Katharine Gun - flesl.net

Jan and Paul had met when they were both students in the Asian Studies program at Durham University. Paul wanted to go to Taiwan to improve the Chinese he had ... KatharineGun:2-10b home•reading•grammar•vocab•speaking•writing•contact whistleblowers vocabQz•choiceQz•easy•extras•partner•printable:p1p2 listen: getflash download: KatharineG.mp3 KatharineGun KatharineGunspentthefirstthreeyearsofherlifeinDurham,acityinnorthernEngland.ThenshemovedtoTaiwanwithherparents,JanandPaulHarwood.JanandPaulhadmetwhentheywerebothstudentsintheAsianStudiesprogramatDurhamUniversity.PaulwantedtogotoTaiwantoimprovetheChinesehehadlearnedatuniversity.Hefoundteachingworkthere,andthefamilystayed. KatharinegrewupinTaiwan.ShereturnedtoEnglandwhenshewasreadytotakeheruniversityentranceexams.Whenshehaddonethat,sheenteredDurhamUniversity,whereshestudiedChineseandJapanese.Aftershegraduated,shewenttoworkatGCHQ—GovernmentCommunicationsHeadquarters—inCheltenham,nearLondon.TheGCHQdoeselectronicsurveillance,bothdomesticandforeign,fortheBritishgovernment.ThereisacomparableorganizationintheUnitedStates,calledtheNationalSecurityAgency. Around4,500peopleworkattheGCHQ.Mostofthemaretranslatorsorcode-breakers.Katharine’sworkwastranslatingChinese.Itwasanordinary,low-leveljob.InFebruary,2003,whenKatharinewas28yearsold,shewasworkingwithagroupofcolleagues,monitoringtheChinesedelegationtotheUnitedNations—the'UN.'Whileshewasdoingherjob,Katharinesawane-mailfromFrankKoza,anemployeeoftheNationalSecurityAgency. Atthattime,theAmericangovernmentwastryingtopersuadethemembersoftheUnitedNationsSecurityCounciltosupportitsplanstoattackIraq.TheyhadbeenspyingonthedelegationsofSecurityCouncilmemberswhowereopposedtoanattack.Inthee-mailthatwasputonKatharine’sdesk,FrankKozaaskedtheGCHQtohelptheNationalSecurityAgencybyspyingonSecurityCouncildelegatesfromAngola,Cameroon,Chile,Bulgaria,andGuineaand,possibly,Pakistan. Thee-maildisturbedKatharine.ShewasdisturbedbecauseshefelttheAmericangovernmentwasaskingtheBritishgovernmenttohelpthemunderminetheUN.TheSecurityCounciloftheUNshouldbe,shethought,aplacewherepeoplefromallovertheworldcoulddebateimportantissuescalmlyandlogically.But,Katharinerealized,calm,rationaldebatewasnotpossibleifthemostpowerfulmemberoftheSecurityCouncilwasspyingonthedelegatesofothercountriesandthenusingtheinformationitgottotry,secretly,topersuadethoseothercountriestosupporttheUS. Shealsofelt,assheexplainedlater,thattheBritishpeopleshouldbedebatingcalmlyandlogicallyaboutwhetherornottheyshouldjointheAmericansinattackingIraq.Katharinewasstronglyagainstanykindofwar.Shesaidshewasbaffledbythefactthatpeoplewerestilldroppingbombsononeanotherinthetwenty-firstcentury. ShefeltthattheBritishPrimeMinister,TonyBlair,andhisgovernmentwantedtogotowar.Andtheywerepromotingtheirplanbyusingemotionallanguage.Inotherwords,theyweretryingtopersuadetheBritishpeoplethatwarwasnecessarybygettingthemtofeelfearandhatred. WhenKatharinesawthee-mail,shehadanidea:ifshegaveittoanewspaper,perhapstheywouldpublishit,andperhapswhentheBritishpeoplesawthattheirgovernmentwaswillingtohelptheAmericansunderminetheUN,theywouldbeshocked.Then,maybe,theywouldstopthinkingemotionallyandstartthinkinglogically.Iftheydidthat,Katharinebelievedwarcouldbeprevented. Katharinespentafewdaysthinkingveryhard.WhenshehadtakenthejobattheGCHQshehadhadtopromisenottorevealanysecretinformation.Sherealizedthat,byrevealingtheinformation,shewouldbecommittingacrimeandthatshemightbesenttoprison.Butshefeltitwassomethingshehadtodo,soshetookthelettertoanewspaper,"TheObserver."ItwaspublishedonMarch3,2003justovertwoweeksbeforethewarbegan. Katharinewasimmediatelyarrestedandspentanightinjail.Thenshewasreleasedonbail.Duringthenexteightmonthsshewasrepeatedlycalledinforquestioningandthenreleasedagain.DuringthattimeKatharinelivedalonelyandfrightenedlife.ShenolongerhadherjobwiththeGCHQ.Shewantedtofindanotherjobbutshewasafraidofbeingaskedquestionsaboutherpastemployment.Shewasalsoafraidofbeingrecognizedifshewentontothestreet,soshespentmostofhertimeinherapartmentwiththecurtainsdrawn. OnNovember13,2003shewasfinallychargedwithviolatingtheOfficialSecretsAct.Bythattime,shehadbecomeaherointheeyesofpeoplewhoopposedthewar.HerlegaldefencewastakenoverbytheBritishcivilrightsorganization,Liberty.Herlawyersdecidedtodefendherbyarguingthatshehadnotcommittedacrime.Shehadrevealedsecretinformation,theyplannedtosay,onlybecauseshewantedtostoptheBritishgovernmentfromstartinganillegalwar.Beforethetrial,theydemandedthegovernmentreleasethedocumentswhich,theysaid,showedthatthewarwaslegal.Thegovernmentrefusedtodoso.Thelawyersthensaidthatwhenthetrialbegantheywouldaskthejudgetoforcethegovernmenttoreleasethedocuments. OnFebruary25,2004,thedaybeforeKatharine’strialwasscheduledtobegin,thegovernmentdroppedallchargesagainsther.ManypeoplethoughtthattheydidthisbecausetheywereunwillingtoreleasethedocumentsKatharine’slawyersweredemanding.ThenextdayKatharinewasfree. -informationfrom:Independent,(London)04.02.26(KimSengupta);Time,04.02.02,(J.F.O.McAllister);Observer,04.02.22(MartinBright)and04.09.19(KatharineGun)