Mark Kennedy – a British undercover police officer who went under the name Mark Stone during his time with Saving Iceland – was reportedly given clearance to seduce environmental activists in order to extract information from them on protest activities.
As reported, British policeman Mark Kennedy participated in the Kárahnjúkar protests, and told the Guardian that he had taken part in major protest operations, rising up the activist ranks, and had even seduced protesters to extract information from them. Saving Iceland, an environmentalist group who spearheaded the protests against the Kárahnjúkar dam project, denies that Kennedy was particularly active or important in Iceland.
The Guardian has since uncovered that Kennedy was given the green light by his superiors to use sex as a means of gathering intelligence, with a former colleague acting as a source:
The former undercover policeman claims that sexual relationships with activists were sanctioned for both men and women officers infiltrating anarchist, leftwing and environmental groups.
Sex was a tool to help officers blend in, the officer claimed, and was widely used as a technique to glean intelligence. His comments contradict claims last week from the Association of Chief Police Officers that operatives were absolutely forbidden to sleep with activists.
The one stipulation, according to the officer from the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS), a secret unit formed to prevent violent disorder on the streets of London, was that falling in love was considered highly unprofessional because it might compromise an investigation. He said undercover officers, particularly those infiltrating environmental and leftwing groups, viewed having sex with a large number of partners “as part of the job”.
“Everybody knew it was a very promiscuous lifestyle,” said the former officer, who first revealed his life as an undercover agent to the Observer last year. “You cannot not be promiscuous in those groups. Otherwise you’ll stand out straightaway.”
This statement contradicts the official position of the UK’s Association of Chief Police Officers, who have called Kennedy’s actions “grossly unprofessional.”
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