely travels without.
The family of Galyna Kolotnytska, 38, has been quick to stress the fact she is, in fact, a seasoned health professional employed by the good Colonel and that Mr Cretz has a dirty, dirty mind.
Such revelations are embarrassing and naturally the governments of the world have been quick to form the analogy that no one would like the private conversation you have about your Aunt Sheila and Uncle Fred to be blasted around the global media.
There is, of course, a big difference here. Aunt Sheila and Uncle Fred aren’t global leaders in politically sensitive positions.
The counter-argument is that for the business of international diplomacy to be conducted effectively, candour and honesty are vital.
I have some sympathy with this view, but when the Ferrero Rocher flavoured chips are down, if you’ve got a secret – look after it properly.
We are lectured almost incessantly about the need to remove valuables from display and leave on lights to create the impression we are at home.
If a US security worker can take a Lady Gaga CD to work and pretty much ransack the Pentagon, maybe they could have a look at their own security?
According to Mission Impossible, Tom Cruise needed a trapeze and a lot of help to do that.
Having a go at spies is, of course, not the done thing in the UK.
The shadowy employees of MI5 and MI6 and the world they inhabit is the thin line between us and almost daily atrocities.
The example of the Cold War, however, should give us pause for thought before we offer the spooks of the intelligence world our unthinking praise.
The spies came to the inescapable conclusion that Russia was a political monolith, a direct threat to every man and woman of the west. Its inescapable rise required constant vigilance – and more money for intelligence operations.
When that regime finally collapsed under the weight of its own uselessness, a different picture emerged.
Russia was a basketcase. The military might that the intelligence reports warned of was in tatters.
An empire forged in iron had been rusting for years – right under the noses of the espionage agencies who assured us it was more dangerous than ever.
The two sides of that Secret War had been caught in a fascinating world of double and triple agents, technology, fieldwork and derring do, but it didn’t actually unearth the truth.
It was a game that perpetuated itself.
In short, it’s like asking a dodgy mechanic about your car. You’re not going to get good news.
While I certainly don’t ascribe bad intentions to our intelligence services, I do believe that large organisations never give opinions that result in them needing less money.
I’m addicted to the fiction of espionage from James Bond to George Smiley.
John le Carre, the outstanding novelist and former MI6 employee, was the first to acknowledge that when the Berlin Wall fell, he felt governments had been gifted an unprecedented opportunity to reshape the world.
The threat of immediate nuclear disaster had been averted, issues like poverty and hunger could be addressed.
That opportunity was thrown away. As opposed to consensus building, new fronts in the secret war were created, spying budgets rocketed. Billions were invested in new listening technology rather than relying on the more important devices on the side of our heads.
The old empire of the secret agent remained firmly in place.
Whether you’re a mechanic or a spy, there’s always a temptation to cut a few corners when you’re at work. The difference is, in some jobs it’s a whole country that gets blown rather than just your engine.
We are addicted to our secrets and it’s no wonder the governments of the world get upset when someone rips up the rules of the game.
Who knows, with more Wikileaks revelations on the horizon, maybe we’ll be seeing more world leaders’ voluptuous blonde assistants?
