Michael Smith (newspaper reporter)
Encyclopedia
Michael Smith is a British journalist for The Sunday Times
who specializes in defence and intelligence issues. He is well known for, among other things, obtaining the document known as the Downing Street memo
. The memo revealed the disclosure by Sir Richard Dearlove
, then the head of the British Secret Intelligence Service
(MI6), that the intelligence to justify an invasion was being "fixed around the policy". The Downing Street memo
was in fact just one of eight documents obtained by Smith which showed that President George W. Bush
and Prime Minister Tony Blair
agreed in April 2002 to invade Iraq
; that they planned to "wrongfoot" Saddam Hussein
to give them the excuse to do so; and that they used flights over the southern no-fly zone of Iraq to begin the air war against Iraq
in May 2002, with "spikes of activity" which they hoped might provoke Iraq into reacting and giving them the excuse to go to war.
Smith won a British Press Award
in 2006 for specialist of the year. The award was for his work in revealing the Downing Street memo
.
Smith previously worked for the BBC
and the Daily Telegraph. He has also contributed to The Raw Story
and New Statesman
and has authored a number of books, including the UK Number 1 bestseller Station X: The Codebreakers of Bletchley Park (1998); The Spying Game: The Secret History of British Espionage (2003), which revealed details of how MI6 and members of the British Special Boat Service were operating inside Basra during the 2003 war in Iraq; and Killer Elite: The Inside Story of America's Most Secret Special Operations Team (2006). His book Foley: The Spy Who Saved 10,000 Jews (1999), led to Frank Foley
, the MI6 head of station in Berlin during the 1930s being made Righteous Among The Nations
, the highest award the Jewish state can award to a gentile. According to Jewish aid workers, Foley saved "tens of thousands" of Jews from the Holocaust, giving them visas and passports to which they were not entitled, going into the concentration camps to get Jews out, and in the period after Kristallnacht
in November 1938, hiding five or six Jews in his home every night.
Smith was previously the Defence Correspondent at the Daily Telegraph, and prior to that was a journalist with the BBC
. Before his career as a reporter, he was a member of the British Army
and worked in intelligence operations. He is currently working on a major history of MI6 entitled: SIX: A History of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service. The first part, entitled: SIX: The Real James Bonds, 1909-1939, was published in paperback by Biteback in September 2011. It will be published in the US in July 2011 as MI6: The Real James Bonds, 1909-1939. He published The Secrets of Station X, a far more comprehensive account of the work of the Bletchley Park codebreakers than his previous books, in August 2011. His most recent book is Britain's "Secret War 1939-45: How Espionage, Codebreaking and Covert Operations Helped Win the War.
The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
who specializes in defence and intelligence issues. He is well known for, among other things, obtaining the document known as the Downing Street memo
Downing Street memo
The "Downing Street memo" , sometimes described by critics of the Iraq War as the "smoking gun memo", is the note of a secret 23 July 2002, meeting of senior British Labour government, defence and intelligence figures discussing the build-up to the war, which included direct reference to classified...
. The memo revealed the disclosure by Sir Richard Dearlove
Richard Dearlove
Sir Richard Billing Dearlove, KCMG, OBE was head of the British Secret Intelligence Service from 1999 until 6 May 2004.-Career:...
, then the head of the British Secret Intelligence Service
Secret Intelligence Service
The Secret Intelligence Service is responsible for supplying the British Government with foreign intelligence. Alongside the internal Security Service , the Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence Intelligence , it operates under the formal direction of the Joint Intelligence...
(MI6), that the intelligence to justify an invasion was being "fixed around the policy". The Downing Street memo
Downing Street memo
The "Downing Street memo" , sometimes described by critics of the Iraq War as the "smoking gun memo", is the note of a secret 23 July 2002, meeting of senior British Labour government, defence and intelligence figures discussing the build-up to the war, which included direct reference to classified...
was in fact just one of eight documents obtained by Smith which showed that President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
and Prime Minister Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
agreed in April 2002 to invade Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
; that they planned to "wrongfoot" Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
to give them the excuse to do so; and that they used flights over the southern no-fly zone of Iraq to begin the air war against Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
in May 2002, with "spikes of activity" which they hoped might provoke Iraq into reacting and giving them the excuse to go to war.
Smith won a British Press Award
British Press Awards 2006
The British Press Awards is an annual ceremony that has celebrated the best of British journalism since the 1970s. A financially lucrative part of the Press Gazette's business, they have been described as "the Oscars of British journalism", or less flatteringly, "The Hackademy Awards".The British...
in 2006 for specialist of the year. The award was for his work in revealing the Downing Street memo
Downing Street memo
The "Downing Street memo" , sometimes described by critics of the Iraq War as the "smoking gun memo", is the note of a secret 23 July 2002, meeting of senior British Labour government, defence and intelligence figures discussing the build-up to the war, which included direct reference to classified...
.
Smith previously worked for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and the Daily Telegraph. He has also contributed to The Raw Story
The Raw Story
The Raw Story is a progressive news, politics and weblog publication founded in 2004. Updated continuously, it is known primarily for its investigative reporting...
and New Statesman
New Statesman
New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
and has authored a number of books, including the UK Number 1 bestseller Station X: The Codebreakers of Bletchley Park (1998); The Spying Game: The Secret History of British Espionage (2003), which revealed details of how MI6 and members of the British Special Boat Service were operating inside Basra during the 2003 war in Iraq; and Killer Elite: The Inside Story of America's Most Secret Special Operations Team (2006). His book Foley: The Spy Who Saved 10,000 Jews (1999), led to Frank Foley
Frank Foley
Major Francis Edward Foley CMG was a British Secret Intelligence Service officer...
, the MI6 head of station in Berlin during the 1930s being made Righteous Among The Nations
Righteous Among the Nations
Righteous among the Nations of the world's nations"), also translated as Righteous Gentiles is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to save Jews from extermination by the Nazis....
, the highest award the Jewish state can award to a gentile. According to Jewish aid workers, Foley saved "tens of thousands" of Jews from the Holocaust, giving them visas and passports to which they were not entitled, going into the concentration camps to get Jews out, and in the period after Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht, also referred to as the Night of Broken Glass, and also Reichskristallnacht, Pogromnacht, and Novemberpogrome, was a pogrom or series of attacks against Jews throughout Nazi Germany and parts of Austria on 9–10 November 1938.Jewish homes were ransacked, as were shops, towns and...
in November 1938, hiding five or six Jews in his home every night.
Smith was previously the Defence Correspondent at the Daily Telegraph, and prior to that was a journalist with the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
. Before his career as a reporter, he was a member of the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
and worked in intelligence operations. He is currently working on a major history of MI6 entitled: SIX: A History of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service. The first part, entitled: SIX: The Real James Bonds, 1909-1939, was published in paperback by Biteback in September 2011. It will be published in the US in July 2011 as MI6: The Real James Bonds, 1909-1939. He published The Secrets of Station X, a far more comprehensive account of the work of the Bletchley Park codebreakers than his previous books, in August 2011. His most recent book is Britain's "Secret War 1939-45: How Espionage, Codebreaking and Covert Operations Helped Win the War.