Inside Enemy by Alan Judd

others can.’
    She spoke carefully as if explaining to someone of limited understanding.
    ‘I myself am fully satisfied that there’s a strong security case for not allowing mobiles into the office, apart from the HMG,’ she continued. ‘It’s what we did in
the SIA, it’s what MI5 do, it’s what we should do. I don’t think anyone around this table would disagree with that.’ She looked at the others.
    Charles waited to see if anyone wanted to make the obvious point. No-one did. He too spoke slowly, trying not to sound confrontational. ‘So why are we allowed them? Is a phone any less of
a threat because someone in HMG or on the board has it? More, surely.’
    He wondered whether he was on the verge of provoking a bureaucratic insurrection and becoming the shortest-serving C on record. He wondered too whether Angela Wilson and George Greene would back
him up. They wouldn’t want a fuss, especially if it became public.
    Michelle Blakeney leaned forward, her fingers resting on the closed laptop before her. It was the first time Charles had noticed it. No-one else had one. Laptops, too, he thought. But that could
wait.
    ‘Of course, there’s no denying that mobiles are a threat,’ she said, sounding as if it were an effort to remain polite. ‘But in themselves they’re neutral.
It’s the user who determines whether or not they are actually threatening. As with firearms. If we trust the people who have them – and I hope we can trust ourselves and the HMG in
general, otherwise we shouldn’t be here – then they shouldn’t be a threat. In fact, for many people in the outside world, as I well know – people we have to influence and
communicate with – it would look very odd indeed if we didn’t have them. It would be hard to explain and would make us look corporately quaint and out of touch.’
    ‘Also, from an operational point of view, case officers need them for agent contacts,’ said Simon Aldington. ‘Especially if they’re under natural cover as business people
or whatever. It would be frankly incredible – unworkable – for them not to have them.’
    ‘And people do have family responsibilities,’ said Melissa. ‘Arrangements with children and childminders and so on. Some of us, anyway.’
    Charles looked at Clive Thatcham and Stephen Avery. They may as well all have their say now. ‘Any other views?’
    ‘Michelle makes a good point,’ said Clive. ‘If we want to be taken seriously within Whitehall and beyond we have to be like the people we work for. Ministers carry mobiles,
everybody does. We can’t afford to look like some furry little creature that hides in the undergrowth and has to be dragged blinking into the sunlight of the modern world.’
    Stephen was doodling, eyes downcast. ‘Everything that’s been said so far is true. True – but.’ When he looked up his eyes took in everyone. ‘More than one but. The
first is that the phone itself is the danger. It’s not like a gun. Its user may be entirely trustworthy and innocent but the phone itself may have been tampered with or accessed remotely
without the user knowing. If it is like a gun it’s one that someone else can aim and fire without your having any control over it, or even knowing they’ve done it.’ He put down
his pen and clasped his hands. ‘The second but is that where I come from, GCHQ, this would not be tolerated for a moment. If it were, the Americans – the NSA – would suspend
sharing stuff with us. We know only too well the potential for any electronic device to be turned into something apart from what it’s meant for. We know it because we do it. I was frankly
astonished when I first went to the old SIA head office and found people with mobiles on their desks. And then here. The third but – last one, I promise – is, where do they come from?
Who, physically, supplied these mobiles?’
    All except Melissa shrugged or shook their heads. ‘I don’t know, I’m sure,’ she said, as