World IN BRIEF : BRITAIN : Mistress Points to Her Patriotic Duty

The mistress of Britain’s most senior military officer claimed that concerns about national security moved her to sell her story of their affair for a reported $262,000. Air Marshal Peter Harding, who is married and has four children, resigned after the tabloid News of the World devoted five pages to his relationship with Bienvenida Perez-Blanco, his Spanish mistress. The News of the World quoted her as saying Harding was careless about security: “If I had been an enemy agent, it would have been the easiest thing in the world to organize his assassination.”