Executive Intelligence Review, Box 17390, Washington DC 20041-0390. List of MI6 Agents, May 14, 1999. 4 pages.

On May 12, 1999, British officials issued a "D-notice" gagging order to prevent the press from reporting the contents of a list that they said former MI6 officer Richard Tomlinson had posted on the Internet. Tomlinson's Swiss and American Internet service providers closed his sites at Britain's request. News accounts hyped the story. Now Internet surfers were getting interested, and thousands of people were looking for "The List." Enough people already had it, so that it proved impossible to stuff the cyber genie back into the bottle. LaRouche's people published the list in their flagship EIR, which was already on its way to the post office.

Newspapers around the world ran alarmist quotations from British officials, but not everyone was taken in. Of the 116 names, 16 had been published in 1989, and 8 of these spies had accepted additional foreign assignments subsequent to their initial exposure. Not only have there never been instances of MI6 agents harmed due to exposure, but the agents themselves are apparently unconcerned (they probably enjoy the attention). This MI6 hoopla had more to do with protecting unaccountability in high places than with protecting spies. Fewer secrets mean more accountability to the citizens of the world, and this is what worries British officials as they consider new measures to regulate the Internet.

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