-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
-= MI5: bugging and counter-surveillance. -=
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

PO: >Did you ever look for the bugs in your house ? If not, why. not ? I mean if
PO:. >I thought that was happening to me, I'd search the place from top to bottom,
PO: >I mean I. live there I would know if anything was out of place. If I was
PO: >really suspicious, I would call in one of those bug. detection teams which
PO: >have those machines that pick. up the transmitted radio waves. This
PO: >reminds me. of BUGS, that new programme on BBC1 on

That's. exactly what we did. We went to a competent, professional detective
agency in London, paid them over 400 quid to debug our house. They. used
scanner devices which go to over 1 GHz and would pick up. any nearby
transmitter in that range, they also checked the phones. and found
nothing... but if the tap was at the exchange, then. they wouldn't find
anything,. would they?

CS: >Doesn't this suggest to you that there are,. in fact, no bugs to be found?

You can assume that they've. done this sort of thing to other people in more
"serious" cases,. where they would know the targets would suspect the
presence. of electronic surveillance. So they will have developed techniques
and devices which are not. readily detectable either by visual inspection or
by electronic means. What those. techniques might be, I couldn't guess.

In this case, the existence of. bugging devices was clear from the
beginning, and they. "rubbed it in" with what was said by the boy on the
coach. It was almost as if they wanted. counter-surveillance people to be
called in, who they knew. would fail to detect the bugging devices, causing
loss of credibility to the other things I would have to say. relating to the
harassment.

I did all the. things someone in my situation would do to try to find the
bugs. In addition to calling. in professional help using electronic
counter-surveillance,. I made a close visual inspection of electrical
equipment, plus any points where audio or video surveillance devices. might
have been concealed. Of course, I. found nothing. Normal surveillance
"mini-cameras" are quite noticeable and require. visible supporting
circuitry. It seems to me. the best place to put a small video surveillance
device would be additional to a piece of electronic equipment. such as a TV
or video. It would be necessary to physically break. in to a property to fit
such a. device.

3148

The article of which part is reproduced below was penned. by Bernard Levin
for the Features. section of the Times on 21 September 1991. To my mind, it
described the situation at. the time and in particular a recent meeting with
a friend, during which. I for the first time admitted to someone other than
my GP that I had been subjected to a conspiracy of harassment over. the
previous year and. a half.

>There is a madman. running loose about London, called David Campbell; I have
>no reason to believe that he is violent, but. he should certainly be
>approached with caution. You may know. him by the curious glitter in his
>eyes and a persistent trembling of his hands;. if that does not suffice, you
>will find him attempting to thrust. no fewer than 48 books into your arms,
>all hardbacks, with a promise. that, if you should return to the same
>meeting-place next year, he will. heave another 80 at you.
>
>If, by now, the police have arrived. and are keeping a close watch on him,
>you may feel. sufficiently emboldened to examine the books. The jackets are
>a model of uncluttered typography, elegantly. and simply laid out; there is
>an unobtrusive colophon of a. rising sun, probably not picked at random.
>Gaining confidence - the lunatic is smiling. by now, and the policemen, who
>know about such things, have significantly removed their helmets -. you
>could do worse than take the jacket off the first book in the. pile. The
>only word possible to describe the binding is sumptuous; real. cloth in a
>glorious shade of dark green, with the title. and author in black and gold
>on the. spine.
>
>Look at it more closely; your eyes do not deceive you - it truly does. have
>real top-bands and tail-bands, in yellow, and, for good measure,. a silk
>marker ribbon in a lighter green. The paper. is cream-wove and acid-free,
>and the. book is sewn, not glued.
>
>Throughout the encounter, I should. have mentioned, our loony has been
>chattering away,. although what he is trying to say is almost impossible to
>understand; after a time, however,. he becomes sufficiently coherent to make
>clear that he is trying to sell the. books to you. Well, now, such quality
>in. bookmaking today can only be for collectors' limited editions at a
>fearsome price - #30,. #40, #50?
>
>No, no, he says, the glitter more powerful than ever and. the trembling of
>his hands rapidly spreading throughout his entire body; no, no - the. books
>are. priced variously at #7, #8 or #9, with the top price #12.
>
>At this, the. policemen understandably put their helmets back on; one of
>them draws his. truncheon and the other can be heard summoning
>reinforcements on. his walkie-talkie. The madman bursts into tears, and
>swears. it is all true.
>
>And it. is.
>
>David Campbell has acquired the entire rights to the whole of. the
>Everyman's Library, which died a lingering and shameful death a decade. or
>so ago, and he proposes to start it all over again - 48. volumes this
>September and. 80 more next year, in editions I have described, at the
>prices specified. He proposes to. launch his amazing venture simultaneously
>in Britain and the. United States, with the massive firepower of Random
>Century at his back in this country, and the. dashing cavalry of Knopf
>across the water, and no one who loves literature and. courage will forbear
>to. cheer.

At the time this. article was written I had believed for some time that
columnists. in the Times and other journalists had been making references to
my. situation. Nothing unusual about this you may think, plenty of people
have the same sort of ideas and. obviously the papers aren't writing about
them, so why should my. beliefs not be as false as those of others?

What makes. this article so extraordinary is that three or four days
immediately preceding its publication, I had a meeting. with a friend,
during the course of which we. discussed the media persecution, and in
particular that by Times columnists.. It seemed to me, reading the article
by Levin in Saturday’s paper,. that he was describing in some detail his
"artist’s. impression" of that meeting. Most telling are the final
sentences, when he writes, "The madman bursts into tears, and swears. it is
all true. And it. is." Although I did not "burst into tears" (he seems to be
using a bit of poetic. licence and exaggerating) I did try hard to convince
my friend that it was all true; and I am able to concur with. Mr Levin,
because, of course,. it is.

At the beginning of. the piece Levin reveals a fear of being attacked by the
"irrational" subject of his story,. saying "I have no reason to believe that
he is violent, but he should certainly be approached with caution".. This
goes. back to the xenophobic propaganda of "defence" against a "threat"
which was seen at the very beginning of the harassment.. The impression of a
"madman running. loose" who needs to be controlled through an agency which
assigns to itself the mantle of the "police" is also one which had. been
expressed. elsewhere.

In the final paragraph of this extract, his reference. to Everyman’s Library
as having "died a lingering and shameful death a decade or so. ago" shows
clearly what. sort of conclusion they wish to their campaign. They want a
permanent solution, and as they are prevented. from achieving that solution
directly, they waste significant resources on methods. which have been
repeatedly shown to be ineffective. for such a purpose.

5578