10 Facts About Annie Machon

Annie Machon is a former British MI5 intelligence officer, author, and public speaker.

Annie Machon has featured in a number of films and TV documentaries, including The Culture High, Digitale Dissidenten, and The Mole: Undercover in North Korea.

In 1990, Annie Machon sat a Foreign Office examination to become a diplomat but was recruited by MI5, where she was posted to their counter-subversion department, officially known as 'F2'.

Annie Machon said she and Shayler were "trying to track down old communists, Trotskyists, and fascists, which to us seemed like a waste of time".

Annie Machon then returned to London to face arrest but was never charged with any crime.

Annie Machon then returned to France and lived with Shayler in a rural area for a year.

Shayler and Annie Machon lived in Paris for two years and then returned to the UK in August 2000 for Shayler to stand trial.

The trial judge said he should thank Annie Machon for helping to quash the claim in her evidence that he had copied secret documents to begin a career in journalism.

From 2012 until 2016, Annie Machon served as the European director of the Law Enforcement Action Partnership, a nonprofit organisation consisting of current and former police officers, judges, prosecutors, and other criminal justice professionals who use their expertise to advance drug policy and criminal justice solutions to enhance public safety.

In October 2021, Annie Machon spoke at the Belmarsh Tribunal in opposition to the US request to extradite Julian Assange.