We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work. There's a real potency to Gun's tale of truth-telling in our world of social media and fake news. Whistleblower Katharine Gun and journalist Martin Bright are interviewed for their new movie Official Secrets for the films LFF screening. He had no regrets whatsoever about removing Saddam. Gun, the consciencestricken spy, will almost certainly remain the only British official charged with anything to do with the war in Iraq. At great personal and professional risk, journalist Martin Bright published the leaked document in The Observer newspaper in London, and the story made headlines around the world. Her act of whistle-blowing is portrayed in the recent film Official Secrets . 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. I mean, my first reaction was shock and anger. Katharine Gun knew exactly the sort of work she was employed to do; two years into a job at GCHQ as a Mandarin "analyst" and "translator", it's hard not to. BEN EMMERSON: Your marriage will be interrogated. So, I called him and asked him if he could do anything to help track down Frank Koza, or the reality or otherwise of this individual. During that period of purgatory, I ask, did she regret it all? It was particularly explosive in Chile, which has obviously been used to American intelligence. As Iraq descended into chaos, Katharine was arrested and charged with breaching the Official Secrets Act. For more on this incredible story and the real-life thriller that is coming out on August 30th in movie theaters around the countryour guest, Katharine Gun, is played by Keira Knightleywere joined by Katharine Gun herself, the whistleblower, former employee of Britains global surveillance center, GCHQ, played by actress Keira Knightley, yes. 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 acclaimed Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg. TINTIN: And now youre upset at being asked to do that to members of the Security Council. KATHARINE GUN: Well, its just serendipitous, fortuitous, whatever it is, but his asylum case was coming to an end at the same time that my case began. We welcome you all to Democracy Now! You didnt. Eight months later, she was charged with breaking the Official Secrets Act. Im Amy Goodman. 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. Katharine Gun who's played by Keira Knightley in a forthcoming film blew the whistle on a dodgy scheme by the American government. Gavin, who worked on the screenplay and is the director. Yasar Gun is the husband of a British whistleblower, Katharine Gun, who revealed top-secret information. It's taken a long time for Katharine to feel comfortable talking about everything that happened. 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. MARTIN BRIGHT: Well, I did. 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 did, rather naively, try calling the press office and getting an interview. Forty years later, JoBeth Williams and Craig T. Nelson tell all about the horror classics secrets, tragedies, and controversies. 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.". 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. In 2003, Katharine Gun, a young specialist working for Britains Government Communications Headquarters, exposed a highly confidential memo that revealed the United States collaboration with Britain in collecting sensitive information on United Nations Security Council members in order to pressure them into supporting the Iraq invasion. AMY GOODMAN: So, that was Katharine Gun back in 2004. 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. http://bit.ly/HeyUGuysYTSubFacebook http://facebook.com/HeyUGuysInstagram http://instagram.com/HeyUGuysOfficial--------------------- MARTIN BRIGHT: We have towe have to protect the innocent in the [inaudible]. When I saw the red flagit was like, Oh, my gosh, this is so explosive. Following the incident, Gun struggled to find work that she loved, and her husband had grown disillusioned with Britain. Gun was cleared of a charge under the Official Secrets Act after being . Some of it was to do with complications over an unfortunate spell check within the memo. Back in 30 seconds. 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. AMY GOODMAN: But, Katharine Gun, youre home. is a 501(c)3 non-profit news organization. Katharine Gun in the Liberty office, 2019. Know all ye by these presents that Katharine Gun is hereby awarded The Corner-Brightener Candlestick, presented by Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence. Woman who tried to stop a war. 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. to your inbox each morning. I do not gather intelligence so that the government can lie to the British people. People hid under the tables. From there, it made its way into the hands of Yvonne Ridley, a well-known anti-war activist. 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 . Never heard of Gun? Katharine Gun : I work at GCHQ. Her father is a drafting technician who runs an engineering company, while her mother is the owner of a company that offers IT consulting services. Everybody knows it. It would show that when our politicians break the law they are held accountable. There is no chance of such a war crimes trial. Gun, outraged by the USA's actions, printed a copy of the email and took it home. Almost a decade ago, the world was gripped with anxiety as it watched the legal proceedings against a young Se. I tried, too, without success. How old were you at the time? TINTIN: So, you work for the British government. In his memoir of office, Decision Points, George W. Bush writes about going to see Tony Blair in the Azores in the last days before the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Jack Bonneau: Young Entrepreneur Net Worth And Age- His Parents Name Explored, Nancy Cimino Cause of Death, Bio, Family and Chris Cimino, Bobby OJay Net Worth, Real Name, Wedding Pictures, Wife Picture, How Much Money Does Martin Milner Make? It was a Friday when I saw the email. Katharine McPhee was initially hesitant about dating David Foster . Katharine Teresa Gun (ne Harwood) (born 1974) is a British linguist who worked as a translator for the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). This is viewer supported news. KATHARINE GUN: The idea was to gather information that they could use to bribe them or, you know, threaten them into voting yes for the resolution. Jack Goldsmith, former head of the Office of Legal Counsel under President George W. Bush, discusses the limits of executive power with Christiane Amanpour. Two days later, she gave the email to a friend who had several contacts in the press. 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. Gun also received the Sam Adams Award, which is awarded to intelligence agents who take a stand for ethics and integrity. He was the Observer journalist who was working in Washington on this story, as well, with Martin. This Shouldnt Happen: Inside the Virus-Hunting Nonprofit at the Center of the Lab-Leak Controversy, Chasing scientific renown, grant dollars, and approval from Dr. Anthony Fauci, Peter Daszak transformed the environmental nonprofit EcoHealth Alliance into a government-funded sponsor of risky, cutting-edge virus research in both the U.S. and Wuhan, China. KATHARINE GUN: The Foreign Office, the Ministry of Defense. Her name is Katharine Gun.Watch Part 1 of this discussion: https://youtu.be/u6n1VFDJ3CY#DemocracyNowDemocracy Now! Katharine's house was searched before she was sat down to be interviewed the following morning. Our Daily Digest brings Democracy Now! And thats where you get through. 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. In 2019, she finally returned to the general public eye for the promotional press occasions for Official Secrets. Your viewers will recall them; I hope not, for their sake, but some of them will. It has been suggested that the government was desperate to ensure that documents containing advice about the legality of the war which the defence had requested would not be made public. AMY GOODMAN: Twenty-seven years old, working for thewell, for British intelligence. Manage all your favorite fandoms in one place! On one trip to the authorities, they detained Yasar. It seemed like it was, you know, the wagons were rolling fast and furious towards this awful situation and I was kind of in tunnel vision. Gun had, of course, been forced to abandon her career in the civil service and finally, struggling for work, left Britain altogether. Currently, Katharine Ross is 82 years old as she was born on 29th January 1940. Watch our livestream 8-9AM ET: https://democracynow.orgPlease consider supporting independent media by making a donation to Democracy Now! Katharine Gun, former intelligence specialist turned whistleblower, discusses the new film "Official Secrets" which details why she leaked a classified memo. 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. Katharine read the content carefully, and immediately felt sick to her stomach: it was a classified directive from the American authorities asking the British to spy on six UN Security Council members. 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? All this was a measure of the bloody chaos that was Iraq after the invasion: eventually there were 179 British dead,4,500 Americans, and maybe half a million Iraqis, most of them killed in a sectarian civil war. It stunned Katharine Gun at the time she discovered this duplicity during her work at GCHQ, and it still stuns to see it displayed on the screen, especially actual news reports from the period. MARTIN BRIGHT: Yes. You know, look at me. Ross stands at the height of 5 feet 5 inches or 165 cm tall. Yasars wife is a British linguist who worked as a translator for the GCHQ, Government Communications Headquarters. The original content of this program is licensed under a. Yes, in 2003, Gun was working for British intelligencethat's GCHQ, the intelligence agency similar to the . It's just, back then, she didn't realise quite what her employer could be capable of. January of 2003. And I felt it was explosive information. Gun, 29, was . BEN EMMERSON: Do you want to risk it all? It is vital to speak up in a democracy. And you said you say that, you know, I didnt join in order to fix a vote in the U.N. to convince the world to go to a war to go to war. They were going use information gathered from the intelligence to either bribe or blackmail them into voting for this war. AMY GOODMAN: And talk about whatI mean, you risked everything. The invasion proceeded more or less on time with a coalition of the willing led by the United States and Britain. And so it was decided: on the stand she'd state her innocence and hope for the best. This article was originally published inThe Spectators UK magazine. We should think about that and remember that., 2023 Cond Nast. Where Are Katharine Gun and Husband Now? Wise man. "I got into the office, turned on my computer and looked through my emails," says Katharine, more than 16 years later. Angola, Cameroon, Bulgaria, Chile, GAVIN HOOD: Pakistan and Mexico. And then, on Monday morning, I went back into my workplace, and I just photowell, I made a copy of it, and I printed it out and folded it up into my handbag and put it for the end of the day to take it out of the office. I think that speaks rather highly of you. "Once that initial flurry died down," says Katharine, "I returned to London to meet with the team from Liberty and my lawyer, Ben Emmerson. Discover Katharine Gun's Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. Charade or not, the diplomacy was frantic. She found the contents absolutely stunning. The person responsible for the jeopardy to face Blair and the coalition in invading Iraq was as well as Bush and Blair themselves a young translator at GCHQ, Katharine Gun. 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. AMY GOODMAN: And the idea was they would figure out which way they were going to vote, so that they could sway them. After the issue, they moved to Turkey in 2011 with her whole family to avoid the general public eye. Sam Eliott and Katharine Ross . Tell us the moment. Bush had agreed to this to help Blair. AMY GOODMAN: So, but talk about this, your argument to the editors. 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. KATHARINE GUN: I translated signals intelligence, and I reported anything I thought might be of interest to my clients. This is her story. And, guys, you do not want to miss this story and what would then take place. Yes, its a new Hollywood movie thats coming out, but it is the real-life story of Katharine Gun. The morning of Friday the 31st of January, 2003 started out just like any other. It was a crisis meeting because they had failed to get a second UN resolution, to give legal cover for the war. Any intelligence gathered would be used as leverage to coerce those nations into sanctioning a war in Iraq. I could not get it in the paper. TINTIN: [played by Peter Guinness] Katharine Gun? Acclaimed Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg described Katharine Guns action as the most important and courageous leak I have ever seen. Dan Ellsberg said, No one elseincluding myselfhas ever done what Katharine Gun did: tell secret truths at personal risk, before an imminent war, in time, possibly, to avert it.. I actually felt like, if I do this anonymously, nobody will realize its me and Ill carry on as usual. But about a month after leaking the letter, Gun was stunned to see that The Observer had published the document in full on its front page. These worries crystalized when GCHQ sent her to San Diego for a conference and she was invited on to an American aircraft carrier. The Man Who Deleted His Past Before He Was Found Dead. After university and a couple of years teaching in Japan, she was back in Britain and looking for a job. 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. I remember the first time I really understood what love was or at least what a nine-year-old could understand as romantic love. GUN: Thats right. It wasn't that she was naive. Right away, Katharine knew the significance of this message. And it was. JERRY: [played by Chris Reilly] Hes a Muslim. It was an extraordinary moment. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, you work for the British government? Release date September 13, 2019 In 2003, she leaked top-secret information to The Observer, concerning a request by the United States for compromising intelligence on diplomats from member states of the 2003 Security Council.The diplomats were due to vote on a second United . I couldn't control myself I was a total state, crying and trembling.". What do you do? She was brought up in Taiwan her parents moved there to work when she was three and so was fluent in Mandarin. KATHARINE GUN: [played by Keira Knightley] Do you mean have I leaked anything else? 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.. 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. She says this breach was a foolish one-off. The Drudge Report, famous right-wing website, had followed the story up. The AFI Life Achievement recipient discusses her most memorable filmsand what moviegoers actually misremember. Ezra Millers Messiah Delusions: Inside. And yeah, it was just a request from the NSA tofor GCHQ to assist them in bugging the domestic and office communications of the six U.N. Security Council delegates. Martin faced potential charges too. Gun sits down with Christiane to share her story. 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 . It took two hours for the cops from special branch to reach GCHQ in Cheltenham. This is of no use to me at all. And she turned the piece of paper over, and on the back someone had written the header information. Nowadays, everyone can invent their own news - and call out stories - on social media, and . AMY GOODMAN: Wll, this is the key, absolutely astounding moment. AMY GOODMAN: Weve got to make this fast; we have three minutes. KATHARINE GUN: And then I mailed it to a contact, who then passed it on to a journalist, who then passed it on to Martin Bright. Blogus by Themeansar. Our writers hold no party line; their only allegiance is to clarity of thought, elegance of expression and independence of opinion. I couldnt see beyond this war and all I wanted to do is just to put a spoke in the wheel of this wagon. [2] r 2003 lckte hon ut hemlig information till tidningen The Observer, angende en begran frn USA om att samla in knslig information om diplomater frn medlemslnder i FN:s . As noted in online sources, the former spy's birth year is recorded to be 1974. 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. In 2004, Democracy Now! Husband: Not Available: Sibling: Not Available: Children: Not Available: Katharine Gun Net Worth. It was a crisis meeting because they had failed to get a second UN resolution, to give legal cover for the war. And also, the memo itself contained language that was consistent with intelligence service language, so we had experts look at that, as well. And Rhys Ifans plays the outraged insanity rather well, to my embarrassment, but he does a good job. Gun did not seek martyrdom and wasnt searching for evidence to stop the war: the email fell into her lap. But were going to go to a break, and then were going to come back to this discussion. August 31 2019, 5:30 a.m. Keira Knightley, as whistleblower Katharine Gun, in the 2019 movie "Official Secrets." Photo: Nick Wall/IFC. Even before the invasion, she suspected that the US was cooking up intelligence about Iraqi WMD. On the night of the 19th of March, 2003, the bombs began to fall. Romantic love, back then, she suspected that the government can lie the... On social media, and on the back someone had written the header information world. Me and Ill carry on as usual who revealed top-secret information Age, height Physical. Thewell, for British intelligence, they moved to Turkey in 2011 with whole. 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