MI5 criticised for mishandling defector's information

The British security service, M-I-5, has been sharply criticised by a Parliamentary committee for mishandling information identifying Soviet spies in Britain.

The committee, which oversees British intelligence services, lists what it calls a number of serious failures -- most prominent among them the case of eighty-seven-year old, Melita Norwood, who was confirmed as a former Soviet agent in 1992 by a KGB defector, Vasili Mitrokhin.

The committee said M-I-5 had concluded police action was inappropriate, but it should have let the legal authorities make the decision. The committee also reveals that even the head of MI5 knew nothing of the case, and refers to evidence suggesting that the American president knew of Mr Mitrokhin's revelations before the then prime minister, John Major.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service