Whistleblower Snowden 'in Russia'
Former intelligence analyst Edward Snowden, who leaked details of secret surveillance operations in the UK and US, is believed to have arrived in Russia, according to reports.
The 30-year-old whistleblower – who was yesterday charged by the United States with theft, espionage and theft of government property – was reported to have boarded a flight from Hong Kong earlier after White House officials requested his extradition.
There is speculation he may fly on to another country, with some reports suggesting he could travel to Cuba and then on to Caracas, Venezuela.
The Hong Kong government said in a statement to the Associated Press that Mr Snowden left “on his own accord for a third country through a lawful and normal channel”.
He was allowed to leave despite the extradition request because documents provided by the US did not “fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law,” it added.
WikiLeaks, the whistleblowing organisation, confirmed Mr Snowden had “left Hong Kong legally”.
A statement released on its website said: “He is bound for a democratic nation via a safe route for the purposes of asylum, and is being escorted by diplomats and legal advisers from WikiLeaks.
“Mr Snowden requested that WikiLeaks use its legal expertise and experience to secure his safety. Once Mr Snowden arrives at his final destination his request will be formally processed.”
The extradition request came after the Guardian reported that UK eavesdropping agency GCHQ is able to tap into and store internet and communications data from cables for up to 30 days so it can be analysed under an operation codenamed Tempora.
The Cheltenham-based agency would not comment on intelligence matters but insisted it was “scrupulous” in complying with the law.
The newspaper said there were two principal components to the agency’s surveillance programme, called Mastering the Internet and Global Telecoms Exploitation.
It claimed the data was shared with the organisation’s US counterpart the National Security Agency (NSA).
BT, one of the UK’s main fibre-optic network providers, said it could not comment on national security issues.
The information is the latest leak from Mr Snowden, the former NSA contractor responsible for a string of disclosures about US intelligence operations.
The Guardian claimed Operation Tempora had been running for 18 months and GCHQ and the NSA are consequently able to access vast quantities of communications between innocent people as well as targeted suspects, including phone calls, the content of email messages, Facebook entries and a user’s internet history.
The newspaper said the documents revealed that by last year GCHQ was handling 600 million “telephone events” each day, had tapped more than 200 fibre-optic cables and was able to process data from at least 46 of them at a time.
Mr Snowden, who fled the US for Hong Kong after deciding to reveal the NSA’s secrets, told the paper he wanted to expose “the largest programme of suspicionless surveillance in human history”.
“It’s not just a US problem. The UK has a huge dog in this fight,” he said. “They (GCHQ) are worse than the US.”
The Guardian reported that GCHQ lawyers told US counterparts there was a “light oversight regime” in Britain compared with America.
Former Foreign Office minister David Davis told the Observer the revelations were “worrying”.
He said: “This reinforces the view that the oversight structure is wholly inadequate. Really what is needed is a full-scale independent judicial oversight that reports to Parliament.”
A GCHQ spokeswoman said: “We do not comment on intelligence matters. Our intelligence agencies continue to adhere to a rigorous legal compliance regime. GCHQ are scrupulous in their legal compliance.”
Sir Malcolm Rifkind, the Tory chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee, said he expected to receive a written report from GCHQ about the latest allegations.
Sir Malcolm said the committee will launch an investigation into the latest revelations, the Observer said.
Shami Chakrabarti, the director of Liberty, has called for Prime Minister David Cameron or Foreign Secretary William Hague to appear before MPs to explain how the surveillance methods were justified.
“Revelations of blanket surveillance of the British public on such a scale amount to a huge scandal even by the standards of recent years,” she said.
“At the very least, the Prime Minister or Foreign Secretary should appear before the House of Commons immediately to explain how this was justified without clear legal authority or parliamentary debate.”
Last night WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange – himself holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to avoid extradition to the US – called for countries to step forward to offer asylum to Mr Snowden.
Former Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon, legal director of WikiLeaks and lawyer for Mr Assange, said: “The WikiLeaks legal team and I are interested in preserving Mr Snowden’s rights and protecting him as a person.
“What is being done to Mr Snowden and to Mr Julian Assange – for making or facilitating disclosures in the public interest – is an assault against the people.”
