M16 caught expert who sold nuke intelligence
Britain creating new breed of superspy
LONDON, Oct 29, (KUNA): Data analysis by the external intelligence service, here known as MI6, helped to unmask a scientist who sold nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea, it was revealed Thursday.
Abdul Qadeer Khan, the founder of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb, was for many years a target of British intelligence and that of other countries until his proliferation activities were shut down, the Times newspaper reported.
Now the crucial but top-secret part played by digital information in the discovery and disruption of his covert nuclear network can be disclosed as the paper is given unprecedented access to GCHQ, the listening and eavesdropping centre, and MI6.
Interviews with intelligence officers and data analysts have revealed: - Britain is creating a new breed of superspy to work across all three intelligence services in the race to stay ahead of terrorists and hostile states.
Intelligence gathered by GCHQ, including from digital experts on the ground, was behind most of Britain’s military operations during the war in Afghanistan.
The internet has reduced the “flash to bang” of a terrorist plot to weeks, from months or years, requiring spies to operate online as fast as or faster than their targets.
The power to use data is vital in the hunt for terrorist suspects and other enemies of the state, a senior officer at MI6 said.
In the first on-the-record interview of its kind, the spy, who called himself Paul, said that it also enhanced the ability of intelligence officers to recruit agents able to provide information on threats to Britain.
“Without such capabilities, we would be left like James Bond at the cocktail party when everyone else is online,” he told the publication.
“That means degradation and an inability to do what the country needs us to do... we need to be able to operate in the digital space.” In a further sign of how the internet is transforming operations, the director-general of the domestic intelligence service known as MI5 publicly confirmed for the first time yesterday that his agency was hacking terrorists’ computer and carrying out online attacks against Islamic State.
Andrew Parker told an audience in the banking and financial district here, known as City, that his officers’ ability to take the fight against ISIL into the online world was vital.