Live web chat: former MI5 officer Annie Machon
- Published
Ever wanted to be a spy? This Friday, we're hosting a live web chat with former MI5 intelligence officer Annie Machon.
Annie read Classics at Cambridge University and then began a career in publishing. In 1991 she was recruited by MI5, the UK Security Service, where she was posted to their political and counter-terrorism departments.
She resigned from the agency in the late 1990s to blow the whistle on the spies’ incompetence and crimes with her ex-partner, David Shayler - as detailed in her book Spies, Lies and Whistleblowers: MI5 and the David Shayler Affair.
Annie has a rare perspective both on the inner workings of governments, intelligence agencies and the media, as well as the wider implications for the need for increased openness and accountability in both public and private sectors.
She is now a public speaker, writer, media pundit, political campaigner, and PR consultant. She is also the Director of LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) Europe, a non-profit organization dedicated to highlighting the failures of existing drug policies.
This web chat has now finished but you can read all the questions posed to Annie, and her replies, in the comments section below
Annie is speaking to Stylist to celebrate the release of ABC's CIA drama series Missing on ITunes. After CIA Agent Paul Winstone (Sean Bean) was murdered, his wife, Becca (Ashley Judd), and their son, Michael, struggled to rebuild their lives. Now, 10 years later, Michael goes missing under suspicious circumstances, and Becca will do anything it takes to find him. Missing is available exclusively on iTunes now