So It Turns Out British Secret Agents Really Do Have A LTK

[Blowfeld]

Clause exposes MI6 not clean on dirty tricks
Hasan Suroor
The fictional British secret agent 007 aka James Bond famously had the “licence to kill” as he knocked down Britain's enemies around the world when not downing Martinis or flirting with beautiful women but that privilege doesn't extend to real-life MI6 agents — officially, that is.

“Moi! Assassinat ? Non!” is the standard official denial when confronted with allegations of dirty tricks.

Indeed, quite recently, MI6's former head Sir Richard Dearlove went out of his way to “set the record straight” declaring categorically that assassination was “no part of the policy of Her Majesty's Government'' .

But, as The Guardian reported on Wednesday, it seems he was being slightly economical with the truth. For beady-eyed researchers have stumbled on an obscure clause in the law that does allow British spies to imitate the fictional James Bond in certain situations.

The newspaper said that there “can be circumstances in which MI6 officers do have a licence to kill or commit any other crime” courtesy “a curious and little-known law” intended to protect British spies from being prosecuted or sued in the U.K. after committing crimes abroad.

“Section 7 of the 1994 Intelligence Services Act offers protection not only to spies involved in bugging or bribery, but also to any who become embroiled in far more serious matters, such as murder, kidnap or torture — as long as their actions have been authorised in writing by a secretary of state,” it said.

The discovery of the existence of such a law will be embarrassing for the agency as it comes amid allegations of its complicity in “extraordinary rendition” and torture of two erstwhile prominent Libyan dissidents by the former Qadhafi regime. Scotland Yard has launched an investigation into their claims.

Keywords: MI6, UK spy agency