I mean, its every journalists dream to have these, you know, front-page splash stories that get followed up around the world. He was forced to resign, because it showed that he called President Trump inept, and he said, you know, the singular reason that the Trump administration pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal was because it was signed by President Obama, and other issues. KATHARINE GUN: Youre putting me on the spot now. Im Amy Goodman. 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. But as Beyer would soon realize, Finchs past wasnt what she claimedand Beyers own difficult history was up for the taking. And you were what? Thought-provoking commentary and opinion on politics, books and the arts. 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. Instead, the memo had been produced on the front page in its entirety. Sign up for our Daily News Digest today! MARTIN BRIGHT: Well, I did. AMY GOODMAN: So, that was Katharine Gun back in 2004. Her net worth has been growing . This was thought crucial to help Blair and his government survive a no-confidence motion in the House of Commons. This is Democracy Now! ED VULLIAMY: Well, oh, indeed, brilliantly played his subject. Katharine Gun. Katharine Gun is the Most Important Whistleblower You've Never Heard of Gun discusses her attempt to stop the Iraq War, which is the subject of the new movie Official Secrets . I was initially terrified, Gun said, before learning the sad truth of the 24-hour news cycle: But people dont pay that much attention to the news, and they dont remember peoples names and you certainly dont remember what people look like. By Nick Wall/IFC Films/Everett Collection. But they not only are saying they are going to crack down hard on the leaker, but theyre also saying they will crack down on the press, any press that reports this in Britain. Hundreds of thousands, millions of people have been affected by it, and those effects continue to this day. It later emerged that the newspaper was collaborating very, very closely with Tony Blair and his sort of enforcers to keep this kind of thing out of the paper. today: https://democracynow.org/donateFOLLOW DEMOCRACY NOW! Two, there is a shadow intelligence operation going on through the Pentagon, all your favorite names on this programDouglas Feith, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle. Yes, its a new Hollywood movie thats coming out, but it is the real-life story of Katharine Gun. (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images), https://thespectator.com/topic/katharine-gun-spy-iraq-war/, US edition of the world's oldest magazine, Katharine Gun: the spy who tried to stop the Iraq war, How Syria became the worlds most profitable narco state, How the earthquake is strengthening Syrias dictatorship, Why Netanyahu is right about Israels rogue supreme court. And so it was decided: on the stand she'd state her innocence and hope for the best. These worries crystalized when GCHQ sent her to San Diego for a conference and she was invited on to an American aircraft carrier. But, so you have to track down Frank Koza. Never heard of Gun? In Official Secrets, Gun is played by Keira Knightley while Matt Smith takes on the role of Martin Bright. 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. Everybody knows it. At the end of the day, we are accountable to our conscience. France and Russia were against a second resolution and they had a veto in the Security Council. AMY GOODMAN: Tony Blair was the prime minister of Britain at the time. But its just because the copy editor ran it through spell check. Wise man. Gun, youre a spy. Now, the political thriller, In case you arent too familiar with Guns story, I dont want to give too much away about what the movie shows. Katharine Gun's age is listed as 47 years old as of 2021. When charges were officially pressed, Guns identity was revealed too. A month later, the Observer splashed the story over its front page. A year after she walked down the aisle, Ross gave birth to their only child, Cleo Rose, on September 17, 1984, in Malibu, California. Gavin, who worked on the screenplay and is the director. You think this is real, but you do have to track it down. And he had told me over two meetings, A, we know that Saddam Hussein has no weapons of mass destruction. Our Daily Digest brings Democracy Now! The terror of that period took a toll on Gun, who suffered from PTSD for years. Democracy Now! "It worries me, it should worry us all. And my husband Yasar was still in bed. Theyre basically cooking it. I mean, my first reaction was shock and anger. From there, it made its way into the hands of Yvonne Ridley, a well-known anti-war activist. Husband: Not Available: Sibling: Not Available: Children: Not Available: Katharine Gun Net Worth. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Cond Nast. In the film, Knightley as Gun declares: I work for the British people. People hid under the tables. How scary was it for you to go ahead and do what you did? KATHARINE GUN: If we do not go public, we would be conceding that no one can ever tell the people when their government is lying. [1]Katharine Gun arbetade som versttare fr Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). Official Secrets recounts Gun's story, from her fateful decision (which of course accomplished nothing in the end, even though the leak quickly went public) to her bizarre criminal trial. And I knew that Ed was an extremely experienced journalist. to your inbox each morning. The advice was that, by accepting what she'd done was illegal, the jail time might end up reduced. It wasnt, of course, but hindsight and history may end up judging Guns decisions more kindly than Bushs or Blairs. MARTIN BRIGHT: The paperthe editorial line was supporting the war, but obviously there were those of us within the paper who didnt. KATHARINE GUN: Well, I was just appalled. . "I'd have a criminal record for doing what was right." Gun is in her forties now and living quietly in Turkey. She'd be tried at the High Court; the press and the public would know this whistleblower's name. . The Americans had sent GCHQ a request to spy on the UN ambassadors of the six countries with the important, perhaps swing, votes. When the former husband and wife square off in a Virginia courtroom this week, it will mark the culmination of a divorce that has been without comparison in the annals of modern American celebrity. Was it? She found the contents absolutely stunning. I didnt know why, but I was going nuts. Marcia Mitchell is a writer, researcher, and the author of "The Spy Who Tried to Stop a War: Katharine Gun and the Secret Plot to Sanction the Iraq Invasion." This and her other writings about intelligence issues have been critically acclaimed. We're looking at the real-life political thriller of a British intelligence specialist, Katharine Gun, who risked everything to blow the whistle on U.S. dirty tricks at the United Nations in the . Gun received bail each month, so she was able to make it seem like she still worked for GCHQ and had a normal life. "The world is moving in a completely fascist, corporate direction," she tells me, when I ask if thinking back she'd do it all again. Drawing on more than 100,000 leaked documents, a. GUN: Thats right. Former British intelligence officer Katharine Gun didn't set out to become a whistle-blower. GUN: Well, no, I was a recipient alongside about a hundred other recipients of that e-mail. But there were a group of journalists within the newsroom who trusted each other, had worked together previously. AMY GOODMAN: Thats the trailer for the new movie Official Secrets, based on the true-life story of whistleblower Katharine Gun. . This is her story. Katherine Louisa Ryan was born on June 30, 1983, to Finbar and Julie McCarthy in the city of Sarnia in southwestern Ontario, Canada. 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. JUDGE HYAM: [played by Kenneth Cranham] Katharine Teresa Gun, youre charged with an offense of the Official Secrets Act. 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. But the Iraqis were right and the Americans were wrong. Katharine Teresa Gun (ne Harwood; born 1974) is a British whistleblower who worked as a linguist at the Government Communication Headquarters (GCHQ; a British intelligence facility) from 2001 to 2003. Ross has black color eyes and black color hair. It was too dangerous to make the 20-minute drive from the airport to the British base in Basra. So, as soon as I was, you knowwell, well get to this, I suppose, but I was arrested. 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 . Official Secrets. I do not gather intelligence so that the government can lie to the British people. They wont just put you through to a man who doesnt exist in a place that doesnt exist. Amirah Vann Brings Heart & Depth to Black Womens Stories i British whistleblower named Katharine Gun, Gun how she felt looking back on her decision, Blair has been given the opportunity to speak about Brexit. In fact, your husbandwould they attempt to deport him? Nowadays, everyone can invent their own news - and call out stories - on social media, and . And thats really where the story started for Ed and myself on The Observer, was process of verification. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. And likewise the other performances, extraordinary in this film. It was a Friday afternoon. 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. "Yeah, I suppose so," she says. There's a real potency to Gun's tale of truth-telling in our world of social media and fake news. Gun couldnt maintain the pretense that shed had nothing to do with it and confessed almost immediately. And truth was having a hard time at The Observer at that point. 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. LONDON FEBRUARY 25: Former employee of Britains global surveillance center GCHQ (Government Communications Head Quarters) Katharine Gun smiles as she speaks to the media during a press conference February 25, 2004 in London, England. Our obligation is to the truth. After the incident, Katharine struggled to find work, and her husband had grown disillusioned with Britain and then kept away from the general public eye. I was sort of I felt like I was blinkered as a horse. The memo proposed blackmailing smaller, undecided member states into voting for war. It wasn't the news Katharine had been preparing for. JERRY: [played by Chris Reilly] Hes a Muslim. It isn't a crime, it's a responsibility.". Her whistleblowing was not enough to change the path of history, of course, and her last-gasp act of courage was all but forgotten in the brutal "shock and awe" of war. Gun, her husband, and their four-year-old daughter shed their coveted privacy long enough to allow Katharine to be one of two former Sam Adams Award winners to present this year's award. The Crown Prosecution Service was about to charge her. I mean, what are you doing here? Yeah, and those are the. Between the worlds greatest democracy and a murderous dictatorship, it seemed easy to know whom to believe. GUN: Well, simply the e-mail was from the NSA, which is the U.S. equivalent of GCHQ, and it was asking for our assistance, GCHQs assistance, in collecting information from six of the swing U.S. Security Council swing nations. The other was Coleen Rowley, former FBI special agent and counsel at the Minneapolis bureau, who blew the whistle on FBI and other shortcomings before 9/11 and . With the emotional adventure of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever closing out the controversial fourth, Minor spoilers ahead. GAVIN HOOD: Who were the nonpermanent members on the U.N. Security Council at the time. And it was a terrible moment when I had to look in my drawer and find it. I mean, you were the man of the hour. AMY GOODMAN: But the spelling of it is British spelling. "This was crossing a red line for me," she says. I think that speaks rather highly of you. And it was a very collaborativeit was a very collaborative place. Also with us, the director of Official Secrets, Gavin Hood. She is his first try at marriage, and evidently, he's enjoying his beginner's luck. 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. 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. You didnt. Did you know that you can get Democracy Now! Im Amy Goodman. . "But there are things you have to do not for the result but for the principle, because they are right.". 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. 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. Effects continue to this day coming out, but obviously there were a of. Frank Koza the news Katharine had been preparing for ; s age is as! Gun declares: I work for the result but for the taking mass destruction out controversial. 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