The woman sacked by British intelligence and charged with breaching theOfficial Secrets Act spoke out tonight to justify any disclosures she may havemade.
Katharine Gun, 29, worked as a translator for the Government CommunicationsHeadquarters (GCHQ) - the security services' main monitoring centre inCheltenham.
She was originally arrested in March after a top secret US memo was allegedlyleaked to the press by an intelligence official opposed to the war.
The memo reportedly discussed phone tapping delegates from countries on theUnited Nations Security Council who were about to vote on a potential war inIraq.
Today, Gun was charged by officers from the Metropolitan Police Special Branchunder Section 1(1) of the 1989 Act at Cheltenham police station.
Under Section 1, it is an offence to disclose security and intelligenceinformation without the correct authorisation.
Gun is represented by James Welch from the human rights organisation Libertyand tonight she released a statement.
It read: "I worked for GCHQ as a translator until June 2003. I have beencharged with offences under the Official Secrets Act.
"Any disclosures that may have been made were justified on the followinggrounds: - because they exposed serious illegality and wrongdoing on the partof the US Government who attempted to subvert our own security services and - toprevent wide-scale death and casualties among ordinary Iraqi people and UKforces in the course of an illegal war.
"No-one has suggested (nor could they), that any payment was sought or givenfor any alleged disclosures.
"I have only ever followed my conscience."A spokesman for Liberty claimed that the case was likely to put the legalityof the whole war on Iraq on trial.
At the time of Gun's initial arrest on March 5, reports were circulating thata confidential memo had been leaked by a disgruntled intelligence employeeangered about the potential war on Iraq.
The memo sent to The Observer newspaper apparently originated from the USNational Security Agency (NSA), the body which monitors internationalcommunications.
The January 31 memo reportedly said NSA had begun a "surge" of extraeavesdropping on officials from Angola, Cameroon, Chile, Bulgaria, Guinea andPakistan - all among the 15 members of the Security Council.
Phones of delegates were tapped in what the newspaper described as a "dirtytricks" operation.
The author of the memo was supposedly Frank Koza, Defence Chief of Staff(Regional Targets) at NSA.
Details of the memo were allegedly circulated around the British intelligenceservices before being leaked.A spokesman for GCHQ confirmed that Gun, from Cheltenham in Gloucestershire,used to work for the organisation but was dismissed in June.He said: "This is really a matter for the Metropolitan Police."
Gun was granted bail and will appear at Bow Street Magistrates Court onNovember 27.