MI5 and MI6 unable to stop Secret Wars' publication

MI5 and MI6 have conceded they cannot stop the publication of a book on Britain's security and intelligence agencies even though it is said to contain the names of officers who have not previously been identified.

The courts would not grant an injunction, officials said yesterday, because the book, Secret Wars - One Hundred Years of British Intelligence Inside MI5 and MI6, by Gordon Thomas, has already been published, and is widely available, in the US.

The first handful of pages, and the entire index, can be read on the internet, placed there by book-buying sites. Journalists and editors were asked yesterday to consult Andrew Vallance, a retired air vice-marshal, secretary of the D notice advisory committee, before publishing the names of what he referred to as "alleged" MI5 or MI6 officers. The committee runs a system of voluntary self-censorship on defence, security and intelligence matters, in co-operation with the media.