Campbell reveals computer files

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THE RETURN OF COLONEL B RETURN OF COLONEL CABO B Only days before he himself is due to go on trial under the Official Secrets Act, freelance journalist Duncan Campbell has pointed out the growing police surveillance of working men and women by revealing that the majority of the 1.5 million people to be catalogued on a new police computer have no criminal record.

1.23 million of the files are to be from the Special Branch, which specialises in political and intelligence work, Campbell reveals in a New Statesman article.

Another 29,000 files will come from the National Immigration Intelligence Unit and 160,000 from the National Drugs Unit.

A mere 130 files from the Serious Crimes Squad will deal with known criminals.

The extent of police surveillance of innocent civilians is proved by Campbell's own case, which is to be heard at the Old Bailey on September 5.

PHOTO: Andrew Wiard, Report Mikardo Along with fellow journalist Crispin Aubrey and ox-soldier John Berry, Campbell was a supporter of the campaign to prevent the deportation of former CIA agent Phillip Agee and American journalist Mark Hosenball.

Peter Hain PICKET Old Bailey (Jointly sponspored by the VUJ)

This, coupled with their reputation as investigative journalists, brought them under the watchful eyes and ears of intelligence agencies.

When Berry-who seven years beforehand had been an army corporal attached to the at 12.30 p.m. top secret signals intelligence unit SIGINT-contacted them and sought a discussion, phone taps and surveillance ensured that MI5 knew where and when the meeting would be..

After a two hour tape-recorded conversation, ail three were arrested. The content of the conversation has never been published or revealed.

Spying clause

The three victims are now charged under Section 1 of the Official Secrets Act-the "spying clause"-though not even the prosecution have claimed they are spies.

If found guilty they each face a possible 14 years in jail.

The information on the new police computer, along with the announcement last week that even the exact number of employees in the atomic weapons establishment at Aldermaston is an official secret, indicates how widereaching this Act is, and how severely it restricts the rights of the workers' movement.

Abandoned

Labour Home Secretary Merlyn Rees recently announced the cabinet decision to abandon Labour's manifesto pledge to repeal the Act, and thus to perpetuate all the clandestine activities of the most reactionary elements in the police and military apparatus.

The fight to defend Aubrey, Berry and Campbell and prevent dramatic new attacks on democratic rights must therefore be taken up with urgency by the labour movement as a whole. TUC leader Murray with Callagha

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