Call to name Stakeknife: ‘Naming agent undermines national security’ says ex-detective
There has been mixed reaction in Northern Ireland to calls by a Westminster committee to formally name the Government agent known as Stakeknife.
MPs from the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee have concluded that revealing the identity of Stakeknife would be “strongly in the public interest”.
But ex-Special Branch detective, Dr William Matchett, says that naming Stakeknife would undermine intelligence gathering.
"I don’t think he should be named because history tells us this defeats the purpose of the secrecy that is the cornerstone of national security intelligence gathering," he said.
"Every lawyer, every head of one inquiry or another will quote it as a precedent to repeat the process.
"The NCND is there for a reason. Al-Qaeda and its Isis offshoots have not gone away. Russia is strident.
"And be sure, they all follow events here, almost as if they are sponsoring them to degrade the UKs capacity to tackle modern threats like Putin’s drone war in Ukraine and whatever innovative horrors are next.
“Populism does not dictate defence policy or foreign policy. Or rather, should not."
However UUP Justice Spokesman Doug Beattie backed calls to name Stakeknife, describing as a top Human Intelligence “source” – not agent.
"He was at the top of the terrorist organisation, acting as their internal security lead while passing information to the security services,” he said.
“With Operation Kenova having reported on Stakeknife's activities and with his death there is absolutely no reason whatsoever not to name this terrorist source. The policy of neither confirm nor deny may well be a policy position but it being used not to name stakeknife officially when his name in open source is not a credible position.
“For openness and transparency, particularly for his victims' families, this murdering terrorist should be named and investigations should be opened to investigate those within the Provisional IRA movement who directed stakeknife to murder.”
There would be “a few red faces” among senior republicans if this approach was taken, he said.