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The Big Breach; From Top Secret to Maximum SecurityCompliments of http://www.192.comÒf course, that is why I got in touch,' I replied, `But I first wantyour word of honour that you will not arrest me and that you will notuse surveillance to establish my whereabouts.' Once my base was known,MI6 might ask the Spanish police either to arrest me for talking to theSunday Times, or, worse, to frame me for another crime.`We will not call the Guardia Civil during the negotiations,' promisedMorrison, `but there is no point in entering discussions if there isnot good faith on both sides.' I reluctantly accepted Morrison's vaguepromises - I had striven hard to get this far.Morrison insisted that neither John Wadham nor any other lawyer couldrepresent me. `You know we can't possibly let you have arepresentative,' he said. Ìt would be gravely prejudicial to nationalsecurity.' It was utter baloney, but there was little option other thanto go along with them. Morrison demanded that the meeting take place inMadrid, to enable him to use the embassy as a base to work from, andoffered to pay my expenses from Fuengirola.We met for the first time on Thursday, 14 November 1996, in the HotelAmbassador, a short walk from the embassy. Waiting for them in thelobby with my hand-luggage, I was surprised when Morrison turned upaccompanied by a younger officer whose face was familiar. `Hello,Richard,' Morrison greeted me cordially. `This is Andy Watts. Iunderstand you've met briefly before. I've brought him along as wethought it would be better for you to have another two minds to bounceideas off.' Round two to MI6 - not content with denying me a lawyer,they had stacked the negotiations further in their favour by bringing atwo-man team.Right from the outset my only request, to be allowed to go to anemployment tribunal, was stubbornly rejected by Morrison and Watts.`You know how prejudicial that would be to national security,' Morrisonlectured.ÒK,' I ventured, `You choose the judge at the tribunal, one that youapprove of and have vetted. You choose not only your own lawyer butalso mine, so that you can pick one you approve of and have positivelyvetted. We hold the tribunal in camera, at a secret location, and Isign a confidentiality agreement binding me not to talk to the pressabout the result.'Morrison shook his head gravely. `You know perfectly well, Richard,that even in those circumstances it would not be secure.' I held myhead in disbelief. How could these people be so obtuse and unreasonableto assert that a hearing held in these circumstances would be lesssecure than having a highly disaffected former officer on the loose?As I feared, MI6 tailed me on my return journey. I didn't pick up footsurveillance at Madrid airport or on the plane, but leaving Malagaairport, two cars and possibly a third followed me along the autopistato Fuengirola. There was no point in trying to shake them off on themotorway, so I carried on past Fuengirola and pulled off into Marbella.The historic centre of Marbella is a maze of narrow, cobbledpassageways and it was easy to use the speed and manoeuvrability of thebike to lose them. I then returned eastwards, along the spectacularpage- 155 - To purchase the original limited edition hardback version of this bookplease call 08000 192 192 or go to http://www.192.com
The Big Breach; From Top Secret to Maximum SecurityCompliments of http://www.192.comwinding mountain roads to Fuengirola. They would have to try harder ifthey wanted to find my hideout.A few days later they succeeded. They must have passed the number plateand description of my motorbike to the Guardia Civil. A large silverHonda Africa Twin with a distinctive bright yellow British number platemust have been fairly easy to find. Riding home one evening after a daytrip to the mountain village of Ronda, two Guardia Civil motorcyclistsstopped me a few kilometres outside Fuengirola on the pretext of aroutine check of my driving licence. `Donde vive usted?' the seniorofficer asked. Guessing that I might be tempted to invent an address,they warned me that they would follow me home. The choice was toabandon my belongings, including the laptop, and ride off to a newaddress, or tell the truth. Chosing the latter, I led the officers tomy bedsit.A week later, Morrison and Watts invited me to another meeting inMadrid. This time they were armed with several thick dossiers, labelled`D/813317', my old staff number, which they laid out on the table infront of me. `We've decided to make a special exception for you,'proudly announced Morrison, peering through his thick glasses. `We'regoing to let you look at your own personal files.' It was unprecedentedfor the secretive personnel department to let their charges see theirown papers, though such transparency should have been normal practice.Certainly the mistrust and animosity that had bottled up between thedepartment and me would have been avoided had there been an openreporting system in place.Morrison hoped that the reasons for my dismissal would become clearerto me once I had read the files and that it would help assuage myanger. His motives were sound but his judgement was flawed. The notesof meetings between myself and the various members of personneldepartment during my four years in the service were a shoddilyinaccurate blend of bias, fantasy, venom and plain incompetence. Noneof the excellent work that my line-managers had praised was evenmentioned, but there were scathing criticisms for the tiniest omissionor most trivial error. My failure to wear a tie to meet Karadzic earnedpages of abuse. Basic communication failings were repeated throughout.Successive personnel officers had read the reports of theirpredecessors and, rather than interviewng me to seek their own opinion,found it easier to go with the flow and add more layers of garbage.The files also explained personnel's obsession that I would findfulfilment in the City. During the recruitment process, `Mr Halliday'noted that I would be taking a hefty salary cut from Booz Allen &Hamilton. On my IONEC report a few months later, Ball advised personneldepartment to give me an interesting and challenging post because itwould be a shame if such an outstanding candidate were to become boredand leave for more highly paid work. A few years later, these casualcomments had snowballed into a firm opinion that I was about to abandonthe office for a life in stripy shirt and braces.At my last meeting with Poison Dwarf, I accused him of failing to giveany warning that my job was at risk, as required by law. Poison Dwarfinsisted pompously that he personally had given the formal warning. Butcareful scrutiny of all of his contact reports revealed no mention ofpage- 156 - To purchase the original limited edition hardback version of this bookplease call 08000 192 192 or go to http://www.192.com
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