Machette attack on MI5.

international | worker & community struggles and protests | other press Saturday September 04, 2004 19:36 by merrovinginvanjan

London Police use a _non-lethal_ weapon in response.

British Police yesterday launched a review of security after an intruder armed with a machete stormed the headquarters of MI5 and the Northern Ireland Office, wounding two security guards.
The man, in his 40s, is thought to have gone berserk after entering Thames House in central London, where both services are based.

This is the first attack on the offices of British Inteligence since September 20 1999 when someone blew a section off Vauxhall Cross the home of SIS better known to most as MI6 with two portable air to surface missiles.

You might recall that was originally blamed on Irish political dissidents.

This last attack seems to have been more a case of "a very upset man". Unless you're a matrix character, you're not going to get very far attacking Thames House with a big knife.

To which members of the diplomatic defence corp of the London Police responded with "A Taser [stun gun]" which was discharged by police and the man was arrested on suspicion of burglary and assault and taken by an ambulance to hospital.

Security is under review in the Westminister area since earlier this year protesters threw condoms filled with purple dye within the House of Commons from the "Irish Peers gallery" a small area of the building which wasn't screened as the rest with bullet proof glass.

MI5 is responslible for interior security of the UK but is also active in Ireland (regardless of border) where it's brief includes monitoring telecommunications through GCHQ Menlith, manipulating public opinion (through an array of conduits who work in both Media and Academia) and special operations (which are run by the Military intelligence branch of the NI office and included SAS deployment and are more commonly referred to as "death squads".

It began moving to it's current home in 1994.
It had a brief security scare in 1996 when a bunch of ravers squatted some of it's information dumpbin warehouses.

It has admitted to losing three employee laptops in the period 1999 - 2001.

It was seriously compromised along with SIS (MI6) when the complete list of it's oversea agents was published on an open network on the internet "as a polite way of saying fuck off" in 2000.

It is thought to maintain one of those "usual relationships" with media (outside of it's conduits) and regularly uses "D notice" a provision of the British Official Secrets Act to censor news and information.

It is has been criticised for slow response to certain investigations including the Brixton nail bomber, but has built a better reputation for work done concerning Al Q activity in London in the last two years.

The average sallary offered to grade C worker in the British Intelligence Service is 35,000stg.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,2763,1297067,00.html


*****
Meanwhile a completely unrelated turnaround was made by the British Press and diplomatic corp today, and they stopped being pesimistic about the imminent release of two French journalists who were kidnapped on the road to Najaf a while ago.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1297075,00.html