Harry Potter books received national security treatment; British spy agency stops a major leak

A yet-to-be-published Harry Potter book was under the constant watch of British spy agency Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). The British agency that generally deals with top secret matter concerning national security was perhaps the only body worthy to control the rage on the Internet over a new Harry Potter book and avoid any leak.

Publishing house Bloomsbury, which published the Harry Potter series, has received an unexpected phone call from GCHQ that warned the publishing house of a leaked online copy of an upcoming Harry Potter book. The top secret agency then stopped the leak, keeping an eye on any spoiler regarding the book.

Nigel Newton, the co-founder of Bloomsbury, recently spoke to Richard Fidler for the ABC’s “Conversations” program and explained he has never seen readers this crazy about any book series except Harry Potter. Security was amped up and publishers hoped to stop any online leak.

Newtown also related an incident where people went crazy over a Potter book that J.K. Rowling had delivered.

“I remember Jo Rowling phoning me once after she'd delivered a new book, saying ‘please Nigel will you release the name of the title, because I have people outside searching my trash can looking for bits of paper.’ At about that time we had to go into a complete security lockdown because people were trying to steal the manuscript,” said Newton.

Newton also recalled a security breach where a guard fired blank rounds at a journalist while trying to sell stolen copies of the book to the media. In another incident newspaper, Sun sent a journalist with £5000 (AU$9,300) to secretly buy a copy of an unpublished Harry Potter book.

Before the release of the fifth Harry Potter book, Alsatians and German Shepherds were patrolling the printing works to stop leaks.

Thus, GCHQ had a major role in the series’ success as without them leaked copies would have destroyed the worldwide rage. When the agency asked to comment on the situation, it gave a witty reply.

“We do not comment on our defence against the dark arts,” GCHQ said in reference to a subject taught at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry that taught students to defend themselves from evil.