MI5 'serious failures' in Mitrokhin Archive affair

The Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee has lambasted counter-intelligence service MI5 for failing to prosecute Melita Norwood, who spied for the Soviet Union over a period of 40 years, as revealed in the materials defector Vasili Mitrokhin put together.   The report, published at lunchtime today, says it was "A serious failure by MI5 not to refer the case to the Law Officers." It says the decision appeared to have been made by MI5 off its own bat that such a prosecution would be against the public interest. This was a decision for the Law Officers. By losing sight of her case file for five years, meaning she was not interviewed, it had prevented a prosecution. Norwood passed Britain's atomic secrets and enormous amounts of other sensitive information to Soviet spymasters between 1930 and 1972. At times when the USSR broke off contact with spies as famous as Burgess and McLean it kept in contact with her. Her exposure would undoubtedly have been embarrassing, but in the radiance of the triumph of smuggling literally tons of Espionage documents out of the USSR it might well have been acceptable. Norwood has never repented of her activities, which, long after her retirement, are likely to lead to a new shake-up of the Intelligence Service.  (UK 13/06/00)