In 1982, Robert Harris released an explosive BBC “Newsnight” report broadcasting previously unknown information about events in 1938-45.
The report centred on a former US intelligence officer, Tyler Kent, who, up to 1940 was employed as a diplomat (cyber decoding) in the US Embassy.
In 1940 he was arrested, tried and convicted of violating the British Official Secrets Act (which, as an American citizen, he was not bound to) by a secret court in London.
In an unprecedented act, again decided on, in secret, at the US Presidential level, Tyler Kent’s diplomatic immunity was n removed so that he could be arrested by MI5 and kept secure in a British prison until after the war.
There is no record of his trial, which was held in secret. He was sentenced to 7 years in prison, with no appeal.
He was released in 1945.
