Media Advisory:

Press Conference to Mark 15th Anniversary

Of Leak by GCHQ Translator Katharine Gun

Revealing US “Dirty Tricks” at UN for Iraq War

When:  Thursday, 1 March 2018 at 11:00 a.m.

Where:  Head office, National Union of Journalists

Headland House, 72 Acton Street, London, WC1X 9NB

Who:  Katharine Gun, Thomas Drake, Matthew Hoh, Jesselyn Radack

This press conference will take place the day before the 15th anniversary of the Observer’s publication of the explosive March 2, 2003 story “US dirty tricks to win vote on Iraq war” — based on a leak by GCHQ linguist and analyst Katharine Gun — revealing the US National Security Agency’s UN surveillance memo that aimed to grease the way for the Iraq invasion. She will be depicted by Keira Knightley in the film “Official Secrets” which is to start shooting in March.

Thomas Drake was a senior NSA executive at the time.

Matthew Hoh later fought in Iraq as a US Marine and then became a US State Department official before resigning in protest of the war in Afghanistan.

Jesselyn Radack was a whistleblower at the US Department of Justice in connection with the “war on terror” before becoming a national security and human rights attorney representing Drake as well as Edward Snowden and other whistleblowers.

The four speakers will assess the significance of the revelations that Katharine Gun provided 15 years ago and discuss the current conditions for whistleblowers and freedom of information in the UK and the US.

For further information:

ExposeFacts, Institute for Public Accuracy

norman at accuracy.org