Eliza Manningham-Buller
Encyclopedia
Elizabeth Lydia "Eliza" Manningham-Buller, Baroness Manningham-Buller, DCB (born 14 July 1948) was Director General of MI5, the British
internal Security Service, from October 2002 until her retirement on 20 April 2007, aged 58.
It was announced that Manningham-Buller would become a crossbench life peer
on 18 April 2008. Her title was gazetted as Baroness Manningham-Buller, of Northampton
in the County of Northamptonshire
on 2 June 2008.
, Kensington
in London
, having read English at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford
from 1971 to 1974, before joining the Security Service
. She was recruited to the Security Service at a drinks party when someone suggested that she see someone at the Ministry of Defence.
Specializing in counter-terrorism
rather than MI5's then-classical counter-espionage
, she was active at the time of the Lockerbie bombing by Libya in 1988. She worked for K-branch against the IRA. During the early 1980s she was one of only five people who knew that Oleg Gordievsky
, the deputy head of the KGB at the Soviet embassy in London, was actually a double agent
.
She was a senior liaison working out of Washington, D.C.
to the US intelligence community over the period of the first Gulf War
, before leading the newly-created Irish counter-terrorism section from 1992 when MI5 were given the lead responsibility for such work (from the Metropolitan Police
). Having been promoted to the Management Board of the Security Service the next year, Manningham-Buller became the director in charge of surveillance and technical operations, later becoming director of Irish counter-terrorism.
She was appointed Deputy Director General in 1997, and succeeded Sir Stephen Lander
as Director General in 2002, the second woman to take on the role after Dame Stella Rimington
. As Director General, she was paid £150,000 a year. She is credited with making the agency more open: she established a website and recruited agents through newspaper advertisements. Under her direction, terror risk assessments were made public for the first time.
Manningham-Buller was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the Bath
(DCB) in 2005. She retired from MI5 on 21 April 2007, and was replaced by her deputy Jonathan Evans
. That month marked the end of her 33rd year in the Security Service. Lady Manningham-Buller has reportedly joined the public speaking circuit.
Manningham-Buller was appointed to the Court and Council of Imperial College London
in 2009, becoming Deputy Chairman later that year, and Chairman in July 2011.
. She was educated at Northampton High School
and Benenden School
.
She is married to David, whose surname has never been disclosed publicly; he has five children by his previous marriage, who are Lady Manningham-Buller's stepchildren. "Her husband, David, is the son of a former Lieutenant Colonel and a former lecturer in moral philosophy at St Andrews University. He has recently retrained as a carpenter. An Irish Catholic by birth, he is said to have once held strong left-wing views. Lady Manningham-Buller reported that he knew about her profession before their marriage and when they knew each other well."
, (1905–1980) was a Conservative MP from 1943 to 1962. He was Britain's second highest legal officer, the Solicitor General
, he also later held the office of Lord Chancellor
for two years, thereafter; he was created an hereditary peer with a viscountcy.
Her mother, Mary Manningham-Buller (Viscountess Dilhorne), trained carrier pigeons that were used to fly coded messages in World War II
. The pigeons were dropped in wicker baskets with little parachutes over France and Germany and they were used to fly back to her mother's pigeon loft carrying intelligence. One of the pigeons won the Dickin Medal
, and one brought back intelligence of the V-2 rocket
project in Peenemünde
, Germany. Viscountess Dilhorne died in Oxfordshire on 25 March 2004 at the age of 93.
she gave her complete backing for the War on Terror
and said that renegade scientists had given terror groups information needed to create chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) weapons. She also warned that the threat from international terrorism would be "with us for a good long time", which was why new legislation
had been introduced.
about the 7 July 2005 London bombings
and her disappointment that MI5 failed to stop attacks, even when in possession of intelligence, because of bureaucratic inertia. She also added that "[T]he world has changed and there needs to be a debate on whether some erosion of [the] civil liberties
we all value may be necessary to improve the chances of our citizens not being blown apart as they go about their daily lives."
reported Manningham-Buller's leaked court statement to the Law Lords regarding methods for collecting intelligence from overseas. This was part of an investigation by the Law Lords on whether the British Government should have to be made aware whether the intelligence it is using was obtained through torture.
She stated that "Experience proves that detainee reporting can be accurate and may enable lives to be saved." She also maintained that obtaining information from foreign intelligence agencies, which initially enters the UK intelligence system via MI6, was vital in fighting terrorism. Regarding the ethics of how and where this intelligence is gathered she stated that "agencies will not often know the location or details of detention".
Her example to support the need for intelligence gathering from overseas was the case of Mohammed Megeurba, an Algeria
n man who was questioned by agencies in his country. Evidence collected by this questioning led to a raid in London
which led to the Wood Green ricin plot
being uncovered. Press have speculated that Megeurba was tortured to obtain this information, although Manningham-Buller maintained that neither she nor MI5
were aware of the "precise circumstances that attended their [Algerian agencies'] questioning of Megeurba". She emphasised that, had MI5 requested information regarding how the intelligence had been gathered, its request would have been ignored and the relationship between the UK and Algeria could have been damaged. She concluded by exemplifying the "importance of co-operation between states in countering the threat from international terrorism".
Shami Chakrabarti
, director of human rights organisation Liberty
, commended Manningham-Buller for being "brutally honest" about the activities of intelligence agencies. However, she also stated that the United Kingdom should not "legitimise" torture as a means of intelligence gathering by accepting evidence gained in such a manner as evidence in court. Manningham-Buller stated that the British intelligence services do not ask how intelligence is obtained "because that would make things difficult".
in Parliament to speak about "the extent to which the Service is, or could take steps to ensure it is, aware that information it receives from foreign agencies may have been obtained by the use of torture", and "any information which the Service may have about extraordinary renditions using UK airports".
as a guest of Professor Peter Hennessy
in which she warned that her office was tracking 30 terror plots, and 200 groupings or networks, totalling over 1,600 individuals. She also stated that MI5 had expanded by 50% since the September 11 attacks and stood at roughly 2,800 staff. She reiterated her warning that the threat "may—I suggest will—include the use of chemicals, bacteriological agents, radioactive materials and even nuclear technology".
This speech came three days after Dhiren Barot
was sentenced to 40 years for his part in the 2004 Financial buildings plot
in which he had a plan to build a radiological dirty bomb
that involved setting fire to 10,000 smoke alarms.
In September 2011 Eliza Manningham-Buller delivered one of the BBC Radio Reith Lectures and answered questions from an audience that included historian Peter Hennessy
and novelist Ian McEwan
, see http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0126d29.
since her resignation. She told the House that she was against government plans to extend the time period for retaining terrorist suspects in the UK from 28 to 42 days. She told peers that she disagreed on a "practical basis as well as a principled one". She criticised the plans for terrorism detention as being not "in any way workable" and emphasised the need for all political parties to work together in finding a solution for dealing with terrorism. Furthermore, Lady Manningham-Buller maintained that "complete security" could never be achieved in a country and that civil liberties were at risk of being compromised if the plans were passed by the House of Lords
.
The speech, only 501 words long and lasting only four minutes, attracted praise from other Lords, including Baroness Ramsay of Cartvale, who described it as "outstanding, thoughtful and valuable", but also significant attention in the media, given the Baroness's expertise in counter-terrorism issues. Martin Kettle, writing in The Guardian
on 11 July 2008, described it as "devastatingly succinct" and "the fatal shot" which would ensure that the Government's "plans were holed below the water line". James Kirkup of the Daily Telegraph described it as "a huge blow to Gordon Brown
's plans to extend the detention of terrorist suspects to 42 days".
Other peers supported Lady Manningham-Buller's stance against the plans, including former Attorney General Lord Goldsmith
, former Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer
and former Chairperson of the Joint Intelligence Committee
(JIC), Baroness Neville-Jones. Nevertheless, Lord West of Spithead
, who was First Sea Lord
of the Royal Navy
until 2006 and was then a junior Home Office
minister spoke for the Government and implied that more stringent security measures were required to deal with the "unprecedented terrorist threat" to the UK.
in July 2010 said the decision to go to war meant that "Our involvement in Iraq, for want of a better word, radicalised a whole generation of young people, some of them British citizens who saw our involvement in Iraq, on top of our involvement in Afghanistan, as being an attack on Islam," she said, before immediately correcting herself by adding "not a whole generation, a few among a generation". As a result, she said she was not "surprised" that UK nationals were involved in the 7 July 2005 bombings in central London. She said she believed the intelligence on Iraq's threat was not "substantial enough" to justify the action. A year after the invasion, she said MI5 was "swamped" by leads about terrorist threats to the UK.
broadcast on BBC Radio 4
in November 2007 giving her first interview after her retirement. She talked briefly about her personal life and her former professional life, including her reactions to the 7 July 2005 London bombings
and the importance of protecting their agents. She explained that she had decided on her retirement date shortly after she took up the Director General job, choosing to retire with a total of 33 years service in the security services. She chose as her book The Rattle Bag of poems selected by Ted Hughes
and Seamus Heaney
.
in a series entitled Securing Freedom. Eliza Manningham-Buller's lectures broadcast on BBC Radio 4
and the BBC World Service
in September 2011, marking the ten year anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the United States.
In her first lecture, titled "Terror", recorded at BBC Broadcasting House in London, she reflected on the lasting significance of September 11th 2001, asking was it a terrorist crime, an act of war, or something different. She also revealed details of her own role in the discussions involving international security agencies in the days following the attacks on New York and Washington DC and examined the impact the US-led invasion of Iraq had on the fight against al-Qaeda.
In her second lecture, titled "Security", recorded at the Leeds City Museum
, she stated that the use of torture is "wrong and never justified" and should be "utterly rejected even when it may offer the prospect of saving lives". She said that the use of torture had not made the world a safer place, adding that the use of water-boarding by the United States was a "profound mistake" and as a result America lost its "moral authority".
In her third and final lecture, titled "Freedom", recorded at the British Library
in London, she discussed foreign policy priorities since the September 11 attacks. She stated that it was "necessary" to talk to dictators and terrorists, to protect security and said that the British government's decision to engage with Colonel Gaddafi
in 2003 was "the right decision". She went on to say that protecting British citizens would be impossible if the security services were restricted to talking only to those with shared values and cited examples where people once deemed terrorists were now part of the political establishment: "Look at Northern Ireland, where former terrorists are in government... look at Mandela
and the ANC
which used terror tactics when it was in exile."
During the recording of the final lecture she also revealed that she had suffered an anxiety dream, in which she imagined that she was to be arrested for breaking the Official Secrets Act
after having given the lectures.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
internal Security Service, from October 2002 until her retirement on 20 April 2007, aged 58.
It was announced that Manningham-Buller would become a crossbench life peer
Life peer
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the Peerage whose titles cannot be inherited. Nowadays life peerages, always of baronial rank, are created under the Life Peerages Act 1958 and entitle the holders to seats in the House of Lords, presuming they meet qualifications such as...
on 18 April 2008. Her title was gazetted as Baroness Manningham-Buller, of Northampton
Northampton
Northampton is a large market town and local government district in the East Midlands region of England. Situated about north-west of London and around south-east of Birmingham, Northampton lies on the River Nene and is the county town of Northamptonshire. The demonym of Northampton is...
in the County of Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
on 2 June 2008.
Professional life
Manningham-Buller worked as a teacher for three years at Queen's Gate SchoolQueen's Gate School
Queen's Gate School is an all girls' independent school in South Kensington, London.The Good Schools Guide described it as a "Charming popular school, with a mixed intake, which does jolly well by its girls."The school is located in Central London...
, Kensington
Kensington
Kensington is a district of west and central London, England within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. An affluent and densely-populated area, its commercial heart is Kensington High Street, and it contains the well-known museum district of South Kensington.To the north, Kensington is...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, having read English at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford
Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford
Lady Margaret Hall is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, located at the end of Norham Gardens in north Oxford. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £34m....
from 1971 to 1974, before joining the Security Service
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
. She was recruited to the Security Service at a drinks party when someone suggested that she see someone at the Ministry of Defence.
Specializing in counter-terrorism
Counter-terrorism
Counter-terrorism is the practices, tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, militaries, police departments and corporations adopt to prevent or in response to terrorist threats and/or acts, both real and imputed.The tactic of terrorism is available to insurgents and governments...
rather than MI5's then-classical counter-espionage
Counter-Espionage
-Cast:* Warren William as Michael Lanyard* Eric Blore as Jamison* Hillary Brooke as Pamela Hart* Thurston Hall as Insp. Crane* Fred Kelsey as Detective Wesley Dickens* Forrest Tucker as Anton Schugg* Matthew Boulton as Inspector J...
, she was active at the time of the Lockerbie bombing by Libya in 1988. She worked for K-branch against the IRA. During the early 1980s she was one of only five people who knew that Oleg Gordievsky
Oleg Gordievsky
Oleg Antonovich Gordievsky , CMG , is a former Colonel of the KGB and KGB Resident-designate and bureau chief in London, who was a secret agent of the British Secret Intelligence Service from 1974 to 1985.-Early career:Oleg Gordievsky attended the Moscow State Institute of International...
, the deputy head of the KGB at the Soviet embassy in London, was actually a double agent
Double agent
A double agent, commonly abbreviated referral of double secret agent, is a counterintelligence term used to designate an employee of a secret service or organization, whose primary aim is to spy on the target organization, but who in fact is a member of that same target organization oneself. They...
.
She was a senior liaison working out of Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
to the US intelligence community over the period of the first Gulf War
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
, before leading the newly-created Irish counter-terrorism section from 1992 when MI5 were given the lead responsibility for such work (from the Metropolitan Police
Metropolitan police
Metropolitan Police is a generic title for the municipal police force for a major metropolitan area, and it may be part of the official title of the force...
). Having been promoted to the Management Board of the Security Service the next year, Manningham-Buller became the director in charge of surveillance and technical operations, later becoming director of Irish counter-terrorism.
She was appointed Deputy Director General in 1997, and succeeded Sir Stephen Lander
Stephen Lander
Sir Stephen James Lander, KCB is a former chairman of the United Kingdom's Serious Organised Crime Agency , who also served as Director-General of the British Security Service from 1996 to 2002.-Career:...
as Director General in 2002, the second woman to take on the role after Dame Stella Rimington
Stella Rimington
Dame Stella Rimington, DCB is a British author, who was the Director General of MI5 from 1992 to 1996. She was the first female DG of MI5, and the first DG whose name was publicised on appointment...
. As Director General, she was paid £150,000 a year. She is credited with making the agency more open: she established a website and recruited agents through newspaper advertisements. Under her direction, terror risk assessments were made public for the first time.
Manningham-Buller was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the Bath
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
(DCB) in 2005. She retired from MI5 on 21 April 2007, and was replaced by her deputy Jonathan Evans
Jonathan Evans (MI5 officer)
Jonathan Evans is the Director General of the British Security Service, the United Kingdom's domestic security and counter-intelligence service...
. That month marked the end of her 33rd year in the Security Service. Lady Manningham-Buller has reportedly joined the public speaking circuit.
Manningham-Buller was appointed to the Court and Council of Imperial College London
Imperial College London
Imperial College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom, specialising in science, engineering, business and medicine...
in 2009, becoming Deputy Chairman later that year, and Chairman in July 2011.
Personal life
Manningham-Buller was the second daughter in a family of four, of Viscount DilhorneReginald Manningham-Buller, 1st Viscount Dilhorne
Reginald Edward Manningham-Buller, 1st Viscount Dilhorne PC, QC , known as Sir Reginald Manningham-Buller, Bt, from 1954 to 1962 and as The Lord Dilhorne from 1962 to 1964, was an English lawyer and Conservative politician...
. She was educated at Northampton High School
Northampton High School
Northampton High School is a private selective day school for girls in Hardingstone, Northampton, England.- Location :The school is about from Northampton town centre along the Newport Pagnell road which separates the school from Wootton.- History :The school was founded in 1878 by a committee of...
and Benenden School
Benenden School
Benenden School is an independent boarding school for girls in Kent, England. It is located in Benenden in the Kentish countryside, between Cranbrook and Tenterden....
.
She is married to David, whose surname has never been disclosed publicly; he has five children by his previous marriage, who are Lady Manningham-Buller's stepchildren. "Her husband, David, is the son of a former Lieutenant Colonel and a former lecturer in moral philosophy at St Andrews University. He has recently retrained as a carpenter. An Irish Catholic by birth, he is said to have once held strong left-wing views. Lady Manningham-Buller reported that he knew about her profession before their marriage and when they knew each other well."
Parents
Manningham-Buller's father, Lord DilhorneReginald Manningham-Buller, 1st Viscount Dilhorne
Reginald Edward Manningham-Buller, 1st Viscount Dilhorne PC, QC , known as Sir Reginald Manningham-Buller, Bt, from 1954 to 1962 and as The Lord Dilhorne from 1962 to 1964, was an English lawyer and Conservative politician...
, (1905–1980) was a Conservative MP from 1943 to 1962. He was Britain's second highest legal officer, the Solicitor General
Solicitor General for England and Wales
Her Majesty's Solicitor General for England and Wales, often known as the Solicitor General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown, and the deputy of the Attorney General, whose duty is to advise the Crown and Cabinet on the law...
, he also later held the office of Lord Chancellor
Lord Chancellor
The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...
for two years, thereafter; he was created an hereditary peer with a viscountcy.
Her mother, Mary Manningham-Buller (Viscountess Dilhorne), trained carrier pigeons that were used to fly coded messages in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. The pigeons were dropped in wicker baskets with little parachutes over France and Germany and they were used to fly back to her mother's pigeon loft carrying intelligence. One of the pigeons won the Dickin Medal
Dickin Medal
The Dickin Medal was instituted in 1943 in the United Kingdom by Maria Dickin to honour the work of animals in war. It is a bronze medallion, bearing the words "For Gallantry" and "We Also Serve" within a laurel wreath, carried on a ribbon of striped green, dark brown and pale blue...
, and one brought back intelligence of the V-2 rocket
V-2 rocket
The V-2 rocket , technical name Aggregat-4 , was a ballistic missile that was developed at the beginning of the Second World War in Germany, specifically targeted at London and later Antwerp. The liquid-propellant rocket was the world's first long-range combat-ballistic missile and first known...
project in Peenemünde
Peenemünde
The Peenemünde Army Research Center was founded in 1937 as one of five military proving grounds under the Army Weapons Office ....
, Germany. Viscountess Dilhorne died in Oxfordshire on 25 March 2004 at the age of 93.
Backing the War on Terror
Manningham-Buller has made speeches to invited audiences containing members of the press, as well as making court statements. On 17 June 2003, at a conference at the Royal United Services InstituteRoyal United Services Institute
The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies , officially still known by its old name, the Royal United Services Institution, is a British defence and security think tank. It was founded in 1831 by The Duke of Wellington.RUSI describes itself asIt won Prospect Magazine's...
she gave her complete backing for the War on Terror
War on Terror
The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...
and said that renegade scientists had given terror groups information needed to create chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) weapons. She also warned that the threat from international terrorism would be "with us for a good long time", which was why new legislation
Terrorism Acts (2000-present)
From 2000 to the present, the British Parliament passed a series of Terrorism Acts that were aimed at terrorism in general, rather than specifically focussed on terrorism related to Northern Ireland...
had been introduced.
Speech on the 7 July 2005 London bombings
On 10 September 2005, she spoke to an audience in the NetherlandsNetherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
about the 7 July 2005 London bombings
7 July 2005 London bombings
The 7 July 2005 London bombings were a series of co-ordinated suicide attacks in the United Kingdom, targeting civilians using London's public transport system during the morning rush hour....
and her disappointment that MI5 failed to stop attacks, even when in possession of intelligence, because of bureaucratic inertia. She also added that "[T]he world has changed and there needs to be a debate on whether some erosion of [the] civil liberties
Civil liberties
Civil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights such as the freedom from slavery and forced labour, freedom from torture and death, the right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, the right to defend one's self, the right to own and bear arms, the right...
we all value may be necessary to improve the chances of our citizens not being blown apart as they go about their daily lives."
Stance on gaining intelligence through torture
On 21 October 2005, BBC NewsBBC News
BBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
reported Manningham-Buller's leaked court statement to the Law Lords regarding methods for collecting intelligence from overseas. This was part of an investigation by the Law Lords on whether the British Government should have to be made aware whether the intelligence it is using was obtained through torture.
She stated that "Experience proves that detainee reporting can be accurate and may enable lives to be saved." She also maintained that obtaining information from foreign intelligence agencies, which initially enters the UK intelligence system via MI6, was vital in fighting terrorism. Regarding the ethics of how and where this intelligence is gathered she stated that "agencies will not often know the location or details of detention".
Her example to support the need for intelligence gathering from overseas was the case of Mohammed Megeurba, an Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
n man who was questioned by agencies in his country. Evidence collected by this questioning led to a raid in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
which led to the Wood Green ricin plot
Wood Green ricin plot
The Wood Green ricin plot was a 2002 alleged bioterrorism plot to attack the London Underground with ricin poison. The planned attack had connections with al-Qaeda...
being uncovered. Press have speculated that Megeurba was tortured to obtain this information, although Manningham-Buller maintained that neither she nor MI5
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
were aware of the "precise circumstances that attended their [Algerian agencies'] questioning of Megeurba". She emphasised that, had MI5 requested information regarding how the intelligence had been gathered, its request would have been ignored and the relationship between the UK and Algeria could have been damaged. She concluded by exemplifying the "importance of co-operation between states in countering the threat from international terrorism".
Shami Chakrabarti
Shami Chakrabarti
Shami Chakrabarti CBE , has been the director of Liberty, a British pressure group, since September 2003. Chakrabarti is the Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University.-Early life:...
, director of human rights organisation Liberty
Liberty (pressure group)
Liberty is a pressure group based in the United Kingdom. Its formal name is the National Council for Civil Liberties . Founded in 1934 by Ronald Kidd and Sylvia Crowther-Smith , the group campaigns to protect civil liberties and promote human rights...
, commended Manningham-Buller for being "brutally honest" about the activities of intelligence agencies. However, she also stated that the United Kingdom should not "legitimise" torture as a means of intelligence gathering by accepting evidence gained in such a manner as evidence in court. Manningham-Buller stated that the British intelligence services do not ask how intelligence is obtained "because that would make things difficult".
Refusal to appear before the Joint Committee on Human Rights
On 23 January 2006, she refused to appear before the Joint Committee On Human RightsHuman rights in the United Kingdom
Human rights in the United Kingdom are set out in common law, with its strongest roots being in the English Bill of Rights 1689, as well as the European legislation. At the same time, the UK has also had a history of both de jure and de facto discrimination, and, in recent history, occasional...
in Parliament to speak about "the extent to which the Service is, or could take steps to ensure it is, aware that information it receives from foreign agencies may have been obtained by the use of torture", and "any information which the Service may have about extraordinary renditions using UK airports".
Speech on MI5 after the September 11 attacks
On 9 November 2006, Manningham-Buller gave a speech at Queen Mary, University of LondonQueen Mary, University of London
Queen Mary, University of London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
as a guest of Professor Peter Hennessy
Peter Hennessy
Peter John Hennessy, Baron Hennessy of Nympsfield, FBA is an English historian of government. Since 1992, he has been Attlee Professor of Contemporary British History at Queen Mary, University of London.-Early life:...
in which she warned that her office was tracking 30 terror plots, and 200 groupings or networks, totalling over 1,600 individuals. She also stated that MI5 had expanded by 50% since the September 11 attacks and stood at roughly 2,800 staff. She reiterated her warning that the threat "may—I suggest will—include the use of chemicals, bacteriological agents, radioactive materials and even nuclear technology".
This speech came three days after Dhiren Barot
Dhiren Barot
Dhiren Barot is a convicted terrorist from the United Kingdom.-Background:...
was sentenced to 40 years for his part in the 2004 Financial buildings plot
2004 Financial buildings plot
The 2004 financial buildings plot was a plan led by Dhiren Barot to attack a number of targets in the U.S. and the United Kingdom which is believed to have been approved by al-Qaeda....
in which he had a plan to build a radiological dirty bomb
Dirty bomb
A dirty bomb is a speculative radiological weapon that combines radioactive material with conventional explosives. The purpose of the weapon is to contaminate the area around the explosion with radioactive material, hence the attribute "dirty"....
that involved setting fire to 10,000 smoke alarms.
In September 2011 Eliza Manningham-Buller delivered one of the BBC Radio Reith Lectures and answered questions from an audience that included historian Peter Hennessy
Peter Hennessy
Peter John Hennessy, Baron Hennessy of Nympsfield, FBA is an English historian of government. Since 1992, he has been Attlee Professor of Contemporary British History at Queen Mary, University of London.-Early life:...
and novelist Ian McEwan
Ian McEwan
Ian Russell McEwan CBE, FRSA, FRSL is a British novelist and screenwriter, and one of Britain's most highly regarded writers. In 2008, The Times named him among their list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945"....
, see http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0126d29.
Attack on 42-day terrorism detention
On 8 July 2008, Baroness Manningham-Buller made her maiden speech in the House of LordsHouse of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
since her resignation. She told the House that she was against government plans to extend the time period for retaining terrorist suspects in the UK from 28 to 42 days. She told peers that she disagreed on a "practical basis as well as a principled one". She criticised the plans for terrorism detention as being not "in any way workable" and emphasised the need for all political parties to work together in finding a solution for dealing with terrorism. Furthermore, Lady Manningham-Buller maintained that "complete security" could never be achieved in a country and that civil liberties were at risk of being compromised if the plans were passed by the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
.
The speech, only 501 words long and lasting only four minutes, attracted praise from other Lords, including Baroness Ramsay of Cartvale, who described it as "outstanding, thoughtful and valuable", but also significant attention in the media, given the Baroness's expertise in counter-terrorism issues. Martin Kettle, writing in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
on 11 July 2008, described it as "devastatingly succinct" and "the fatal shot" which would ensure that the Government's "plans were holed below the water line". James Kirkup of the Daily Telegraph described it as "a huge blow to Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
's plans to extend the detention of terrorist suspects to 42 days".
Other peers supported Lady Manningham-Buller's stance against the plans, including former Attorney General Lord Goldsmith
Peter Goldsmith, Baron Goldsmith
Peter Henry Goldsmith, Baron Goldsmith, PC, QC , is a former Attorney General for England and Wales and Northern Ireland. On 22 June 2007, Goldsmith announced his resignation which took effect on 27 June 2007, the same day that prime minister, Tony Blair, stepped down. Goldsmith was the longest...
, former Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer
Charles Falconer, Baron Falconer of Thoroton
Charles Leslie Falconer, Baron Falconer of Thoroton, PC is a British Labour politician, who became the Lord Chancellor and the first Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs in 2003...
and former Chairperson of the Joint Intelligence Committee
Joint Intelligence Committee
The Joint Intelligence Committee is a nodal government agency in several countries, responsible for the internal and external security apparatus of the respective nations.* Joint Intelligence Committee * Joint Intelligence Committee...
(JIC), Baroness Neville-Jones. Nevertheless, Lord West of Spithead
Alan West, Baron West of Spithead
Admiral Alan William John West, Baron West of Spithead GCB DSC PC was, from June 2007 to May 2010, a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the British Home Office with responsibility for Security and a Security Advisor to Prime Minister Gordon Brown...
, who was First Sea Lord
First Sea Lord
The First Sea Lord is the professional head of the Royal Navy and the whole Naval Service; it was formerly known as First Naval Lord. He also holds the title of Chief of Naval Staff, and is known by the abbreviations 1SL/CNS...
of the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
until 2006 and was then a junior Home Office
Home Office
The Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...
minister spoke for the Government and implied that more stringent security measures were required to deal with the "unprecedented terrorist threat" to the UK.
Lecture on torture in the House of Lords (9 March 2010)
Giving a lecture in the House of Lords, Baroness Manningham-Buller said “the government did lodge protests” to its US counterparts once the extent of torture was known. It is the first time that has been said publicly. Asked if she had known of the use of waterboarding and other techniques of pressure while she was director-general of MI5, from October 2002 until her retirement in April 2007, she said she had done, and had disapproved. “Nothing – not even the saving of lives – justifies torturing people,” she said. She added that “the Americans were very keen to conceal from us what they were doing” with suspects. Full speech can be found at http://news.parliament.uk/2010/03/baroness-manningham-bullers-lecture-on-intelligence/2010 Iraq inquiry comments
Baroness Manningham-Buller giving evidence to the Iraq inquiryChilcot Inquiry
The Iraq Inquiry, also referred to as the Chilcot Inquiry after its chairman, Sir John Chilcot, is a British public inquiry into the United Kingdom's role in the Iraq War...
in July 2010 said the decision to go to war meant that "Our involvement in Iraq, for want of a better word, radicalised a whole generation of young people, some of them British citizens who saw our involvement in Iraq, on top of our involvement in Afghanistan, as being an attack on Islam," she said, before immediately correcting herself by adding "not a whole generation, a few among a generation". As a result, she said she was not "surprised" that UK nationals were involved in the 7 July 2005 bombings in central London. She said she believed the intelligence on Iraq's threat was not "substantial enough" to justify the action. A year after the invasion, she said MI5 was "swamped" by leads about terrorist threats to the UK.
Desert Island Discs
Manningham-Buller was a "castaway" on Desert Island DiscsDesert Island Discs
Desert Island Discs is a BBC Radio 4 programme first broadcast on 29 January 1942. It is the second longest-running radio programme , and is the longest-running factual programme in the history of radio...
broadcast on BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
in November 2007 giving her first interview after her retirement. She talked briefly about her personal life and her former professional life, including her reactions to the 7 July 2005 London bombings
7 July 2005 London bombings
The 7 July 2005 London bombings were a series of co-ordinated suicide attacks in the United Kingdom, targeting civilians using London's public transport system during the morning rush hour....
and the importance of protecting their agents. She explained that she had decided on her retirement date shortly after she took up the Director General job, choosing to retire with a total of 33 years service in the security services. She chose as her book The Rattle Bag of poems selected by Ted Hughes
Ted Hughes
Edward James Hughes OM , more commonly known as Ted Hughes, was an English poet and children's writer. Critics routinely rank him as one of the best poets of his generation. Hughes was British Poet Laureate from 1984 until his death.Hughes was married to American poet Sylvia Plath, from 1956 until...
and Seamus Heaney
Seamus Heaney
Seamus Heaney is an Irish poet, writer and lecturer. He lives in Dublin. Heaney has received the Nobel Prize in Literature , the Golden Wreath of Poetry , T. S. Eliot Prize and two Whitbread prizes...
.
The BBC Reith Lectures
In June 2011, the BBC announced Eliza Manningham-Buller would present the 2011 Reith Lectures, alongside the Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu KyiAung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi, AC is a Burmese opposition politician and the General Secretary of the National League for Democracy. In the 1990 general election, her National League for Democracy party won 59% of the national votes and 81% of the seats in Parliament. She had, however, already been detained...
in a series entitled Securing Freedom. Eliza Manningham-Buller's lectures broadcast on BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
and the BBC World Service
BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is the world's largest international broadcaster, broadcasting in 27 languages to many parts of the world via analogue and digital shortwave, internet streaming and podcasting, satellite, FM and MW relays...
in September 2011, marking the ten year anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the United States.
In her first lecture, titled "Terror", recorded at BBC Broadcasting House in London, she reflected on the lasting significance of September 11th 2001, asking was it a terrorist crime, an act of war, or something different. She also revealed details of her own role in the discussions involving international security agencies in the days following the attacks on New York and Washington DC and examined the impact the US-led invasion of Iraq had on the fight against al-Qaeda.
In her second lecture, titled "Security", recorded at the Leeds City Museum
Leeds City Museum
Leeds City Museum, originally established in 1819, re-opened on 13 September 2008 in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is housed in the former Mechanics' Institute built by Cuthbert Brodrick, in Millennium Square, which has been redeveloped to a design by Austin-Smith:Lord architects and Buro...
, she stated that the use of torture is "wrong and never justified" and should be "utterly rejected even when it may offer the prospect of saving lives". She said that the use of torture had not made the world a safer place, adding that the use of water-boarding by the United States was a "profound mistake" and as a result America lost its "moral authority".
In her third and final lecture, titled "Freedom", recorded at the British Library
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
in London, she discussed foreign policy priorities since the September 11 attacks. She stated that it was "necessary" to talk to dictators and terrorists, to protect security and said that the British government's decision to engage with Colonel Gaddafi
Muammar Gaddafi
Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar Gaddafi or "September 1942" 20 October 2011), commonly known as Muammar Gaddafi or Colonel Gaddafi, was the official ruler of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then the "Brother Leader" of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011.He seized power in a...
in 2003 was "the right decision". She went on to say that protecting British citizens would be impossible if the security services were restricted to talking only to those with shared values and cited examples where people once deemed terrorists were now part of the political establishment: "Look at Northern Ireland, where former terrorists are in government... look at Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
and the ANC
ANC
ANC commonly refers to the African National Congress, a revolutionary movement which became the ruling political party in South Africa in the 1994 election.ANC may also refer to:-Organizations:...
which used terror tactics when it was in exile."
During the recording of the final lecture she also revealed that she had suffered an anxiety dream, in which she imagined that she was to be arrested for breaking the Official Secrets Act
Official Secrets Act 1989
The Official Secrets Act 1989 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It repeals and replaces section 2 of the Official Secrets Act 1911. It is said to have removed the public interest defence created by that section....
after having given the lectures.
- The BBC Reith Lectures 2011: Securing Freedom
- The BBC Reith Lectures 2011: Eliza Manningham-Buller podcast
- The BBC Reith Lectures 2011: Eliza Manningham-Buller transcripts
Styles and honours
- Miss Elizabeth Manningham-Buller (1948–1962)
- The Hon. Eliza Manningham-Buller (1962–2005)
- The Hon. Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller DCB (2005–2008)
- The Rt. Hon. The Baroness Manningham-Buller DCB (2008–)
See also
- List of terrorist incidents in the United Kingdom
- MI6, the United Kingdom's foreign intelligence agencyIntelligence agencyAn intelligence agency is a governmental agency that is devoted to information gathering for purposes of national security and defence. Means of information gathering may include espionage, communication interception, cryptanalysis, cooperation with other institutions, and evaluation of public...
- MI numbers