She remains an intensely private personbut, when director Gavin Hood began the process of adapting 2008s The Spy Who Tried to Stop a War: Katharine Gun and the Secret Plot to Sanction the Iraq Invasion, by Marcia and Thomas Mitchell, Gun felt it necessary to revisit this difficult chapter of her life to help make the film. Katharine McPhee shared a sweet snap of her 6-month-old son, Rennie, playing with husband David Foster in the cabin of a private jet. Our writers hold no party line; their only allegiance is to clarity of thought, elegance of expression and independence of opinion. Five years later after her fourth divorce, she married her fifth husband, Sam Elliott. Yes, its a new Hollywood movie thats coming out, but it is the real-life story of Katharine Gun. I asked Mr. Goodman, I asked others, Can you help me find this guy? Because you had to get an extension number. More than that, Koza wasnt just asking for information on what these ambassadors and their governments were planning, he seemed to want dirt. "This was crossing a red line for me," she says. Yasar Gun is the husband of a British whistleblower, Katharine Gun, who revealed top-secret information. The 1967 film Guess Whos Coming to Dinner starred Sidney Poitier and Katharine Houghton as a ne, As the open-hearted matriarch Hattie Mae in Tyler Perrys 2022 film A Jazzmans Blues, Amirah Vann demonstrates a great tenderness and fierce love to b, This story includes spoilers for Saint Omer. GAVIN HOOD: Yes. Katharine feared she'd be fobbed off and then put under surveillance should she report it, so instead she kept silent and headed home for the weekend. is an independent global news hour that airs on nearly 1,400 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. AMANPOUR: And in the film, your character played by Keira Knightley basically says I mean, you say you were proud of working in GCHQ until you saw this memo. KATHARINE GUN: I translated signals intelligence, and I reported anything I thought might be of interest to my clients. They were going use information gathered from the intelligence to either bribe or blackmail them into voting for this war. Gun, realizing how unfair it was to subject her colleagues to the consequences of her own actions, confessed and was arrested shortly thereafter. A Chinese translator? And I knew that I needed help. MARTIN BRIGHT: It was one of those huge, huge, huge stories. After this, the authorities again started plotting to deport Yasar back to the Middle East. KATHARINE GUN, WHISTLEBLOWER: Its you know, its very hard to explain the point of view I had or the mental state I was in at the time. Know all ye by these presents that Katharine Gun is hereby awarded The Corner-Brightener Candlestick, presented by Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence. Mr. Koza? Yeah, whos that? http://bit.ly/HeyUGuysYTSubFacebook http://facebook.com/HeyUGuysInstagram http://instagram.com/HeyUGuysOfficial--------------------- AMY GOODMAN: So it was sort of chicken scratch on the back. . How scary was it for you to go ahead and do what you did? Official Secrets is based on the actions of Brit Katharine Gun, who revealed that America had been eavesdropping on diplomats from other countries. We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work. e-mail; 239. shares. "The officer shook my hand once I was bailed and released," Katharine recalls. There were a million people in the streets, the Parliamentary Labour party was in revolt, cabinet ministers were resigning; there might be regime change in Britain before it happened in Iraq. Thanks so much for joining us. I work for the British people. "And there in my inbox was was this email from [the US] National Security Agency, which in and of itself was quite out of the ordinary.". As Iraq descended into chaos, Katharine was arrested and charged with breaching the Official Secrets Act. You wanted to stop the Iraq war. Gun received bail each month, so she was able to make it seem like she still worked for GCHQ and had a normal life. It was an extraordinary moment. Also with us, the director of Official Secrets, Gavin Hood. And it was a very collaborativeit was a very collaborative place. Youre working on translating Mandarin. AMY GOODMAN: I mean, the paper had come out supporting the war. Says He Will Sign Bill Criminalizing Drag as Old Photo of Him in Drag Circulates, Lori Lightfoot Loses Reelection for Chicago Mayor; Paul Vallas & Brandon Johnson Advance to Runoff, El Salvadors Pres. The CIA knows it. I was sort of I felt like I was blinkered as a horse. It was directed by Gavin Hood and the cast comprises Matt Smith, Indira Varma, Rhys Ifans, MyAnna Buring, Jack Farthing, Jeremy Northam, Tamsin Grieg and Conleth Hill. Keira Knightley plays Katharine Gun in the film Official Secrets (Photo: eOne) Now living quietly in Turkey, Gun has been thrust into the global spotlight once again . I was quite nervous. It was a crisis meeting because they had failed to get a second UN resolution, to give legal cover for the war. Katherine is the eldest of three sisters. The following Monday morning, Katharine could immediately tell there was an atmosphere in the office. A year after she walked down the aisle, Ross gave birth to their only child, Cleo Rose, on September 17, 1984, in Malibu, California. So, where I had failed with my whistleblower, Mr. Goodman, Martin, with brave and extraordinary Katharine Gun, succeeded. Please do your part today. "I need to have a word with you," she gulped. You know, its not every day you get a top-secret memo, and not just a top-secret memo from GCHQ, but a top-secret memo from the NSA sent to GCHQ. Theyre basically cooking it. Theyre cooking this up. There was speculation that this was done to keep the governments legal advice on the war a secret, though that has been denied. It seemed like it was, you know, the wagons were rolling fast and furious towards this awful situation and I was kind of in tunnel vision. Two days later, she gave the email to a friend who had several contacts in the press. AMANPOUR: And that spoke was this memo that had , AMANPOUR: been leaked to you and then you leaked it to the press, not leaked but delivered to you . AMY GOODMAN: That was a clip from Official Secrets. Yes. Bush had agreed to this to help Blair. Sam Eliott and Katharine Ross . In 2004, Democracy Now! When Katharine Gun came across a memo while working for the British government in 2003, her whole world changed. This information could be huge for the growing anti-war effort Katharine thought it might even help put an end to talk of invasion once and for all. '", Things moved slowly from then. It was a Friday afternoon. And so, we knew that time was short. Chicago Mayor Lightfoot Loses Election; Candidates Backed by Police & Teacher Unions Head to Runoff, Death Toll from Migrant Shipwreck Reaches 67 While Italy Cracks Down on, Student Debt Relief in Jeopardy as Conservative Supreme Court Justices Question Bidens Plan, Longest Alabama Strike Ends as Warrior Met Coal Miners Return. France and Russia were against a second resolution and they had a veto in the Security Council. Your email address will not be published. But when she arrived for her trial at the Old Bailey, the prosecution dropped the case with no explanation. Soon, Katharine was in touch with John Wadham, then Director of Liberty. whistleblower and former specialist for Britains Government Communications Headquarters. The true story of British Intelligence whistleblower Katharine Gun, who leaked a top-secret NSA memo exposing a joint US-UK illegal spying operation. And whereas usually with a whistleblower, you would work very closely with them directly, Katharine didnt come to me. AMY GOODMAN: And it is explosive. In any walk of life, you can choose to do the right thing, she said. Katharine Gun. We still dont know, to this day, why they did that. Gun sits down with Christiane to share her story. KATHARINE GUN: Well, they dropped the charges against me. BRITISH INTELLIGENCE OFFICER: Someone has betrayed their government and their country. And they attempt to deport your husband, who is a? "At the back of my mind, the question remained: 'What are they going to do to me? 2019 | Maturity Rating: R | 1h 51m | Social Issue Dramas. No. She had passed the memo to one of her contacts. Her name is Katharine Gun.Watch Part 1 of this discussion: https://youtu.be/u6n1VFDJ3CY#DemocracyNowDemocracy Now! Yes, in 2003, Gun was working for British intelligencethats GCHQ, the intelligence agency similar to the NSA, the National Security Agencywhen she leaked a memo revealing the United States was collaborating with Britain in collecting sensitive information to hold over U.N. Security Council members to get them to support the Iraq War. MARTIN BRIGHT: Well, but only with a story that you know is true. Don't worry, we'll never share or sell your information. Theyre one of Hollywoods brightest starsand most troubled actors. She is known for having exposed a plan by the US government to spy on the United Nations shortly before a vote concerning America's illegal invasion of Iraq. I talked to a couple of colleagues about it, about even taking it to the editor, because you dont want to take a half-baked story to your editor, particularly at the time of intense prewar preparation. Yasar's wife is a British linguist who worked as a translator for the GCHQ, Government Communications Headquarters. I was trembling like a leaf. KATHARINE GUN: My husband had absolutely nothing to do with this. I could not get it in the paper. TINTIN: You gather information from peoples phones and computers, and you feed that to your clients. Katharine Gun speaks out for 'Official Secrets'. AMY GOODMAN: And what did you do with it? Yeah. Her life had been turned upside down, and for what? But this needed finding Koza. And tell the final results of what happened. And my husband Yasar was still in bed. I did, rather naively, try calling the press office and getting an interview. Now the public knew. today: https://democracynow.org/donateFOLLOW DEMOCRACY NOW! But, in 2003, when she came across an email suggesting that the United States and the U.K . Raising the issue with a manager briefly crossed Katharine's mind, but time was limited the threat of war was escalating fast and ultimately this operation had already been signed off by British top brass. You know, look at me. Just put me through. And, sure enough, Frank Koza. That was a good brain moment. AMY GOODMAN: Because Chile was one of the six. Acclaimed Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg described Guns action as the most important and courageous leak I have ever seen. Guns incredible story is depicted in the new film Official Secrets, which premieres in the U.S. August 30. It looked like a very exciting story. When Gun exposed that the U.S. and U.K. wanted information on United Nations diplomats to persuade the vote on the invasion of Iraq, George W. Bush was President of the United States and Tony Blair was the British Prime Minister of the U.K. Guns information affected Blairs politics and government at the time, but he has seemingly recovered from the incident. 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