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When the Home Secretary, Merlyn Rees, ordered the deportation of two American journalists, Philip Agce and Mark Hosenball, he knew exactly what he was doing. A number of embarrassing disclosures have been made over recent years about CIA activities in Britain: activities carried out with the full backing of the British government.
Featuring prominently in the CIA's interest is Scotland. With the discovery of North Sea Oil, Scotland has assumed a new importance for American business interests. The significance attached to Scotland is indicated by the appointment of Henry Kissinger's former oil adviser, Funkhauser, as Consul-General to Scotland.
When he took up office in 1974, Funkhauser admitted that the post had beer "upgraded'. In a number of statements to prominent businessmen, he voiced American concern that an independent Scotland might nationalise North Sea Oil with the possibility of political violence'. To set his mind at rest, it is reported that he had discussions with prominent figures in the SNP.
Apart from his knowledge of the oil industry, Funkhauser also has other admirable qualifications for the post. At one point he was Ambassador for "pacification' in Vietnam Military District Three. The pacification programme included the setting up of strategic hamlets and systematic defoliage of cultivated land.
His counter-insurgency operational experience and his history of close co-operation with American Intelligence will, no doubt, be highly usctul in Scotland.
The Labour government's treatment of Funkhauser and his CIA cronies contrasts starkly to their attempt to deport Philip Agee for the crime of spreading information which could inhibit CIA activities in the Labour and trade union movement.
CHRIS BAMBERY Philip Agee has announced that should his appeal against deportation be turned down by the Home Office appeal tribunal - a committee of three senior civil seriants and ex-intelligence officers! he will more to Scotland to fight deportation under Scottish law.
Deportations from Scotland fall under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of State for Scotland rather than the Home Secretary, so the whole deportation procedure would then have to start again from scratch. Trade union and labour movement bodies should commit themselves to organise maximum support for Ager's campaign against deporta tion, which he is using as an effective platform for exposing CIA operation in Britain. The Agee-Hosenball Defence Committee can be contacted through Paul Brown, 59 Marchmont Road, Edinburgh.