RAF_Blackace
2009-Jun-20, 12:16 AM
A story about not talking about what you do to others.
Just to clarify because some are getting confused. I used to work for Marchwood Research Laboratories (Gov Owned) near Southampton. Here I did work on reactor robotic and welding systems.
Then I joined Scientific Services (Gov Owned) based at Gravesend Kent, a small select group dedicated to inspecting and repairing reactors for the NII.
Then I joined a private company called Taylor Hitec who specialised in Nuclear work and MOD work.
OK, I got that out of the way.
This happened whilst working for Scientific Services.
Many people sign the official secrets act, once you do you say nothing to no one about what you do. We were told never to tell anyone in idle conversation about the job we did. At that time (I know it sounds a bit paranoid) people WERE out to get us. Greenpeace was still a very militant organisation and several incidents had happened that meant we genuinely had to be careful who we talked to.
The closest I ever came to being threatened was the time a man I had never met before came up to me while I was having a drink at a local bar. He engaged in idle conversation and eventually asked me what I did for a living. I told him I was an engineer.
He turned on me and said. "Don't lie to me, we know who you are and what you do, and now we know where you live." He then left the bar without saying anything else. Nothing came of the incident although I did report it to the authorities.
One day we were sitting having a morning tea at work. Someone mentioned a TV program that was being shown that evening, it was a supposed expose' of the Nuclear industry and was going to reveal leaked documents that proved that many of the reactors in the UK were unsafe. Of course we all were interested in watching this program. It was on ITV and it was called Public Eye, a very popular program at the time.
I went home, sat down and waited for the program to start. "Tonight we are going to show information prooving the dangers of the UK nuclear industry....Leaked documents....
At this moment the front page of the so called leaked document appeared onscreen. My jaw hit the floor, at the bottom of the front page I could quite clearly see the signatures of the 14 members of our team, including mine.
On arrival at work the next morning we were greeted by police officers, kept apart from each other and interviewed by (they never said they were but I am sure it was) MI5. It was I may say a very harsh interview, I knew I had done nothing wrong but they almost had me convinced I was a traitor.
After the interview we were sent home and told not to contact anyone.
The mole was found. He was the son of the manager of the department. His father was not aware that his son had joined greenpeace. His father had left his briefcase open at home and his son had found the document and had passed it on to either greenpeace or the TV company direct.
He did his father a great favour, he was dismissed for allowing this to happen.
Luckily this was the only security incident we had.
I know greenpeace does a lot of good work these days and is not the militant organisation it was then, I support some of what they do, although I still have reservations about a lot of their work and still have mistrust because of my brushes with them in the past.
Just to clarify because some are getting confused. I used to work for Marchwood Research Laboratories (Gov Owned) near Southampton. Here I did work on reactor robotic and welding systems.
Then I joined Scientific Services (Gov Owned) based at Gravesend Kent, a small select group dedicated to inspecting and repairing reactors for the NII.
Then I joined a private company called Taylor Hitec who specialised in Nuclear work and MOD work.
OK, I got that out of the way.
This happened whilst working for Scientific Services.
Many people sign the official secrets act, once you do you say nothing to no one about what you do. We were told never to tell anyone in idle conversation about the job we did. At that time (I know it sounds a bit paranoid) people WERE out to get us. Greenpeace was still a very militant organisation and several incidents had happened that meant we genuinely had to be careful who we talked to.
The closest I ever came to being threatened was the time a man I had never met before came up to me while I was having a drink at a local bar. He engaged in idle conversation and eventually asked me what I did for a living. I told him I was an engineer.
He turned on me and said. "Don't lie to me, we know who you are and what you do, and now we know where you live." He then left the bar without saying anything else. Nothing came of the incident although I did report it to the authorities.
One day we were sitting having a morning tea at work. Someone mentioned a TV program that was being shown that evening, it was a supposed expose' of the Nuclear industry and was going to reveal leaked documents that proved that many of the reactors in the UK were unsafe. Of course we all were interested in watching this program. It was on ITV and it was called Public Eye, a very popular program at the time.
I went home, sat down and waited for the program to start. "Tonight we are going to show information prooving the dangers of the UK nuclear industry....Leaked documents....
At this moment the front page of the so called leaked document appeared onscreen. My jaw hit the floor, at the bottom of the front page I could quite clearly see the signatures of the 14 members of our team, including mine.
On arrival at work the next morning we were greeted by police officers, kept apart from each other and interviewed by (they never said they were but I am sure it was) MI5. It was I may say a very harsh interview, I knew I had done nothing wrong but they almost had me convinced I was a traitor.
After the interview we were sent home and told not to contact anyone.
The mole was found. He was the son of the manager of the department. His father was not aware that his son had joined greenpeace. His father had left his briefcase open at home and his son had found the document and had passed it on to either greenpeace or the TV company direct.
He did his father a great favour, he was dismissed for allowing this to happen.
Luckily this was the only security incident we had.
I know greenpeace does a lot of good work these days and is not the militant organisation it was then, I support some of what they do, although I still have reservations about a lot of their work and still have mistrust because of my brushes with them in the past.