On stage: three wise men of our intelligence agencies spin a yarn
---
Instead, the heads of the services spent a fruitful couple of hours, courtesy of Westminster's Intelligence and Security Committee, explaining that we shouldn't want to know such things, or setting out why they couldn't tell us about all the things they couldn't tell us, especially the things we don't need to know. It was an advert for the spooks' high opinion of themselves and their work.
Three middle-aged white men emerged from what one called the "ring of secrecy" to argue for the preservation of the ring against scrutiny, whistleblowers and journalism. GCHQ's Sir Iain Lobban, MI5's Andrew Parker and Sir John Sawers of MI6 were less grilled than lightly warmed over by Sir Malcolm Rifkind's committee. Proper evidence, the TV audience was told repeatedly, would only be revealed in private sessions.
The public hearing was a publicity stunt, in short, one that must have seemed like an excellent idea when it was mooted. That was before the American analyst Edward Snowden emerged from his country's National Security Agency with evidence of his own, evidence demonstrating that Tempora, for one example, is Britain's contribution to the effort to blow a gigantic hole in the internet and in privacy.
The Intelligence and Security Committee made a few dutiful noises about that, but in truth it is not the sort of body to fail to take the spymasters at their word. All involved are establishment trustees. Contrary to any impression given, theirs is not a parliamentary committee but - a crucial distinction - a committee of parliamentarians, peers and MPs, one largely chosen by the Government. Rifkind, as foreign secretary, once had charge of both GCHQ and MI6. For him, scepticism comes hard.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/comment/columnists/on-stage-three-wise-men-of-our-intelligence-agencies-spin-a-yarn.22645272
= new reply since forum marked as read
