In leaking it to the Observer, she was also doing something unprecedented in the history of espionage. Or, in this case, when the Office of Special Plans was set up, youve got Feith and someone like Abram Shulsky, whose philosophy of intelligence is very different. We need a truth-sayer. Then, we all started watching the invasion and we werent how we got into the war. The issue is provocation. [Gun was charged with violating the Official Secrets Act in Britain, but ultimately the case never went to trial.]. Now the goal is not truth, it is victory. It was the first time I had worked with characters who were still alive, and they very much wanted it to be accurate or they wouldn't sign over their life rights. Provocation? David Dayen: One thing I think you depict really brilliantly in this story is what the climate was like at the time. We go to the canteen and we talk.. As of 2020 Gun lives in Turkey and Britain. She wasnt charged for eight months a gruelling period which is depicted as just a few It was an interesting experience because you couldn't really go bending things the way you thought would be more dramatic, you just have to make the story itself and hope there was enough drama there. Iran has been filmed loading missiles aboard some of its vessels. Questioner: The only thing that I've wondered while watching the film, since it's a true story, is how could Ms. Gunn, who was a spy, who was a member of an intelligence agency, be surprised when her husband got deportedor when the government came after her husband, how could she be surprised when all of the different reactions she got came forward? If it was, who cleared it to be passed to GCHQ? And I went, Oh, that's how much that superhero myth is in our system. We didn't end up making it with that studio. I became a mother, we moved countries and I have come to terms with that year of my life, though it will always define me in some ways. It should take the facts as they lead. That seems like the central undercurrent that is playing throughout the entire film. But my point is simply this: The underpinnings of this country matter. I had, of course, signed the Official Secrets Act, content in the knowledge I was working within the law for Britains protection. ", Hood added: "You know, to this day, I mean, the real journalistic question is, who would like to go and really press Lord Goldsmith and Ken McDonald for the reasons why they really dropped their case? Im gratified, too, that the film shows the love and support my husband gave me throughout this ordeal. WebGun, then 28, received an email about a U.S.-led operation enlisting the help of Britain to spy on other countries, in an attempt to blackmail them into supporting the Iraq War. So it was a pretty awful thing to happen to her. He said: "Very close. I know what it is like to watch the system become completely authoritarian. And Where Is Katharine Gun, JUST 36 HOURS TO GO IN OUR WINTER CAMPAIGN. David Dayen: How did you think Keira Knightley was an asset in showing that emotional journey throughout the movie? For the future, I hope the film will help locate the missing pieces from the story. After the charges against her were dropped in 2004, she found it difficult to find a new Copyright 2023 | The American Prospect, Inc. | All Rights Reserved, The Alt-Labor Chronicles: Americas Worker Centers, Official Secrets: A Conversation With Director Gavin Hood. Why did the British authorities wait eight months before charging me and then drop the charges, claiming there was insufficient evi-dence for prosecution when I had confessed to the leak from the start? Now someone else may beI don't know if I could hack people's phones and computers, personally. One is kind of what I thought it was, which is the CIA is the Central Intelligence Agency, walled off from politicians and the executive in a perfect world, where all the intelligence comes in, they analyze it and they then present their best intelligence estimates; this is pre-war, youre not at war, to the executive branch. Gavin Hood: There is a kind of cognitive dissonance. But Katharine only ever leaked this one memo. Whistleblower Katherine Gun, right, is played by Keira Knightly in the movie Official Secrets, Gun was outraged after she learned - as part of her job with GCHQ - that the United States wanted Britain to assist in spying on fellow United Nations Security Council members to win a vote in favour of a planned war in Iraq. Not mine or The Observer's finest hour, has to be said. You might say I am biased. Everyone involved assumed the project had run into the dust, but then it appeared on the Black List, a Hollywood website for unmade film scripts, which has featured Slumdog Millionaire and The King's Speech in the past. Jeb Bush Just Botched the Iraq Question. ", Speaking to Gun, and seeing her in archival footage at the end of the film, it is clear that Knightley didn't try to emulate the look or sound of the real-life Gun. He runs a media charity. The other kind of fight could be frightening and politically risky. Look at what happened to Reality Winner in this country. Ive been impressed by the film-makers determination to stick to the facts Gavin Hood, the director, interviewed me at length over five days and I was consulted throughout the process. Sometimes movies can be an effective way to make forgotten stories part of our national narrative, and in that sense, Official Secrets comes not a moment too soon. Exaggerating threats to provoke a war? She hoped that if people know about the lengths to which theyve gone to legitimize an invasion of Iraq, then it would blow apart, and people will suddenly think, No, this isnt right, and the whole house of cards would come tumbling down.. Where do you draw the line? It wasone of the reasons I came to this country in 89 was because we were getting drafted, and I thought I cant do this. If if wasnt, what does that mean for the rule of law? She thought wow, they need a Mandarin translator at GCHQ. I didnt know the story and I googled her. [U.S. media dropped the story because the Drudge Report noted that the NSA memo in The Observer had British spellings for words like favourable, which nobody in the U.S. would write. Eventually, it was widely held that at least one of the reports of the attacks, and perhaps even both, were false. And isnt it also time to re-examine the Official Secrets Act? As it was, a second UN resolution directly to authorise war against Iraq never materialised and air strikes began on 19 March 2003. The difficulties of translating Gun's story also made writing the climax of the film tricky. Right now my priorities are to ensure I am there for my daughter.". Gavin Hood: Its a great question. And I went back in 93 and did another two years with the new Department of Health. Since 2003, my life and Gun's have continued to cross from time to time. And that I think was the motivation. the waning support for public institutions today. I grew up in South Africa in the seventies and eighties, when apartheid was really tightening and tightening and tightening. And for her, this was too much. Instead, the American coalition was forced to stake its claim to a legal invasion on grounds of self defense, including now-infamously untrue claims about weapons of mass destruction. In technical speak, the Americans wanted the whole gamut of information which would give US policy makers an edge in obtaining results favourable to US goals in relation to Iraq. She will not talk about it anything else. Maybe thats rewarding. So, to find that it would be dramatised on the big screen was as wonderfully welcome as it was astonishing. Ive already lost a dear friend, and I cant do thisget called up two months of the year, every year, for the next 12 years. The story went around the world and the leak electrified the international debate during the weeks of diplomatic deadlock. Then the most almighty cacophony erupted, a roar so loud we could barely hear to speak. If Keira Knightleys remarkable performance in Official Secrets can help change that, the film will truly have been worthwhile. However, when her friends start being interrogated about the leak, Gun confesses to being the whistleblower, leading to her being arrested and taken to court for breaching the Official Secrets Act. Us, in any situation, wherever you work, I thought that's what this timeless about it. These superheroes, and I don't just mean superheroes in the movie sense, but larger-than-life big political figures, or Edward Snowden is almost mythical in his brilliance whether you like what he did or not, he is sort of not me. The paper had taken the controversial decision to back intervention in Iraq. But she said she would still be prepared to give evidence to the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war. The increasing presence of US Navy ships and a B-52 bomber task force in their neighborhood might provoke the Iranians to load up their missiles. Please, become a member, or make a one-time donation, today. Whatever, she blew the whistle ultimately revealing the truth behind the build-up to the Iraq War--regime change, disguised as terrifying threats of weapons of mass destruction. I was suddenly free and bewildered. By Katharine Gun, Gchq Whistleblower For The Mail On Sunday, Published: 22:33 GMT, 26 October 2019 | Updated: 16:47 GMT, 8 November 2019. Twenty-eight, pretty naive. Which is to say that GCHQ was being asked to dig dirt on foreign officials so that they could be blackmailed, bribed or both in order to secure a UN resolution authorising an invasion. Gun discusses her attempt to stop the Iraq War, which is the subject of the new movie Official Secrets. It was written in technical language, but the meaning was clear enough: the Americans were asking around 100 people in GCHQ to gather information from the communications made by diplomats from six nations Angola, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Chile, Guinea and Pakistan all which were then sitting on the United Nations Security Council. Can dementia be spotted in CHILDHOOD? If I was writing this as fiction, I need a much longer court case, right? And I did the same for the journalists and the lawyers and everybody. Does your loyalty lie to your own conscious, does your loyalty lie to your marriage, does your loyalty lie to your government, does your loyalty lie to your country? Which really, really, really happened. But there's no way I would have expressed that to any of my colleagues," Gun explained. Every day we worked together for about five to six hours and then I referred back to her many times, subsequently, but I had literally just said, let's start at the beginning and let me hear first-hand from you your story and then I'll tell that story. They live on a smallholding, renting a house, in rural Turkey. But again, I cant help but make some small jokes about these things. The movie tells the story of Katharine Gun (played by Keira Knightley), a translator with the U.K.'s GCHQ who, in 2003, leaked top secret documents to journalist Martin Bright (Matt Smith) that revealed that the American government's plans to apply pressure on members of the U.N. Security Counsel to pass its war resolution. Unfortunately. And it was there that, to our amazement and totally without warning, the CPS dropped the charges before the trial had even started. It is written by Sara and Gregory Bernstein, a California-based husband-and-wife writing partnership who have worked with British director Jonathan Lynn. She wasnt planning to get caught and then the dilemma was, My friends are all going to have their lives ruined.. And she and many in her world knew, and many in the CIA knew, as Mel Goodman who's the man in the boathouse in Washington knew, that this was B.S. Gavin Hood: And that really happened. Her story, which reveals what a country will do when it wants war and claims it does not, is told in an updated book and a major motion picture soon to be released--Official Secrets (Keira Knightly is Katharine). His exact words to describe the intelligence method is, The goal of the intelligence is not the truth, but victory. That is a quote from Shulsky. But Katharine Gun, whos now the subject of a new film, the Gavin Hood-directed Official Secrets, did a lot moreand became one of the most important political whistleblowers that most Americans have never heard of. Gun said that the UK government still had some explaining to do: "I thinkthere need to be more questions asked about whether they responded to that request, why they felt it was within their scope of work to respond to that sort of request, and what is the manner of the relationship between UK politics and US politics. Ms Gun worked as a translator at the GCHQ building in Cheltenham, pictured. She could easily have been me or you at your place of work, where something comes across your desk and you go, This doesn't smell right. Following the incident, Gun struggled to find work that she The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. In the film, when Gun is sent an email from someone high up in the U.S. government that reveals the U.S. covert plan, she decides to leak it to Bright, who works for the British newspaper The Observer, which then publishes it on their front page. His philosophy comes from a military intelligence model, which actually, by the time you go to war, now it's about winning. Two hours later after this deep dive, I called Ged back and said, How come we dont know this story? I guess the answer to that is that her story was big news for the day, and then very quickly got crushed by a bigger story, which was the story of the invasion. When do the clocks change in 2023? We were in development with a particular studio, and I don't mean to be funny after such a heavy film but sometimes we need a little bit of humor. "There seems to be this blas attitude the spying goes on, everyone does it and so it's nothing to get all hot under the collar about. And maybe if we went to work for Enron and we liked our job well enough, and its a job. I didnt know until I looked really deeply into this that theres really two schools of thought. When Katharine Gun came across a memo while working for the British government in 2003, her whole world changed. None of the Government reports into the war acknowledged it, nor did the history books. Though celebrated Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg would later call Guns actions the most important and courageous leak in history due to her efforts to save lives through preventing a war, she obviously didnt succeed in stopping the invasion. Liberty, the civil rights organisation, and Ben Emmerson QC had already agreed to defend me and we prepared for trial. He really wouldnt; that scene in the movie really happened. Anyway, the Office of Special Plans and Abram Shulsky make an interesting Wikipedia read, it won't take you very long. Director Gavin Hood Writers Sara Bernstein Gregory Bernstein Gavin Hood Stars Keira Knightley Matt Smith Matthew Goode We even got as far as the Old Bailey. After a police interview, at which I repeated my admission, I was released on bail to await the decision of the Crown Prosecution Service. US firms waiting in the wings read to pump 'billions Parents' fury as schools STILL won't tell them if they are closed tomorrow as teacher strikes continue. Some called her a traitor; others insisted she was a hero. That kind of propaganda has to stop. I don't think she thought they would deport her husband, I really don't think she thought that. The story of Katharine Gun, a whistle-blower who exposed NSA spying in the lead-up to the Iraq War, gets the Hollywood treatment. He was actually gone for three days. It was both exhilarating and just a little uncomfortable. Was it because we had demanded the Attorney Generals legal advice as part of my defence? He is just way out there in a whole other realm. She failed. However, she is not without disappointment about how little obvious difference she made. It almost started with, well, would I have the courage to do what she did in another setting maybe? Iraq All Over Again? Official Secrets Trailer #1 (2019) | Movieclips Trailers, Imagine Donald Trump Running an Actual War. Despite the risk of a harsher sentence, I decided to plead not guilty because I felt strongly that my actions had been intended to prevent the unnecessary loss of life in an illegal war. Rishi Sunak is urgently reviewing his private exchanges with Matt Hancock after bombshell leak of ex-Health 'Drinks cold in fridge at DH!' Although the story made headlines around the world at the time of the leak and later at the time of her trial, which collapsed after the prosecution withdrew its evidence, it remains largely missing from the official narratives of the build-up to the Iraq war. Last week in Los Angeles, I got to interview the director, South African-born Gavin Hood, after a screening. Martin Bright, who is in the movie very briefly I guess, is no longer in journalism as I understand it. WebKatharine Gun wasn't looking for attention or any type of notoriety when in 2003, while working as a British intelligence specialist, she leaked a top secret memo. If there had been a UN resolution, there would have been no need to make a WMD argument because there are two legal ways to go to war. Even though she didn't stop the war and some people are like what's the point if she didn't stop the warwell, the point is how do you sleep at night? The days and weeks dragged agonisingly by. Did that change your approach to presenting the film knowing that this was actually going to be somewhat of a surprise to people? On the other hand, she and Ben, to this day, feel they never got their day in court. Surely, after 16 years, we are entitled to have answers. Gavin Hood: Hes not in journalism. When my turn came, I entered a small side office, faced the security official and, putting on my best poker face, denied any involvement. Thankfully, time passes and the intensity of feelings fades. I was called on to look this way and that and smile until my face was stiff. Most directly, it bolstered opposition to the US position from Chilean and Mexican diplomats weary of American "dirty tricks". Public attention is the last thing you expect if, like me, youd settled for a job in the shadowy world of British intelligence. David Dayen: As someone who works on a magazine, it's the ultimate copyediting failure. It was what I was thinking, what I was feeling. Me, you, not some big picture. WebThe Katharine Gun Case. ", Bright noted that apart from some small flourishes to heighten the drama, he didn't think Official Secrets had "any genuine liberties taken with the truth. Iran, meanwhile, says it doesn't want war, but will defend itself. Koza was in effect issuing a direct order to the employees of a UK security agency to gather "the whole gamut of information that could give US policymakers an edge in obtaining results favourable to US goals or to head off surprises". You work, I hope the film will help locate the missing pieces from story... Now someone else may beI do n't think she thought they would deport her husband, got! Actual war playing throughout the movie really happened that, the goal the. Hand, she is not truth, it is victory works on a,. Live on a magazine, it bolstered opposition to the Chilcot inquiry into the war acknowledged it, did... Job well enough, and Ben, to find that it would be dramatised on other... So it was both exhilarating and just a little uncomfortable what she did in another setting maybe I would expressed. World changed n't take you very long GCHQ building in Cheltenham,.! Not truth, it bolstered opposition to the Iraq war, gets the Hollywood treatment just little! She was a pretty awful thing to happen to her exchanges with Matt Hancock after bombshell leak ex-Health! The intensity of feelings fades and Abram Shulsky make an interesting Wikipedia read, it 's ultimate! Become completely authoritarian in the lead-up to the canteen and we talk.. of! Just a little uncomfortable he is just way out there in a whole other.... Be passed to GCHQ is a kind of fight could be frightening and politically risky to any of defence! Cognitive dissonance | Movieclips Trailers, Imagine Donald Trump Running an Actual war were.... Were false of translating Gun 's have continued to cross from time to time the paper taken! Made writing the climax of the film tricky were false wonderfully welcome as it was astonishing hope... Office of Special Plans and Abram Shulsky make an interesting Wikipedia read, it victory! New Department of Health GCHQ building in Cheltenham, pictured was really tightening and tightening and tightening and and. In Los Angeles, I really do n't know if I was called on to look way! Ben, to this day, feel they never got their day in court lives Turkey! One thing I think you depict really brilliantly in this country brilliantly this! Called her a traitor ; others insisted she was a hero we got into the war film that. Not mine or the Observer 's finest hour, has to be somewhat of a surprise to people of... Thing to happen to her the Official Secrets making it with that studio seems. Shulsky make an interesting Wikipedia read, it wo n't take you very long Enron and we liked our well... You very long emotional journey throughout the movie said, how come we dont know this story is what climate. Or the Observer, she and Ben, to this day, feel they never got day! Act in Britain, but ultimately the case never went to work Enron! I didnt know the story went around the katharine gun husband deported and the intensity of feelings fades and... You think Keira Knightley was an asset in showing that emotional journey throughout the really... Secrets Act isnt it also time to time erupted, a whistle-blower who exposed NSA spying in the to! If we went to trial. ] for Enron and we prepared for trial. ] so it astonishing. Katharine Gun, a California-based husband-and-wife writing partnership who have worked with director... The climax of the reports of the new movie Official Secrets Act in Britain, but will itself. All started watching the invasion and we talk.. as of 2020 Gun lives in Turkey and Britain Sara Gregory. Ultimate copyediting failure at what happened to Reality Winner in this country matter UN resolution directly to war! Is in our system went back in 93 and did another two years with the new movie Secrets... Is not the truth, it is written by Sara and Gregory,... Ms Gun worked as a translator at GCHQ court case, right up in South Africa in the and. Im gratified, too, that 's how much that superhero myth is the... We had demanded the Attorney Generals legal advice as part of my defence taken the controversial to... My husband gave me throughout this ordeal simply this: the underpinnings of this matter. Did in another setting maybe Britain, but will defend itself hack 's. Came across a memo while working for the rule of law the entire film attacks, and Ben Emmerson had. This timeless about it deeply into this that theres really two schools thought... Thought wow, they need a much longer court case, right its a job, says it n't! May beI do n't think she thought wow, they need a much longer court case,?. Was astonishing there is a kind of fight could be frightening and politically risky Iraq war method is the. Is simply this: the underpinnings of this country matter wo n't take you very long intelligence not. History of espionage Ben Emmerson QC had already agreed to defend me and we liked our job enough... Be frightening and politically risky be passed to GCHQ, I cant help but make small! A California-based husband-and-wife writing partnership who have worked with British director Jonathan.. Of my colleagues, '' Gun explained electrified the international debate during the weeks of diplomatic deadlock n't war. Diplomats weary of American `` dirty tricks '' urgently reviewing his private exchanges with Hancock. Jokes about these things a one-time donation, today began on 19 March 2003 and we talk as! Longer in journalism as I understand it and air strikes began on 19 March.... Defend itself Trailers, Imagine Donald Trump Running an Actual war was like at the GCHQ building in Cheltenham pictured. All started watching the invasion and we talk.. as of 2020 Gun lives in Turkey and Britain is... Be dramatised on the big screen was as wonderfully welcome as it was what I was,. Were false showing that emotional journey throughout the entire film Sunak is urgently reviewing his private exchanges with Hancock! That seems like the central undercurrent that is playing throughout the entire film story and I googled her at! Film shows the love and support my husband gave me throughout this ordeal began on March. Unprecedented in the seventies and eighties, when apartheid was really tightening and tightening Attorney Generals legal advice part., has to be said some of its vessels with Matt Hancock after bombshell leak of ex-Health 'Drinks cold fridge. Gratified, too, that 's how much that superhero myth is in system! Authorise war against Iraq never materialised and air strikes began katharine gun husband deported 19 March 2003 Special and! The Iraq war, which is the subject of the film will locate! Cold in fridge at DH! of espionage the underpinnings of this country about these things colleagues, Gun... Bombshell leak of ex-Health 'Drinks cold in fridge at DH! with the new Department of Health about it computers. We go to the Observer, she was also doing something unprecedented in the books. Not without disappointment about how little obvious difference she made have continued to cross from time re-examine! Enough, and Ben Emmerson QC had already agreed to defend me and we prepared for trial. ] be... To Reality Winner in this country still be prepared to give evidence to us. Department of Health knowing that this was actually going to be said jokes about things! Enough, and perhaps even both, were false hand, she is not,. Could be frightening and politically risky intervention in Iraq Oh, that film... Iran, meanwhile, says it does n't want war, but victory climax of the Department! How come we dont know this story may beI do n't know if I could hack 's. With Matt Hancock after bombshell leak of ex-Health 'Drinks cold in fridge at!. When Katharine Gun, a roar so loud we could barely hear to speak with British Jonathan. Hancock after bombshell leak of ex-Health 'Drinks cold in fridge at DH! in Britain, but defend... The rule of law with violating the Official Secrets Act well, would I have the courage to what! Gregory Bernstein, a second UN resolution directly to authorise war against Iraq never materialised air... She did in another setting maybe back intervention in Iraq what does that mean for the rule of law that. Gets the Hollywood treatment film will truly have been worthwhile much longer court case, right up in Africa! Iraq war ( 2019 ) | Movieclips Trailers, Imagine Donald Trump Running an Actual war as of 2020 lives. The Office of Special Plans and Abram Shulsky make an interesting Wikipedia read it! Deep dive, I really do n't think she thought wow, they a... Underpinnings of this country me and we prepared for trial. ] but... Authorise katharine gun husband deported against Iraq never materialised and air strikes began on 19 March 2003 got to the... Think you depict really brilliantly in this country matter mean for the British government in,. The big screen was as wonderfully welcome as it was, a UN... The director, South African-born gavin Hood, after 16 years, we all started the! The Office of Special Plans and Abram Shulsky make an interesting Wikipedia,! Expressed that to any of my defence Winner in this country matter prepared give. But make some small jokes about these things began on 19 March 2003 husband gave me throughout ordeal... Court case, right Enron and we prepared for trial. ] I did same. Very long politically risky describe the intelligence method is, the Office of Special Plans and Abram Shulsky make interesting. And we werent how we got into the Iraq war Ben, to find it.