Recently in Spooks Category

The prime time BBC TV drama Torchwood 5 part mini-series Children Of Earth, broadcast on consecutive nights, mixed the Dr.Who spinoff alien science fiction (with the usual UK Government and United Nations secret agencies) with even more fast action and political treachery and manipulation à la Spooks.

Both the sci fi Torchwood and the spy fi Spooks achieve the necessary suspension of disbelief when it comes to technology, and create dramatic suspense with interesting human characters, just do not expect the plot to stand up to even cursory scrutiny.

The consecutive nightly screenings of the 5 part mini-series format, could also work well for Spooks, hopefully allowing a suitably well written story to aspire towards , for example, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy classic status.

The real headquarters building of the Security Service (MI5), located at Thames House, south of the Houses of Parliament, just south of where Lambeth Bridge meets Millbank, on the north bank of the river Thames.

It is the key location around which the plot of Children of Earth revolves, as the "thirteenth floor" is where, for some reason, the alien "456 monster" has chosen to descend from the sky in a pillar of flames. Consequently there are several exterior and aerial views of this building in the programmes.

<otaku location trivia mode>

How many of Torchwood Children Of Earth estimated 5 to 6 million viewers on average, spotted that the depiction at the start of Day Three episode of the "warehouse in Battersea", which was a "disused Torchwood 1 Holding Facility", which became the new base for the Torchwood team, was actually an aerial view of the

Government Car and Despatch Agency (GCDA) at 45-46 Ponton Road, London, SW8 5AX., which supplies vehicles and drivers to Government Minister and top civil servants etc, The agency also collects and delivers classified mail and parcels, and offers secure confidential waste handling and destruction.

Prior to the recent arrest of Kendall and Gwendoline Myers, as long term Cuban

She was a Intelligence Service agents or spies in the USA, (see the previous Spook Country blog entry Alleged Cuban spies in the USA - Walter Kendall Myers and Gwendolyn Steingraber Myers, there was a similar case of a Cuban spy, Anna Belen Montes. Kendall and Gwendoline Myers appears to have admired Anna Montes, but considered her to have been careless with her tradecraft.

The "probable cause for search warrants" affidavit by the FBI (.pdf), in the Anna Montes case, available from the Cryptome website, provides a glimpse of some real world Cuban Intelligence Service espionage tradecraft and secret communications techniques, and of some failings with basic computer security.

It is interesting to compare these real life Cuban espionage tradecraft techniques and FBI counter intelligence countermeasures, to the strict "protocols" described by William Gibson in Spook Country used by the character Tito and his clan of relatives, exiled to the USA, but having been trained by the Cuban DGI and Soviet and East German KGB etc. during the Cold War:

Another couple of alleged long term Cuban Intelligence Service spies have been arrested in the USA.

The Department of Justice press release gives most of the details which are being repeated without further analysis, by the mainstream media, and most blog commentators.

Former State Department Official and Wife Arrested for Serving as Illegal Agents of Cuba for Nearly 30 Years

However, reading a copy of the actual Federal Grand Jury Indictment against Walter Kendal Myers and his wife Gwendolyn Steingraber Myers (.pdf available via CNN), reveals a few interesting details of espionage agent tradecraft and official espionage jargon, something which should be of interest to readers of William Gibson's Spook Country, which features some of the same techniques and a Cuban espionage sub-theme.

After suffering through the laughably dire spooks code 9, low budget spin off, the "proper" version of the BBC's flagship prime time spy / terrorism drama Spooks, came as a relief.

The new series 7 of Spooks has higher production values, and manages to convey some dramatic tension in its handling of various clandestine meetings, and also during the various "following a suspect in the street or on public transport" scenes, which use far fewer people than are actually needed to do this without being detected.

However, the BBC still manages to pump out utterly implausible technology nonsense.

Not since Spooks series 2 episode 3, which came up with the the physics defying idea of a fake radioactive isotope source, which could magically fool Geiger counters into only appearing to be giving off deadly levels of radiation, has there been a more technologically implausible plot McGuffin, than the one in series 7 episode 2.

Again, this involves "computer hacking", presented in an utterly implausible way.

The Russian government is, for no good reason, launching an alleged "cyber attack", some sort of Denial of Service attack via the internet, which is somehow supposed to cripple the UK economy and cause panic on the the City of London's financial markets etc. This is hardly necessary, given the incompetence of Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Chancellor Alistair Darling, who have manged to do this without any outside help.

This attack is to be launched from a Russian submarine, tapping into a single fiber optic telecommunications cable, off the Cornish coast.

This dastardly plot is foiled, through the simple means of magically getting a CD/DVD full of secret communications software, not from any Russian Navy base, but from the Russian Embassy in London.

Somehow, this allows Malcolm, back in Spooks HQ, to communicate in secret, with the submerged spy submarine, before it is starts to tap into the fibre optic cable (which is plausible technology), and then to transmit a Zero Day Virus to magically disable three sets of computer firewalls, and to physically cripple the submarine.

He does this via some unseen communications method, having somehow automatically determined which of the many undersea cables was going to be tapped into, giving no thought to trying to isolate that target cable from the rest of the UK's infrastructure.

See The Register Spooks foils fictional Russian plot for more comments about the idiocy of this plotline.

Getting the details of the existence of this "cyber attack", involved the increasingly deadly Ros, who seems to be able to outdo even James Bond or Jason Bourne, by overcoming the security of a Russian oil oligarch billionaire, with close connections to the Kremlin, who has a penchant for stolen artworks

This involved getting him to strip naked and then physically torturing, threatening to blackmail etc. him. This is the stupid way in which the spooks code 9 secret police thugs also magically obtained vital intelligence information, and it is simply not believable.

This series of Spooks, like spooks code 9, appears to have a "find the traitor in MI5, but do not confide in your colleagues" ongoing sub-plot.

Episode 4, also contains some more utterly pathetic "technology", this time alleged nanoparticles which can magically be tracked via microwave signals from satellites, even inside buildings in central London.

Meanwhile, the more mundane and plausible use of mobile phone technology, including Location Based Service tracking on a computer screen, whilst used very heavily throughout Spooks, also rings alarm bells , to anyone who actually understands a bit about how mobile phones work.

Episode 4 involved a secret Al Quaeda courier, who passes on a mobile phone SIM card to MI5 (whilst getting stabbed in Victoria train station). Even though they determine that there is only a single telephone number stored on this SIM card, they somehow have to wait until they actually phone it, in order to try to physically track the other mobile phone down.

Supposedly once the brief phone conversation is terminated by the terrorist mastermind at the other end who wants to talk to MI5, they are then unable to trace the location of the mobile phone.

In reality, a mobile phone is obviously traceable via the mobile phone network infrastructure, whether or not anyone is using it to make or receive a voice call or SMS text message, provided that it is switched on, and has established a signal with a Mobile Phone Cell Base Station transmitter. Getting an accurate position fix is not guaranteed, even in cities like London with lots of mobile phone Cell transmitters, but also with lots of radio reception blackspots, reflections off metalised window glass, the vast radio coverage dead zones on the London Underground etc. etc.

If the terrorist mastermind's mobile phone was not switched on, and was not traceable at all, then how did they manage to phone him on it ?

Why on earth did Harry, the head of MI5 section D and his second in command Ros, go to a secret meeting with the Al Quaeda terrorist mastermind, who they obviously cannot trust, and then meekly surrender their own mobile phones full of secret contact information, along with their high tech GPS tracking lapel pins ? Such phones would be rather more valuable to an enemy, than the Blackberry mobile phone / PDA, which was allegedly stolen from a Downing Street apparatchik during Prime Minister Gordon Brown's visit to China before the Olympic Games.

Is it genuine ignorance of how modern computer and telecommunications technology actually works, or is it deliberate disinformation, on the part of the BBC / Kudos Productions script writers and directors ?

The new series of Spooks has started on BBC1 tonight . The 2nd episode is also being shown on BBC 3 in 10 minutes or so, a formula which has worked quite well in previous series.

There are several flaws, especially with the lack of "Moscow Rules" tradecraft and mobile phone communications security, but it still better than the wretched spooks code 9 series.

It is hard see how anyone who has watched the TV adaptation of John le Carré 's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy etc. will be impressed with the way in which the [spooks] code 9 series treats the important topic of the protection of their own members of staff, and of their informants, from violence and murder by enemy organisations.

Episode 4 opens with the murder of an MI5 informant, whose body is thrown from a building, landing on top of a car, terrifying the driver.

"It looks like someone's after our assets" says the torturer / former medical student ( Rob who spends half of his time getting illegal access to his former teaching hospital's computer systems to delete or fake evidence about his former girlfriend's lover, who he may or may not have murdered when the bomb went off in London)

"Could Hewitt's gang have found out that he was an informer ?"
"There's no way that they would know"
"If they did find out, then we would have a security leak, which would be very, very bad" , says Charlie. the mathematician, and new leader of the Mi5 Field Office 19 team, stating the obvious.

"If word gets out that our informers are dying, then we could end up losing all our assets". says Vik, re-stating the obvious.

The Charlie and Rachel decide that they still cannot cannot trust the rest of their team, in their attempts to find the MI5 traitor supposedly behind the nuclear (or was just atomic) bomb attack on London (does that already count as a massive security leak ?) Rachel goes undercover, after a fake stabbing incident at a night club.

It is simply inconceivable that the MI5 team, who are all out drinking and dancing together (again), should simply stand by whilst one of their colleagues is carted off in an ambulance (which was suspiciously visible in the background as they were leaving the club, before the "stabbing" incident in the street outside) and would meekly accept the refusal of the ambulance crew to tell them where they were taking Rachel to.

Given their previous record of bullying and blackmail and torture, of many of the other people they deal with in the series, why would they not flash a warrant card and insist on accompanying her to the hospital ?

Given that their former boss had been recently assassinated, and that an MI5 informants has just been murdered, did none of them think that this might be a deliberate attack on them, and act accordingly ?

Charlie says, inside the ambulance, "We're clear. I cannot believe that worked".

Neither can the audience !

Did none of the "trained observers" in the rest of the spooks code 9 team notice their boss Charlie lurking inside the ambulance, as Rachel was stretchered inside ?

The next MI5 informant is murdered with even more explicit violence (stabbed in the stomach, and throat slit), having watched a TV advert for the private sector "missing persons" tracing service,much in demand after the nuclear / atomic bomb attack on London (supposedly only a 10 kiloton device, i.e. half that of the Hiroshima or Nagasaki atomic bombs, something which would be a complete technical failure for a H bomb).

This advert features a website URL www.reconnectedUK.co.uk , which is a parked domain name, registered to Kudos, the production company resposible for [spooks] code 9.

They missed an opportunity to create another "back story" supporting website, but at least they have secured the advertised domain name from squatters.

The advert also features a Premium Rate phone line number, which, wisely, considering the recent scandals involving such numbers and TV programs, both on commercial and BBC TV programmes, uses the number 090908 79 09 79 which does conform to the Ofcom Telephone numbers for drama purposes (TV, Radio etc) rules.

Premium Rate Services 0909 8790000 to 8790999

"I doubt these terrorist groups have joined forces, so maybe something else is going on", says Charlie, after the MI6's brilliant deduction that the two murders of MI5 informants from two different terrorist groups, both in their witness protection scheme, both of whom have had notices pinned to their chests saying "MI5 informant", might actually be linked together.

"What the hell is going on ? Two of your informants dead, and one of your team in hospital after a drunken brawl. Not an exemplary week!", says the MI5 Director of Field Operations, who should have already disbanded this team by now.

John le Carré (the pen name of David John Moore Cornwell) is a former diplomatic / intelligence insider, whose books have described and defined the language and plots of modern Spooks and Spies, in literature, film and television e.g. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy etc.

The Daily Telegraph has an interesting 9 minute video interview John le Carré, promoting his new book called A Most Wanted Man.

This video is now available on via Google video, on the official John le Carré website

This video shows the author at a few of the locations in modern day Hamburg, which are used in the novel. e.g. the lobby of the Hotel Atlantic Kempinski and the offices of the Fluchtpunkt, a Christian organisation which helps refugees and asylum seekers.

Hardcover: 384 pages
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton (23 Sep 2008)
Language English
ISBN-10: 034097706X
ISBN-13: 978-0340977064

A Most Wanted Man

A half-starved young Russian man is smuggled into Hamburg at dead of night. He has an improbable amount of cash, is a devout Muslim and says his name is Issa.

Annabel is an idealistic German lawyer determined to save Issa from deportation. In pursuit of Issa's mysterious past she confronts Tommy Brue, the scion of a failing British bank based in Hamburg.

Meanwhile, scenting a sure kill in the War on Terror the rival spies of three nations converge upon the innocents.

A Most Wanted Man is published 23 Sep by Hodder & Stoughton.

It will be interesting to compare and contrast John le Carré's A Most Wanted Man with William Gibson's Spook Country. - luxury hotels, international conspiracies and intelligence agency snooping, descriptions of Port cities, female heroine, rich millionaires etc. etc.

John le Carré's novels, and all the film and television adaptations of them so far, are much better and more accurate (though obviously still fiction), than the BBC TV Spooks and especially [spooks] code 9

Episode 3 of the BBC 3 tv spin off series [spooks] code 9, was full of amusing or annoying technical howlers, as well as the casual, desensitising violence, swearing. nudity and and Orwellian surveillance.

Is there sub-plot, which has featured in each of the three episodes so far, of some "hacking" / mathematical puzzle solving, involving "clues" to a possible alleged traitor in MI5 who might have been behind the nuclear bomb explosion in London, left by Hannah, the assassinated former head of the MI5 Field Office 19, going to appear as an online Flash based game or puzzle ? If not, then BBC 3 are missing out on generating some online interest in the series, something which it desperately needs, despite associated fan discussion websites like spookscode9.com.

There is also the cynical attempt at a Paul Verhoeven RoboCop or Starship Troopers film style "future news" Liberty News website. This comes . complete with astroturfed i.e. faked "grass root" user comments, reminiscent of the heavily criticised "Information Revolution" advertising campaign which failed to wean many people from Google to the rival Ask search engine in 2006.

These "clues" are being "solved", on his own, by Charlie Green, the new leader of the MI5 Field Office 19 team , who is supposedly a mathematician,

[spooks] code 9 is a new spin off series from the popular BBC Spooks drama supposedly about MI5 Security Service officers in action.

The first two episodes were transmitted back to back, and are currently available online from the programme's website (for the next few days)

Aimed at the 16 to 25 "yoof" audience on digital TV channel BBC 3, this is a spin off from the stylish and successful mainstream BBC 1 / 2 / 3 series "Spooks", which might account for the violence, swearing and sex.

The motto for the series appears to be "For Queen, For Country, For Kicks"

The series is set a few years into the future in 2013, in the Orwellian Police State which has emerged after a (small) nuclear bomb attack on London.

Supposedly the casualties cased by this single bomb incident are such that the rest of the UK carries on, with refugee camps etc., people trying to find their dead or missing relatives, and an Orwellian Police State, with pervasive CCTV surveillance, phone taps, secret concentration camps, compulsory ID cards, a black market in ID cards and radiation sickness drugs etc.

The tentacles of state repression includes the series protagonists, who are supposed to be a Field Operations team of young, inexperienced MI5 officers, working in one of the distributed offices of MI5, Field Office 19, somewhere vaguely in Northern England e.g, the County Arcade in Leeds appears as a location.

The two episodes so far have been stylistically less glossy than "Spooks", but just as full of technical howlers. This series also seems to be full of actual current New Labour
government policies e.g.

"we know what we have to do, get out into the communities, and target the young"

Most of the scenes which do not involve any actual surveillance or investigation work or the use technology, seem to be reasonably well acted.

There have been some violent episodes of the original Spooks series, but these usually involved a decent plot build up, and came with a dramatic shock.

Some details of the technical plot errors in the first two episodes - not sure if these will spoil your enjoyment or add to it:

The Imperial War Museum in London is staging an Exhibition celebrating the centenary of the birth of the most famous spy novel and film author Ian Fleming and his creation James Bond 007:

For Your Eyes Only
Ian Fleming and James Bond
17 April 2008 - 1 March 2009

To celebrate the centenary of Ian Fleming's birth, Imperial War Museum London is producing the first major exhibition devoted to the life and work of the man who created the world's most famous secret agent, James Bond.

Featuring fascinating material, much on public display for the first time, For Your Eyes Only will look at the author and his fictional character in their historical context and examine how much of the Bond novels were imaginary and how far they were based on real people and events. This exhibition will explore the early life of Ian Fleming, his wartime career and work as a journalist and travel writer and how, as an author, he drew upon his own experiences to create the iconic character of James Bond that continues to have global appeal.

[...]

For Your Eyes Only will show how Fleming's wartime experiences informed the Bond plots and inspired many of the iconic heroes and villains, such as M and Goldfinger, and how the Cold War, a war of spies and technology, provided the stage in which Bond could operate. The exhibition will examine to what extent the books and films reflect the reality of the Cold War and life in post-war Britain and how far they were a product of Fleming's prodigious imagination.

It will conclude with Fleming's legacy, exploring how one man's idea generated an entire industry, not only books and films, but also parodies, toys, games and clothes. Over fifty years after his first appearance in print, James Bond continues to exert a grip on the global imagination and Fleming remains a classic writer of his generation.

[...]

Adults £8.00, Concessions and Groups £7.00, Children £4.00, Family £19.00 (Groups pre-booking essential on 020 7416 5439 or groups@iwm.org.uk)

For further information contact: Victoria Smith Press Officer, Imperial War Museum London, 020 7416 5497, vsmith@iwm.org.uk www.iwm.org.uk

Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller the former Security Service MI5 Director General comments on the BBC prime time television drama "Spooks", the plots of which are getting increasingly hard to believe, whilst retaining the high gloss visual style and good dramatic tension :

The Sunday Times
November 18, 2007
Spooks leaves us out in the cold, says former MI5 chief
Richard Brooks, Arts Editor

A FORMER head of MI5 says the BBC series Spooks is "potentially damaging" to the work of Britain’s security service.

Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller says the show undermines MI5 by giving the impression the agency is above the law.

In Spooks Adam Carter, played by Rupert Penry-Jones, and his team regularly save the nation by bugging, burgling or blowing things up with abandon.

Interviewed for today's edition of Desert Island Discs on BBC Radio 4, Manningham-Buller said: "MI5 is not like Spooks. In Spooks everything is solved by half a dozen people who break laws to achieve results.

I think that given that we actually work strictly within the law, it is potentially quite damaging for the suggestion to prevail that we are totally above the law."

Her appearance is the first time a former spy chief has been interviewed for the long-running programme. Even the publicity conscious Dame Stella Rimington, who was the MI5 boss from 1992 to 1996, never took part.

Kirsty Young, the presenter, asks Manningham-Buller if she is going to emulate Rimington by writing her memoirs. "Most certainly not," she replies. "I think it would not only be wrong, but unproductive." Rimington, who is now a novelist, will be talking about her career on BBC4 on Wednesday.

[...]

The BBC TV drama programme "Spooks" has started its new season today, Tuesday16th October 2007,9pm,BBCV 1.

Here are are few "live blogging" observations

There will, undoubtedly be some technical howlers, this is,after all, prime time popular TV entertainment.

Were the Spooks at MI6 the Secret Intelligence Service's distinctive HQ building at Vauxhall Cross on the River Thames in London having a rooftop barbeque, or incinerating files or just polluting the atmosphere ?