The
end result of MI5 taking the lead role in intelligence
gathering in the North will be to turn the state
into a new millennium version of the old communist
East Germany where one person in every 50 colluded
with the secret police.
MI5
looks set to become the Northern Stasi, Red Germany's
secret police based in East Berlin before the fall
of the notorious wall.
'Outing'
alleged informers and spies within the ranks of
militant loyalism and republicanism has become almost
as popular a past time as 'outing' gay and lesbian
celebrities.
At
least when the RUC Special Branch and British military
intelligence ran their agents, the vast majority
of the informers came from the paramilitaries.
Now
that MI5 has taken over the role of running super
spooks, we will see a whole army of state-paid informers
recruited across many aspects of civilian life –
in schools, the Civil Service, health service, trade
unions, churches, and even the media.
Spying
will not be limited to politics, criminal gangs,
or terror groups if MI5 now models its strategy
and tactics on the Stasi, whose motto was Shield
and Sword of the Party.
The
Stasi became widely recognised as one of the most
effective spying agencies in the globe with a fearsome
reputation rivalling that of the American CIA or
the Russian KGB.
During
its 40-year life span from its formation in 1950
until the old commie East Germany was finally dissolved
in 1989, the Stasi had amassed 91,000 full-time
employees, handling around 300,000 informers. It
especially prided itself in its impressive network
of civilian spooks.
A
friend once told me how during a visit to a united
Germany, minutes of teachers meetings at a local
west German technical college were found amongst
Stasi documents.
If
MI5 becomes smitten with Stasi Syndrome, and recruits
hundreds of touts from everyday clubs and societies,
what would the Northern intelligence community want
all this information for?
Are
we also to see the emergence of Russian-style political
officers in various organisations to ensure loyalty
to the government of the state?
Will
Celebrity Big Brother type cameras be located in
every housing development in the North? Are we sure
the primary aim of police cameras is to catch speeding
motorists or urban hoods?
How
many members of school boards of governors will
become MI5 informants? Not even sporting organisations
and clubs will be immune from MI5's grip. Will people
eventually require an MI5 stamp of approval before
taking up a job as a community worker, teacher,
fireman ... or even a web columnist?
Then
there's the really worrying question – who
keeps an eye on rogue elements within MI5? In fact,
who controls the activities of MI5? Will we see
the emergence of yet another level of informant
who informs on the MI5 spooks themselves? And if
this is the case, who do the spook spies report
to?
If
the Stasi statistics of one in 50 East Germans working
as spies are applied to the North, then we can expect
around 34,000 of our neighbours to be MI5 plants,
given there are about 1.7 million people in the
North.
Here's
another teaser – who will be responsible for
recruiting these informants? Why would people want
to become MI5 spooks in their local schools or places
of worship? Will there be tasty cash packages for
touting with handsome handshakes or additional pensions
at the end of their service or retirement?
There's
an old saying – information is power. Does
this mean MI5 will really become the state government
rather than democratically elected politicians?
Would MI5 go as far as to put spy cameras in polling
booths to get conclusive proof as to which party
individuals are voting for?
Indeed,
how many community associations, tenants groups
and residents committees will now be effectively
run by MI5? Makes you wonder who the real enemy
of the state will be?
However,
the really, really worrying concern is whether this
vast arsenal of information will be used to stamp
out common crime? Looking back at the Troubles,
many relatives must be asking how many of their
loved ones could have been saved if these alleged
'super touts' within the terror gangs had acted
sooner?
Surely
these paramilitary informants could have been trained
by their handers to stop acts of terror? If not,
why not? Did the North merely become one huge training
ground for the long-term war against Islamic militants?
Hopefully,
MI5 can use all this information on people to stamp
out the burglars and car thieves. If it can't, there's
a real danger communities could turn to forming
vigilante mobs to sort out the petty criminals.
Then
again, would MI5 be more interested in infiltrating
the community vigilante groups than actually stalking
the hoods causing the trouble and upset in the first
place?
