It should be evident by now that throughout my life films about the balance between the role of government and individual privacy and freedom has always interested me, By coincidence this fundamental questions about rights and security is being debated at the same time as I watched a couple of films which also touched on the subject.
I experienced for the first time latest in the Bourne series on Sky Films Anytime Sunday evening 9th June 2013, The Bourne Legacy as the news media over the weekend was full of the disclosure by a former CIA man, now in Hong Kong, that the USA had filtered all the emails of its citizens, using a front independent business, and that as part of this operation the contents of the emails of some 200 British citizens had been screened. I hasten to add that none of these allegation or claims had been confirmed by any official party.
The matters raised in the media have already been referred to the joint committee of Parliament charged with overseeing the work of Government and its agencies on security and by chance the chairman and members are on one of their regular visits to the USA to confer and be briefed. Before reporting further there was an amusing exchange before the statement made by William Hague, the Foreign Secretary and which added nothing to what he had already said on the Andrew Marr named programme on Sunday. Michael Meacher asked why none of the Government Ministers who had attended the latest Bildenberg Conference last weekend held at Watford were coming to the House to make a statement.
That the Speaker of the House of Commons had allowed the urgent question to be put is puzzling given that the conference is organised by a private body where in fact Kenneth Clark is a Trustee and one of three British representatives on the organising committee and where as he mentioned to the House he is in his last of ten years service. Former Labour Man Denis Healey apparently had the same role for three decades.
Ken Clark tried to make light of the situation admitting that the organisation brought together 120 to 140 individuals from the USA and Europe to discuss matters of common interest with approximately one third from government and politics and the rest from industry, commerce, the media, labour and communications who were already influential or who had been identified as becoming influential. The list of those attending is now available to Members of the House of Commons although the Club did allow journalists into the grounds of the hotel to engage in personality spotting with RT TV taking a camera along. A well known international security firm was tasked inside the grounds of the hotel and presumably to put up a screen to prevent another private security firm with the help of the GHQ relay from listening in and they should have invited William, the Shield, Hague who would have made a better job given his carefully prepared admissions without saying anything half an hour later although how the BBC at the end of his performance on the Andrew Marr show could say that he had denied the revelations of the CIA man now in Honk Kong was truly amazing and which suggests that the BBC do not always have their best summarises on duty on Sunday mornings. William clearly said that the Brit Government makes use of any and all intelligence provided to it by other governments but that we only use that information, including conducting our own separate investigations in accord with Brit law and procedure and to expect the Brit Gov to do and say otherwise shows how many thickies there are in the wrong jobs.
Yesterday jazz and cricket loving Ken Clark had to face some provocative questionings by those on the right such as was the club plotting to keep the UK in Europe and their anxiety may have been fuelled by the disclosure from the Shadow Chancellor that he had attended along with Lord Peter Mandelson together with other pro Europe Ministers.
Those on the left who have consistently complained that the Club is about a New World order based on the capitalist model might be pleased to learn that high on the agenda at the weekend will have been the rise of the far right in USA and European politics and hopefully dear Ken will have hosted a drinkies between Cameron, Osborn, Balls and Mandelson on current thinking about stopping the rise of UKIP as well as sharing information obtain about whop is financing UKIP. Hopefully he did not invite Marcus A the former chairman of Barclays Bank to participate who with him is one of three Brit who are Trustee members of the 35 strong steering committee who can each invite up to four guests. Have you found out who set you up Ken?
After this light hearted parliamentary moment following from the Home Secretary’s and her Ministers usual professional answering of question William Hague repeated was he had said on the Andrew Marr show that in relation to MI6 and GCHQ CIA PRISM and the US Government. Before I before I forget what is the record stay for an individual as Home Secretary?
The current media inspired row one is over the allegation that the content of communications routinely screened and not just who is communicating with whom by a private agency for the US Government has included a number of UK targets reported to be under 200.
This is how the reality will go at a I will show you mine if you show me yours get together electronically of course between the CIA and MI6. First there will be an exchange fo can you show me anything about abcd etc and then has anything come across your radar about one of hours that it would be useful for to know? Depending on the quality of the info and an in house appraisal MI6 will take a decision whether to drop interest, maintain interest or seek approval from the Minister to undertake special surveillance and communicating ops. What Hague confirmed is that our security people, whether via the use of private security obtained info , direct sources , or info from other governments and out politicians undertake this vital work in accord with the law, Parliamentary processes and agreed procedures - One of the strongest if not strongest systems of accountability in the world.
Behind the current fuss is an issue worth debating although getting the balance right is not something most of us are in a position to judge. Given the ability of criminals and other government not just to record who contacts who by any digital means, but to access what is said in that communication by anyone anywhere and anytime and keep that record, how far should a democratic government go in the war against terrorists, criminals and those who threaten the integrity of the state? In the UK we have stopped, until now at recording who telephones who , when including time, duration of all but now the security forces, the all party Security Committee, former Home and Foreign Secretaries want to extend this to all digital communication and legislation was prepared to achieve this change, The Deputy Prime Minister on behalf of the Lib Dems said no.
Now for some fiction. The Bourne Legacy released in 2012 is primarily about the attempt of the Government Security agencies to shut their stable door after Matt Damon as Bourne, escapes the effort to terminate him aided by a member of the Security services who realised that a rogue and unauthorised programme had been put into effect called Treadmill in which selected individuals were psychologically and physically transferred to carry out operations, often illegal and involving the unauthorized assassination. The film is about the decision to stop other successor programmes to Treadmill and eliminate existing operatives.
I enjoyed the film with two qualifications. The opening of the film will leave anyone who has not seen the first three films in the series extremely bewildered, despite some flashbacks to the films and secondly the long chase at the end of the film is ludicrous although I accept the public appetite for such sequence appears unabated.
The first adaptation of Robert Ludlum’s series The Bourne Identity 2002 introduces us to the likeable Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) who comes to realise that for a number of years he has been leading the life of International assassin for a project code name Treadstone, secretly funded and operated with the USA Secret Service. The self discovering makes him realise he participated in a failed assassination as well as successful assassinations and has been the subject of a covert transformation having been identified and recruited from the USA military.
He begins a search which take him to Paris and meeting with a project Assistant unaware of the nature of its activities and the two join up and go on the run after becoming aware that they are being hunted. I have previously mentioned arising from the Henley senior management course that in relation to companies the value, deployment and elimination of “creative” was discussed at some length but in the context of research and development teams. However the same issues arise in relation to the recruitment, deployment and elimination of “creatives” acting on behalf of the state. I recently reviewed the radio adaptation of the latest le Carré A Delicate Truth which is another version of the cover up required when a mission goes wrong. In The Bourne Identity the two manage to escape the three Assassins deployed to eliminate as the project is shut down.
Two years later the Bourne Supremacy was released. The couple have spent two years leading an idyllic life in Goa when the past catches up with them. An International search for Bourne take places after his finger prints are identified in the murder of CIA agents and the disappearance of large funds. He is being framed by a Russian agent again related to past events and the agent locates Bourne and sets out to kill him but kills the woman believing he has killed Bourne. Bourne travels to Europe to find out the why and the who. The film introduces a character who is to play an important role in this and the subsequent film The Bourne Ultimatum, Joan Allen as Pamela Landy deputy Director of the CIA who is persuaded that Bourne is responsible for the death of the agents and needs to be eliminated. However her inquiries takes her to Operation Treadstone and to finding out about Bourne and also his former Identity. She also begins to uncover the role of fellow Deputy Director Ward Abbott (Brian Cox) in the creation and closing down of Treadmill.
Bourne had killed a Russian politician and his wife but left the daughter. The politician had been at the point of exposing the name fo the CIA agent involved in the theft of $20 million of CIA money. Bourne goes to Russia to explain what happened to the now grown up daughter and there is a hectic chase involving the Russian who framed him who he gets the better of. Back in the USA Bourne is cleared of the murders of the USA agents and the Deputy Director Landy reveals his background.
What I thought was the final film The Bourne Ultimatum he learns that a new generation Treadstone has been created through a Guardian newspaper journalist who has uncovered the story and who in turn is assassinated. It is the new other Deputy Director who controls Treadstone II who is behind the elimination of the newspaper man and the latest attempted killing of Bourne but again he has an ally in Deputy Direct Pamela Landy
The media get hold of the existence of the two clandestine operations leading to the prosecution of top CIA people involved and Bourne escaping believed dead once more. Albert Finney plays the psychiatrist who managed the Treadstone project.
I can therefore now come to the Bourne Legacy which begins with the decision to close down the latest black ops programme where the operatives have enhanced physical and mental abilities from chemical tabs one coloured blue and one yellow and without which they not only lose their abilities but their lives. Because of the publicity the US Senate is conducting investigations involving senior CIA Directors and the existence of a photograph on You Tube providing evidence which could lead to the downfall of the latest black ops unit the decision is taken to close it down and kill the operatives and the members of the scientific team responsible for creating and developing the chemical agents. In two instances this involves substituting one of the tabs with a lethal substance. A leading member of the scientist Lab group dramatically starts to kill all his fellow unit members before turning the gun on himself but one person escapes Dr Marta Shearing (Rachel Weiz).
In Alaska operative 5 Aaron Cross (Jeremy Renmer) is undergoing a challenging survival mission in which he has to recover an object at the bottom of an icy lake waters and then return to the Training HQ which is manned by operative three. He makes it home two days early by climbing a mountain creating a new record and this saves him because he has time to recover and detects the arrival of some form of aircraft ( a drone) and leaves the training centre to an nearby observation staging to witness a rocket from the drone destroying the building and killing number three. The explosion also destroys his supply of drugs required for performance and survival. Realising he is under attack by his own side he removes the tracking implant and uses a wolf that has been tracking him as a decoy so he is believed killed but Escapes.
Understandably Dr Shearing is upset and bewildered by the killing of her associates and decides to leave her isolated property which she is doing up to visit her sister in Canada. This prompts the arrival of a supposed help team but who are there to present her death as a suicide and somehow involved/responsible for what happened at the unit laboratory. Fortunately arriving the same is Ross who saves her from the assassination team, killing them and then setting fire to the property as a means to escape and draw in the emergency and local police services to aid their departure.
The problem is while Shearing has been involved in monitoring the operatives and the development of the enhancement she does not hold a stock. However she explains that they have progressed their knowledge to eliminate the need for ongoing use of one enhancement and she believes she can eliminate the other thus he will retain his power without ill effects and without the need to have a further supply. However to do this they must travel to the manufacturing laboratory in Manila. While they are escaping and travelling to the Philippines those mastermind the closure and cover up have worked out that Dr Shearing has not died in the fire and that she must have had help. Eventually they work out she is on her way to the Philippines with Cross. The two are nearly caught at the factory but managed to escape and this enables the Dr to fix Cross although when he has side effects she goes out to get medication to help his recovery. She returns to find that the local police have located their whereabouts and she is able to warn him putting herself at risk.
The USA team have employed their latest enhanced operative to eliminate the couple and a substantial chunk of the film is taken up with the chase on foot and on motorbikes. The couple beat the man who appears invincible and are helped by a local who turns out to be a fisherman with his boat and the couple are then sailing away intending to just disappear. Meanwhile back in the USA the Senate hearing after taking place. This is not the last film as seven books 2004 to 2012 by Eric van Lustbeder so far who took over the writing of the story line !!!!!!
A Delicate Truth is the latest novel by John Le Carré serialised in episodes on Radio 4 and where the story is based on an incident in Gibraltar, the British land where both my parents were born. By coincidence I am writing this as Channel begin a series about the residents and visitors to Gibraltar and about which I shall comment when the hour long first episode ends.
The story of A Delicate Truth like the Bourne Films is about the web we weave what we attempt to deceive about a bad mistake, and i similar to the Bourne Films the bad mistake is a Black Ops. A government Minister by passes the required rules and regs which I have referred to earlier and uses a private security firm to apprehend a sought after Terrorist suspect where intelligence has indicated they are visiting the Rock. The plan is for a USA Seal team to come offshore and rendition the suspect. What happened is that the intelligence is false and the team fire on and kill a woman and her child who panics when being approached because she is an illegal immigrant.
The story is told by civil servant with a security services contact who under the impression he is doing the right thing bugs the Minister’s office when he is having an unofficial meeting with the man from the Security firm involved and an operative heading the British mercenaries.
When he attempts to take action and mentions his concerns to his security service contact he is warned that he was mistaken and not to repeat the allegations to anyone else. His home searched ad the recording disappears but he took the precaution to make copies.
Years pass and another civil servant involved with the Minister and the covering up of the project based on inaccurate information provided him has retired to a country village in Cornwall where John Le Carré has live since his own retirement. He attends a country fare and there comes across one of the men he met at the Minister’s office who is on hard times and makes comments and then leave a note in the handbag purchased by the wife of the former civil servants referring to the deaths of woman and her daughter. Supported by his wife the civil servant makes enquires and is eventually warned off. However by then he has brought back the story teller with the copy of the recording. The daughter of the former civil servants and his wife becomes involved, protective of her father although her role and notices are not clear at first. The man who sells the handbag is murdered but another witness, member of the team is able to complete the picture which the story teller had suspected. He too is warned about his future.
The book ends as he elects to reveal all via an Internet cafe as the sound of police sirens is heard, The BBC radio abridgment ends, as I assume the book, without indicating the actual ending, but the assumption is that he man is prosecuted and imprisoned. Whether the media is able to establish the story with an impact on those direct involved bearing in mind that it was not a government sanction operation is left to the reader/listener to decide.
Less credible is The Double, a vehicle for Richard Gere with Martin Sheen. A United States Senator is murdered under the eye of the FBI and the director of the CIA (Martin Sheen) calling in retired Richard Gere because the murdered man appears to have killed by a Russian who Gere hunted and killed. Sheen introduces Gere to a young FBI agent who has made himself into an expert on the former soviet spy and who insists then death is down to the Soviet agent.
The agents visit one of those who supported the alleged dead Soviet agent who is in prison, this man escapes and is murdered by Paul who is revealed as the Soviet agent,,,,,,,,,. The double agent warns the young FBI officer against pursing the matter saying his family will be at risk,
To complicate matters an ace Russian hitman has entered the USA and the death of one this man’s team in the same manner as the alleged dead agent convinces the FBI young man that he is right about the agent is living and is the retired CIA man.
The a great twist it is revealed that the young FBI man is also a placed Russian agent who plans to go back to Russia with his American born wife and their child. Gere and the Russian hitman kill each other but before he dies he convinces the young FBI double agent to stay in the USA. The film ends with Director of the CIA inviting the young FBI to join his service.
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