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CNN Live At Daybreak
Spy Drama Being Played Out in Newspapers
Aired May 12, 2003 - 05:17 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: In Britain, a spy drama is being played out in the newspapers as a leading IRA enforcer is uncovered as a British agent.
Nic Robertson is in London with the fascinating story on the man called Stakeknife.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After being outed in British and Irish newspapers Sunday, one of the British Army's top agents inside the IRA is on the run. Accused by other IRA operatives and security sources of killing to save his own cover, Freddy Scappaticci from Belfast, called Stakeknife by his handlers and now by the pres, rose rapidly during his decades as an IRA informer, quickly reaching the upper echelons of the IRA.
SEAN O'CALLAGHAN, FORMER IRA COMMANDER: His name was tremendously well known and did inspire fear. So leadership's enforcer was how he was known.
ROBERTSON: According to this former British undercover agent in the IRA, who prefers to be called Kevin Fulton to protect his identity, Stakeknife had access to vast troves of information.
KEVIN FULTON, FORMER BRITISH AGENT: He was one of the leading members of the IRA internal security unit. He would have been up with GHQ staff. He would have had access to people all over Ireland. He would have interrogated anybody, North or South, that the IRA thought were handing over secrets.
ROBERTSON: A position, says Fulton, that gave Stakeknife power over life and death.
FULTON: He would have been able to save many lives. There's no doubt about that. But he would have also been able to take lives or redirect pressure from one agent or make someone else look like an agent and basically get them executed.
ROBERTSON: According to security sources, it is lost lives that made Scappacci a target for inquiry by Sir John Stevens, the British police officer tasked with investigating allegations of murder and malpractice by the British Army's forced research unit that ran agents like Scappacci and Fulton.
According to Fulton, a house used by the IRA to interrogate another British agent and entrap a senior IRA official bore evidence of Scappacci's involvement.
FULTON: Security forces rescued this agent before he was murdered. Stakeknife had left the premises, but his fingerprints had been there and were found by the security forces.
ROBERTSON: Fulton, whose struggle with the British government to get protection, which CNN first covered two years ago, shortly after he was outed as an informer, denies he tipped the newspapers off to Stakeknife's identity.
FULTON: I can tell you now I did not do that. I am responsible. I named the agent Stakeknife, who I know as Stakeknife, in sealed affidavits, because I believe I am being set up for murder by the British government.
ROBERTSON: The British government has not publicly acknowledged Fulton was an IRA agent.
(on camera): Whatever the truth, the implications of the latest revelation go beyond the safety of Fulton and Scappacci. For the British government, it means more than just the loss of a top agent. It could also be the possibility of the beginning of accounting for what one intelligence source said were at least 25 murders Scappacci was responsible for.
Nic Robertson, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired May 12, 2003 - 05:17 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: In Britain, a spy drama is being played out in the newspapers as a leading IRA enforcer is uncovered as a British agent.
Nic Robertson is in London with the fascinating story on the man called Stakeknife.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After being outed in British and Irish newspapers Sunday, one of the British Army's top agents inside the IRA is on the run. Accused by other IRA operatives and security sources of killing to save his own cover, Freddy Scappaticci from Belfast, called Stakeknife by his handlers and now by the pres, rose rapidly during his decades as an IRA informer, quickly reaching the upper echelons of the IRA.
SEAN O'CALLAGHAN, FORMER IRA COMMANDER: His name was tremendously well known and did inspire fear. So leadership's enforcer was how he was known.
ROBERTSON: According to this former British undercover agent in the IRA, who prefers to be called Kevin Fulton to protect his identity, Stakeknife had access to vast troves of information.
KEVIN FULTON, FORMER BRITISH AGENT: He was one of the leading members of the IRA internal security unit. He would have been up with GHQ staff. He would have had access to people all over Ireland. He would have interrogated anybody, North or South, that the IRA thought were handing over secrets.
ROBERTSON: A position, says Fulton, that gave Stakeknife power over life and death.
FULTON: He would have been able to save many lives. There's no doubt about that. But he would have also been able to take lives or redirect pressure from one agent or make someone else look like an agent and basically get them executed.
ROBERTSON: According to security sources, it is lost lives that made Scappacci a target for inquiry by Sir John Stevens, the British police officer tasked with investigating allegations of murder and malpractice by the British Army's forced research unit that ran agents like Scappacci and Fulton.
According to Fulton, a house used by the IRA to interrogate another British agent and entrap a senior IRA official bore evidence of Scappacci's involvement.
FULTON: Security forces rescued this agent before he was murdered. Stakeknife had left the premises, but his fingerprints had been there and were found by the security forces.
ROBERTSON: Fulton, whose struggle with the British government to get protection, which CNN first covered two years ago, shortly after he was outed as an informer, denies he tipped the newspapers off to Stakeknife's identity.
FULTON: I can tell you now I did not do that. I am responsible. I named the agent Stakeknife, who I know as Stakeknife, in sealed affidavits, because I believe I am being set up for murder by the British government.
ROBERTSON: The British government has not publicly acknowledged Fulton was an IRA agent.
(on camera): Whatever the truth, the implications of the latest revelation go beyond the safety of Fulton and Scappacci. For the British government, it means more than just the loss of a top agent. It could also be the possibility of the beginning of accounting for what one intelligence source said were at least 25 murders Scappacci was responsible for.
Nic Robertson, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
