David Eastwood
David Eastwood (1919-2010) was an Army and MI5 officer.[1]
Acccording to Nigel West, He served as director of intelligence in Northern Ireland from 1971 until 1973.[2] This strongly suggests that Eastwood was the MI5 officer who testified to the Bloody Sunday Inquiry as 'David'.
Northern Ireland
In his initial statement to the Saville Tribunal, 'David' said:
- I am a retired member of the Security Service and am aged 81. In 1970 I was appointed as the Security Liaison Officer for Northern Ireland.
- Some three months after arriving in Northern Ireland, I was appointed Director of Intelligence for Northern Ireland. I was based at the Army's headquarters in Lisburn and was given an equivalent military rank of Major General.[3]
Eastwood is probably the individual referred to in the following comment by Christopher Andrew:
- The Security Service officer appointed as SLO in Belfast in July 1970 later recalled that when he arrived 'the scene was chaotic, with mutual distrust between the police and the army, the Home Office was responsible, but not in effective political control.'[4]
According to Simon Winchester, interrogators at Ballykinler Army Barracks were effectively under Eastwood's command.[5]
He was awarded a CBE in January 1973, with the London Gazette describing him as a 'senior technical advisor' in the Ministry of Defence.[6]
Notes
- ↑ David Eastwood, Telegraph, 9 December 2010.
- ↑ Nigel West, Historical Dictionary of British Intelligence, Scarecrow Press, 2014, p.192.
- ↑ KO2.1 David witness statement, Bloody Sunday Inquiry, 17 February 2000.
- ↑ Christopher Andrew, Defence of the Realm, The Authorized History of MI5, Allen Lane, 2009, p.618.
- ↑ Simon Winchester, Northern Ireland in crisis: reporting the Ulster troubles, Holmes & Meier, 1974, p.171.
- ↑ London Gazette,Supplement 45860, p.8.
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