The intelligence watchdog was “misled” by the Government over its failure to disclose that the director of GCHQ had resigned because he had helped a paedophile priest to avoid prison.
Robert Hannigan, the former head of GCHQ, was also heavily criticised in a report by the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) for giving an interview after his retirement in which he revealed “operational details” of how the spy agencies had discovered the true identity of “Jihadi John”, the Islamic State executioner, as Mohammed Emwazi.
The report raises serious questions about Mr Hannigan’s behaviour and the failure of the authorities to reveal to the parliamentary watchdog why he quit in April 2017 after just two and half years in the job.
It was claimed at the time he was resigning “for family reasons”, the explanation also given to the watchdog.
But in February 2019, a Sunday newspaper revealed that Mr Hannigan’s departure followed the discovery that in 2013, while working as director general of defence and intelligence at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, he had given a character reference on behalf of Father Edmund Higgins, a Catholic priest and family friend charged and later found guilty of possessing 174 child pornography images.
Character reference helped paedophile priest avoid jail
The reference helped Father Higgins avoid jail, receiving instead an eight-month suspended sentence. At the time, Mr Hannigan quit, Father Higgins was under a new police investigation and was subsequently jailed for 31 months.
The ISC, chaired by Conservative MP Julian Lewis, said in its annual report that it had been “misled on the issue” of the reason for Mr Hannigan’s resignation and added that when “the head of an intelligence agency steps down unexpectedly … this committee must be fully informed of the circumstances”.
The report went on: “Given the investigative powers with which we trust our Intelligence Community, it is imperative that they are above all suspicion.”
In further condemnation of Mr Hannigan, the ISC, which monitors the work of the UK’s intelligence agencies, was critical of his appearance on the Channel 4 documentary, The Hunt For Jihadi John, broadcast in May 2019.
The ISC said it sent “entirely the wrong message” for former intelligence staff to be able to reveal operational secrets in the media. “In that interview, he provided operational details as to how the agencies identified Emwazi,” the committee said.
Mr Hannigan reminded of ‘ongoing responsibility’
Members were so concerned that they wrote to Sir Mark Sedwill, the then cabinet secretary, “asking whether the individual had sought clearance to appear on the programme, and what action was being taken in response to an apparent breach of the Official Secrets Act”.
Sir Mark said the appearance was “not endorsed by the Government” and that Mr Hannigan had been written to, in order to “remind him of his ongoing responsibility to safeguard information”.
But the committee said it was “very surprising… knowing how seriously the staff within the agencies take their duty to safeguard sensitive information, that a previous head of one of those organisations can appear on television and divulge those secrets and yet no substantive action can be taken”.
It said: “It sends entirely the wrong message to those who may be tempted to breach those obligations themselves, and to those who risk their lives to protect them.”
