A D-Notice yesterday went out warning editors against naming spooks:

LEGAL NOTICE: DEFENCE ADVISORY NOTICE: IDENTITIES OF PERSONS CONNECTED
WITH THE SECURITY SERVICES – NOT FOR PUBLICATION

Please see below DEFENCE ADVISORY NOTICE

Editorial Legal Services

DEFENCE ADVISORY NOTICE

Private and Confidential:  Not for publication, broadcast or use on social
media.

To all Editors,

There have been a number of cases over the last 2 days where editors have
attempted to establish a link between a person’s identity and his
membership of the security services.  Any such linkage is likely to cause
a significant increase in the threat to a person’s life and to that of his
family, major disruption to current security operations and a significant
cost in attempting to relocate households.

May I take this opportunity to remind editors that DA Notice 05 advises,

inter alia, that the following should not be published:

‘…..   (b) the identities, whereabouts and tasks of people who are or
have been employed by these services or engaged on such work, including
details of their families and home addresses, and any other information,
including photographs, which could assist terrorist or other hostile
organizations to identify a target…..’

No responsible editor would want to name serving spies active in the field surely? It’s not like the authorities are looking for an excuse to go round smashing up journalists’ laptops. Oh…