Official Secrets:  2019 British drama currently available on Netflix –

Based on a true story, ‘Official Secrets’ is set immediately prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq that overthrew Saddam Hussein.  Keira Knightly plays Katharine Gun, a woman employed by British intelligence who discovers that her government is colluding with the Bush Administration to promote and disseminate bogus intelligence about Iraq – notably the false claim that Iraq had developed weapons of mass destruction.  At work, Katharine discovers a memo from a high ranking member of the CIA that outlines a scheme to spy on diplomats sitting on the U.N. Security Council, hoping to blackmail them into supporting a resolution that would legitimize a war against the Hussein government.  

Despite having signed the British ‘Official Secrets Act’ and knowing the potential penalty for doing so, she leaks the document to a friend in the anti-war movement.  She hopes the leak will derail the government’s commitment to war.  The memo is first passed to an anti-war friend of Katharine’s and soon comes into the possession of Martin Bright (played by Matt Smith), an investigative reporter with the ‘Observer’ newspaper.  The Observer attempts to authenticate the memo but, after they run the story, find themselves accused of publishing a hoax because of problems caused by a computer spell-checker. 

British intelligence begins an internal investigation into the leak which ultimately leads Katharine into confessing that she was the source of the leak.  After her arrest and release on remand, she obtains the services of Ben Emmerson (played by Ralph Fiennes)  and Shami Chakrabarti (played by Indira Farma), high profile human rights lawyers.  

At the heart of the case is the power of the ‘Official Secrets Act’, which the Blair government relied on to hide their dirty tricks.  When outed by Katharine’s whistleblowing, they were determined to use the Act to make an example of her.

The movie opens with Katharine in court being asked if she will plead guilty or not guilty.  The story then jumps back to the events leading up to the trial and there’s a lot of momentum building as we work our way back to the courtroom.  When we have returned to the trial we understand better the stark choice Katharine has to make – will she plead guilty in order to get a reduced sentence or will she try a risky legal strategy that might avoid the consequences of her breaking the Official Secrets Act?  

TL:DR – this is a movie well worth watching.  It explores the ease with which governments can use an Official Secrets Act to hide their lies, manipulations and incompetence – all in the name of ‘national security’.