British intelligence outfit MI5 has been accused of failing to vet recruits properly after it emerged that one of its surveillance officers was married to a prostitute who exposed Max Mosleys involvement in a sado-masochistic orgy.
London, May 19 : British intelligence outfit MI5 has been accused of failing to vet recruits properly after it emerged that one of its surveillance officers was married to a prostitute who exposed Max Mosley's involvement in a sado-masochistic orgy.
It maybe recalled that Mosley, the president of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), a non-profit association that represents the interests of motoring organisations and car users worldwide, had a predilection for whipping prostitutes in Nazi-style orgies, including prison-camp role play, and was caught in the act almost two months ago.
According to The Times, MI5 officer, who is in his forties and had joined the Security Service after a career in the Royal Marines, was forced to resign last month when he failed to disclose his wife "inappropriate work" while being vetted for a post in the Security Service.
Security sources said that suggestions that MI5 might have been involved in a "sting operation" against Mosley were absurd. His participation in the orgy with five prostitutes was reported by the News of the World on March 30.
According to the paper, the failure to detect that an MI5 officer's wife worked as a prostitute has placed the focus on the organisation's vetting system.
Unlike the rest of Whitehall, which uses the Defence Vetting Agency, MI5 has its own department of specialists, who are required to check on the family background of each recruit, and again periodically throughout their career.
Patrick Mercer, MP, a former Conservative homeland security spokesman, told The Times: "When we know that al-Qaeda has attempted to penetrate MI5 by trying to join as recruits, it raises serious concern that the Security Service failed to discover that someone serving in the Royal Marines was married to a prostitute. There has got to be a root-and-branch review of the vetting system in MI5."
MI5 informed Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, of the indirect involvement of a former intelligence officer in the Mosley affair.
Mosley is seeing the revelations as consistent with his belief that he was the victim of a conspiracy to destroy his reputation. He has hired Lord Stevens of Kirkwhelpington's private detective agency, Quest, to investigate how the original story came about.
ANI