For
three decades British intelligence pursued a dual
strategy vis-à-vis the provisional movement.
This parallel strategy had as its twin objectives
a gradual diminution of the IRA's militarily capacity
and a concurrent strengthening of the position of
those within the provisional leadership who were
pioneering a constitutional reformist agenda. Well
placed MI5 agents within both the IRA and Sinn Fein
were essential for the successful attainment of
these twin objectives. The exposure of Denis Donaldson
and Freddie Scapaticci as British agents illustrates
the extent to which the higher echelons of both
the political and military wings of the provisional
movement had been infiltrated by MI5. These revelations
also undermine - in very stark terms - the veracity
of Gerry Adams' repeated assertion that the IRA
is an undefeated army.
Paving
the way
By
the mid-1980s Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness
were privately determined to guide the provisional
movement down a purely constitutional path. The
1981 election of hunger-strikers and the 1983 election
of Gerry Adams as MP for West Belfast highlighted
a previously untapped reservoir of political support
which whetted the appetite of those Adamsistas who
wished to exchange armed struggle for the ballot
box. By May 1987 Gerry Adams felt confident enough
to secretly present Charles Haughey with a 15 page
document outlining the terms for an IRA ceasefire
and the creation of "a pan-nationalist front".
Although the vast majority of IRA volunteers and
a minority of the IRA Army Council were totally
unaware of this development, it was clearly only
a matter of "when" and not "if"
an IRA ceasefire would transpire.
British
intelligence was wholly cognisant of these internal
shifts. However, the defeat of the IRA or the diminution
of its capacity to wage war remained its primary
objective. This would not only eradicate the explosion
of bombs on the streets of London [a perennial concern
of the successive British governments], but also
strengthen the hand of those within the provisional
movement who were promoting a new purely political
approach.
British
intelligence recruited informants, imprisoned experienced
IRA activists and ambushed and executed hardline
active service units as part of its campaign to
weaken the IRA. An iron fist was brought to bear
on republican heartlands hostile to the new Adams-McGuinness
strategy. For example, the hardline and vehemently
anti-Adams IRA East Tyrone Brigade was practically
decimated by a combination of British intelligence
gathering and the deployment of the SAS. By the
early 1990s the IRA's armed campaign appeared increasingly
unproductive and inefficient. The din of internal
voices supporting the "peace strategy"
grew louder. Who among Adams' hardline opponents
could convincing argue that armed struggle remained
a viable means to deliver political progress, when
all evidence suggested otherwise?
MI5
and the IRA
British
intelligence was relentless and extremely successful
in infiltrating the IRA. Freddie Scapaticci's recruitment
as a British agent was a major MI5 coup and perhaps
one of the single most important turning points
in its intelligence war against the IRA. As head
of security and intelligence Scapaticci had full
access to every IRA department. No person was better
placed to provide MI5 with a topographical survey
of the IRA and a breakdown of its personnel. Furthermore,
his involvement in numerous IRA internal inquiries
would also have enabled him to identify individual
personal weaknesses among various republican activists
and provide MI5 with priceless information that
could prove useful in turning other agents. But
it would be extremely naive to think that Scapaticci
is the only senior IRA member to turn informant.
Indeed some have argued he may not even be the agent
code-named 'Stakeknife', as MI5 never exposes an
agent unless another is equally or better placed
to provide similar high grade intelligence.
Although
Freddie Scappaticci and Sean O'Callaghan [former
Adjutant-General IRA Southern Command] are perhaps
two of the best known IRA apostates, there have
been other traitors of a similar or higher rank
whose names have been withheld from both the IRA
rank and file and the general public. In 1996 the
IRA uncovered another MI5 agent within its higher
echelons. John Carroll was a senior member of the
IRA Southern Command and an elected Sinn Fein councillor
in County Offaly when he was recruited by MI5. He
was exposed as a British agent after an indepth
IRA investigation into his suspicious travelling
habits and his personal finances. However, Carroll
was spared a summary execution because of the political
damage it might cause Sinn Fein and the negative
impact such a revelation might have on IRA volunteers
at a sensitive time in the peace process. The entire
sordid saga was kept well under wraps. It is believed
that over the years Carroll possessed sensitive
information concerning the IRA's "England campaign"
and was responsible for numerous operations being
compromised. However, the true extent of the damage
he inflicted on the IRA will never be established.
What
is indisputable is that MI5 was singularly successful
in infiltrating the higher echelons of the IRA.
The IRA's intelligence and security department was
basically administered by British intelligence.
The IRA Executive [one of the highest IRA decision
making bodies], the Southern Command and the GHQ
Department [the body responsible for the day to
day running of the IRA] were also compromised.
By
the early 1990s the lines separating sections of
the IRA hierarchy and British intelligence were
most definitely blurred. Indeed it sends a shiver
down one's spine when one considers the odds stacked
against IRA volunteers in the field. The bleakness
of this scenario is further compounded when one
takes into account the fact that a majority of the
IRA leadership was, for close on two decades, only
too prepared to accept far less than what its volunteers
were fighting, dying and being sent to prison for.
However, the fact remains that by 1994 the IRA was
thoroughly infiltrated and rendered militarily impotent.
One aspect of MI5's dual-strategy was - for the
most part - completed.
MI5
and Sinn Fein
While
weakening or defeating the IRA remained its primary
objective, MI5 did not ignore or dismiss developments
within Sinn Fein. MI5 monitored all internal political
discussions and even contributed to those debates
through well-placed agents and thereby influenced
the political trajectory of the movement. It is
a well document fact that the Adams-McGuinness leadership
is surrounded by a "revolutionary think-tank"
comprised of current or former IRA volunteers and
veteran Sinn Fein members. If it had been previously
suggested that some of these prominent republicans
were British agents, Sinn Fein spin doctors would
have treated the accusation with contempt. But not
any more. The image of a smug Denis Donaldson flanked
on the steps of Stormont by Adams and McGuinness,
while both party leaders hailed his virtue and innocence,
rests absurdly alongside the spectacle of the Sinn
Fein president, only seventy-two hours later, informing
a party press conference that their head of administration
in Stormont was expelled for unsuspected treason
stretching over a 20 year period.
Donaldson
shed crocodile tears for the "suffering and
pain" his actions have caused over a twenty
year period. As is the case with Scapaticci, O'Callaghan
and Carroll, we will never know how many people
he dispatched to an early grave or consigned to
a grey prison cell. Sinn Fein attempted to diminish
Donaldson's importance in the public mind. But what
cannot be denied is that Donaldson was part of the
Adams-McGuinness "think tank" and that
he was a stalwart defender not only of that leadership
but also the peace process - a position entirely
consistent with his secret life as a MI5 operative.
Donaldson also participated in all major strategic
debates within the provisionals over the previous
two decades. He reorganised the Sinn Fein US support
network, where he replaced traditional republicans
with loyal Adamsistas. Donaldson was also a key
aid during the negotiations that led to the Belfast
Agreement. What an invaluable asset he must have
been for his MI5 handlers? We know Sinn Fein was
operating a spy-ring at Stormont, as thousands of
documents were uncovered. But was this a subterfuge?
Was Donaldson's "handlers" feeding bogus
intelligence to the Sinn Fein leadership, thus swaying
opinion and influencing sensitive political decisions?
Obviously British intelligence was well aware of
the party's negotiating bottom line long before
negotiations commenced.
But
just as Scapaticci was not the only senior MI5 informant
within the IRA, it is naive to imagine that Donaldson
is the only senior British agent within Sinn Fein.
Speculation concerning key MI5 agents at the heart
of the Adams-McGuinness leadership has reached fever
pitch over recent weeks. Recently the PSNI Special
Branch has attempted to exacerbate these rumours
by visiting numerous prominent Belfast provisionals
in the company of a flotilla of landrovers and furniture
removal vans. Such is the level of internal paranoia,
key Sinn Fein apparatchiks, such as Jim Gibney,
have publicly urged party members "to remain
calm and to hold their heads high". Gerry Adams
has stated that he believes further prominent provisionals
may be exposed as MI5 agents at a future date. Upon
what information is this opinion based? Has the
Sinn Fein president any evidence of MI5 agents among
his party leadership, which he has been reluctant
to disclose lest it lower party morale?
Only
a fool could believe that the Sinn Fein leadership
has not been heavily infiltrated by MI5. In fact,
since the early 1990s, a section of the IRA has
held a longstanding suspicion regarding the bona
fides of some prominent Sinn Fein members. In 1994
the spotlight of distrust fell upon the prominent
Sinn Fein negotiator, Mitchell McLaughlin, after
the IRA received reports that McLaughlin was engaged
in unauthorised and protracted contact with a senior
British civil servant in Whitehall. At a sensitive
time in the peace process, the IRA leadership chose
not to abduct McLaughlin in order to avoid adverse
media publicity and lower party morale. Instead
he was invited to attend a meeting with several
IRA members on the grounds that they wished to interview
him about certain matters in Derry. The IRA investigators
detained and interrogated McLaughlin for a significant
period of time. However, the IRA leadership was
later informed that the outcome of the internal
investigation was "inconclusive".
Unlikely
partners?
The
Sinn Fein leadership may denounce the Scapaticcis
and Donaldsons of this world. But I would argue
that they lack the moral authority to do so. Where
lies the difference between a republican turned
British agent and a republican turned Minister of
the Crown? Both are employed by, and receive payment
from, the British state. Both function to preserve
and administer British rule in Ireland. Both are
morally and politically repugnant, albeit to varying
degrees.
In
the final analysis few can deny that the outcome
of the Adams-McGuinness "peace strategy"
mirrored MI5's longstanding objectives towards the
IRA. MI5 and the Adams-McGuinness leadership gradually
sought a termination of the armed campaign in favour
of an exclusively democratic approach. MI5 guarded
British sovereignty over the North and upheld the
continued existence of the northern state within
the "United Kingdom" - a constitutional
reality which the Sinn Fein/IRA leadership has now
embraced. So just as it is reasonable to ask where
lies the dividing line between certain senior members
of the Provisional IRA and British intelligence,
is it not just as reasonable to ask where lies the
dividing line between the Adams-McGuinness "peace
strategy" and British intelligence's favoured
solution for militant Irish republicanism? If you
have the stomach, try and separate the wood from
the trees.
