The boss of a tiny Scottish distillery says he is amazed to learn that US spies have been monitoring his whisky plant for weapons of mass destruction.
Bruichladdich Distillery on the island of Islay was contacted by an agent at the Defence Threat Reduction Agency to tell staff one of their webcams was faulty.
Cameras had been installed by the company to show off its traditional distilling techniques.
The distillery’s managing director Mark Reynier said: “We replied by e-mail thanking her very much for bringing to our attention.
“When I got a reply saying: ‘We really do enjoy looking at your distillery,’ it was then I noticed the sign-off at the bottom with the initials DTRA.
“I replied back saying I couldn’t help noticing your address, and finally the reply came back giving a fantastic explanation about the agency’s work was all to do with the anti-terrorist threat to American security.
“They said they had been monitoring our webcams because the process of making something very innocuous and pleasant is close to making weapons of mass destruction, apparently. We just think it is the funniest thing we have ever heard.”
The US Government agency based at Fort Belvoir in Virginia, USA, is responsible for American national security.
An agency spokesman was reported as saying the distillery’s webcams were of “no official interest”.
Story filed: 10:07 Saturday 27th September 2003
From ananova.com
Will
Loading comments...