The BBC finally admits that MI5 secretly vetted its employees, an open secret for generations

British spy agency MI5 secretly vetted people who applied for work at the BBC and denoted possible subversives. This practice -- which continued into the 1990s -- has been an open secret for generations, but the BBC has always officially denied it. Now, the BBC has allowed Paul Reynolds, one of its reporters, to look at its "vetting files" and publish his findings. He found that long after MI5 lost interest in spying on BBC workers, the BBC was still enthusiastic about the practice, with senior managers fighting against scaling back the practice. The BBC also lied to the press, the public, and Parliament about the process.