British MI AGents Exposed on the Internet Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit source - "Edmond J. \(skip\) O'Neill" Names Of Secret Agents Appear On Internet Wednesday, May 12, 1999 LONDON (Reuters) - The lives of dozens of British intelligence agents were put at risk Wednesday when their names were published on a U.S.-based Internet website, the London Evening Standard said. In a front-page report, the newspaper said British authorities were urgently taking ``all legal means'' to either have the information removed immediately or to shut down the website. The agents all worked for the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), Britain's overseas intelligence gathering arm formerly known as MI6, the Evening Standard said. ``We're aware of a recent site claiming to identify officers of the SIS,'' a Foreign Office spokesman told Reuters. ``We do not comment on operational intelligence matters but publishing any such list is a damaging and irresponsible act. ``It would be inappropriate to comment any further on this incident because there are obvious legal implications.'' Rear Admiral David Pulvertaft, the Defense Advisory Notice Secretary who advises British media on matters of national security, had appealed to editors not to identify the website as ``such action could put lives at risk'', the Evening Standard said. ``The published contents could be gravely damaging. Officials here (in London) hope they will have this website removed as speedily as possible,'' Pulvertaft told the newspaper. Asked how many agents were identified, he said: ``I would rather not say but it is a large number.'' The newspaper said a top priority investigation was under way into what it described as a ``disastrous leak''. ``Last week the British government obtained a court injunction to shut down a website set up by a MI6 renegade...in which he threatened to out British agents and reveal the location of MI6 offices around the world,'' the Evening Standard said. ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytire-05.12.99-21:22:05-24558