Blair Wallace
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This article is part of SpinWatch's Northern Ireland Portal. |
Daniel Blair Wallace is a former senior RUC officer.
RUC career
Wallace joined the RUC in 1955. He was appointed Deputy Chief Constable in June 1992.[1] In July 1992, as Deputy Chief Constable (Operations), Wallace was given a new role in co-ordinating counter-terrorism operations run by the police, the army and the security service, MI5.
- He will work closely with Major General Ian Freer, commander land forces in the province; the head of the RUC special branch and the director and co-ordinator of intelligence, who is a senior MI5 officer. The four men will serve on the Province Executive Committee, set up in April last year, which Mr Wallace will chair.[2]
In February 1994, Wallace rejected an Amnesty International report which claimed that the security forces were involved in collusion with loyalist paramilitaries.
- He said 230 loyalists were charged with terrorist-type offences last year, compared with 137 republicans. "Do these facts suggest collusion with loyalists? What utter nonsense. Does this suggest collusion or support any allegation that the security forces are neglecting their duty of protecting the Catholic community? Again, what utter nonsense," he said.[3]
Intelligence Newsletter suggested in June 1995, that Wallace was a possible successor to the RUC Chief Constable Sir Hugh Annesley.
- Intelligence Newsletter sources believe MI5 is pushing Blair Wallace, a covert specialist with the RUC Special Branch, as candidate to take over from Annesley. MI6's favorite for the job is said to be another former SB officer, assistant chief constable Ronnie Flanagan.[4]
Friends of the Union
In February 2003, Wallace backed the 'Stormont Principles' initiative launched by the Friends of the Union.
- The initiative is backed by UUP patron Lord Molyneaux, Blair Wallace, a former RUC Assistant Chief Constable, and the Rev Dr David McGaughey, a former Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.
- Support for the project has also come from the News Letter, The Times and Daily Telegraph newspapers, from a number of Conservative MPs and from Lisl Biggs-Davison, daughter of former Tory MP the late Sir John Biggs-Davison.
- Two UUP MPs, Jeffrey Donaldson and David Burnside, have already signed up to the Stormont Principles, which will also concentrate on securing stability and a lasting peace in Northern Ireland, with total disarmament and disbandment of all terrorist organisations, republican and loyalist, the only way to achieve this.[5]
Notes
- ↑ Ian Graham, RUC APPOINTS SECOND DEPUTY CHIEF CONSTABLE, Press Association, 6 June 1992.
- ↑ Michael Evans, Security squads join forces, The Times, 1 July 1992.
- ↑ ULSTER SECRETARY HITS AT AMNESTY 'COLLUSION' REPORT, Press Association, 10 February 1994.
- ↑ Sir Hugh Annesley (Northern Ireland), Intelligence Newsletter, 1 June 1995.
- ↑ Billy Kennedy, Unionist Unity Bid, Belfast Newsletter, 17 February 2003.
