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LONDON (AP) -- Britain's former chief science adviser says the theft of climate e-mails from the University of East Anglia in southern England may have been the work of spies.

David King says the theft of the e-mails last year was "an extraordinarily sophisticated operation."

In an interview with The Independent newspaper published Monday, King says the timing of the e-mails' publication online suggested the hack was intended to destabilize the U.N. talks on tackling climate change held last year.

King told the paper he had no inside knowledge of the investigation into the hacking but was basing his comments on his past work with U.S. and British intelligence agencies.

He also speculated that the hacking may have been the work of U.S.-based lobbyists.

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