INVESTIGATIVE journalist John Ware is revisiting one of the most contentious aspects of the Troubles in a new book examining the British state's use of covert agents inside both loyalist and republican paramilitary organisations.
Neither Confirm Nor Deny: British Intelligence, Lawless Agent Running and the Suppression of Truth, published by Merrion Press, explores the intelligence operations surrounding two of the conflict's best-known agents – loyalist Brian Nelson and republican Freddie Scappaticci, widely alleged to have been the agent known as Stakeknife.
Ware, a former BBC Panorama reporter who has covered Northern Ireland for decades, argues that successive governments and intelligence agencies frequently prioritised intelligence gathering over criminal prosecutions, raising profound legal and ethical questions about the conduct of the state's campaign against terrorism.
Drawing on previously unpublished material, the 392-page book promises fresh detail on the recruitment and handling of both Nelson and Scappaticci, as well as the difficult decisions faced by their military handlers as they sought to preserve valuable intelligence sources while preventing violence.
Author John WareAmong the issues examined are the relationship between military intelligence and MI5, the investigations led by Sir John Stevens into allegations of collusion, and the long-running policy of "Neither Confirm Nor Deny" (NCND), under which the authorities refuse to confirm or deny whether an individual acted as an intelligence source.
The publisher says the book also contains new material relating to the alleged use of NCND in legal proceedings connected with Scappaticci, the handling of agent Brian Nelson, and disputes between senior police officers and intelligence agencies over the disclosure of information to bereaved families. These are presented by the author as new findings from his research.
As he writes: “What motivated Freddie Scappaticci to lead his double life fraught with risk? Among the motives recorded in his military intelligence file was his claim that it was for the greater good – he said he wanted to help bring the conflict to an end. Yet it is hard to believe altruism would have repressed the feelings of profound guilt and remorse that most people would experience in the face of such acute moral compromises as Scappaticci was so obviously willing to make to protect himself.
“Presenting himself as a model terrorist extended to sacrificing even family friends – a bridge too far for most mortals to stomach, but not for Stakeknife whose real motive was, as his fellow military intelligence agent Brian Nelson put it, the ‘power of being aware of things that others around you want, the deadly game of working undercover and pitting your wits against those who you seek to compromise.’
Scappaticci was ‘principally focused on himself, and nobody else,’ said PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher. ‘He exploited everyone around him.”
Ware began his journalism career in 1971 and was based in Belfast between 1974 and 1977. He later became one of the BBC's best-known investigative reporters, producing numerous Panorama programmes on Northern Ireland and other subjects. In 2004 he received the James Cameron Prize for journalism.
Neither Confirm Nor Deny is published in paperback by Merrion Press on 4 June, priced at €19.99 (£18.99).
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