Was Larouche site behind spy flap?

On Monday, the Executive Information Review (EIR) published a story claiming that the head of the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) -- formerly known as MI6 -- was "ordered to organize the murder of Diana, Princess of Wales." More of concern, the site published a list of 120 people across the globe said to be British spies, saying the information came from "an honest man who has since left MI6".

The British government contacted the editors of the EIR, who yanked the story from their site, but not before it was copied and circulated both on Usenet and on several Web sites.

John Sigerson, managing editor of EIR, said that Larouche is the founder and a contributing editor of the publication. Larouche could not be reached for comment.

Willing to cooperate
Some 9,000 copies of the print publication went out to regular subscribers on Wednesday before they could be recalled, including to "government offices around the world and people in the U.S. Congress," he said. But other issues which would go out to sales outlets across the United States were withheld.

In an earlier message he said, "Since the British government has raised official secrets questions concerning this matter, EIR is investigating. At the request of the British government, EIR has no further comment at this time." The British Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, denounced the leak on Wednesday, calling it a "deeply irresponsible and dangerous act," though he added that not all the names on the list had connections with the secret services. He blamed the spread of the list on a rogue ex-SIS agent, Richard Tomlinson, who was dismissed from the service in 1995.

Tomlinson admitted posting nine agent's names on his own Web site, but said he had already revealed their identities in an affidavit to the French authorities investigating Diana's death. He told ZDNN he was "as confused as you are by all of this." He had threatened earlier to reveal more names of agents and the locations of offices on his site but insists that he had not done so.

Tomlinson site pulled
The British government has also chased down Tomlinson's own Web site and successfully asked for it to be removed -- first by an Internet provider in Switzerland (where Tomlinson is now believed to reside) and then by California-based GeoCities. Tomlinson himself appears to have vanished -- he is no longer reachable on his mobile phone -- and his brother fears for his safety.

The British news media has so far respected the government's wishes not to publish the names or the Internet addresses where they can be found. But to the intense embarrassment of Britain's secret services, the list can now be found across the Internet on Web sites from Denmark to New York and on Usenet newsgroups.