White House Says It Had 'No Role' In UK Detention Of David Miranda, But Did Have A 'Heads Up'

from the and-what-did-it-say-in-response? dept

The White House has now come out with a statement insisting that it had no role in the detention of Glenn Greenwald's partner, David Miranda, but did say that UK intelligence gave the US "a heads up" that it "might" happen. Of course, ironically named White House spokesperson Josh Earnest also refused to say whether the US approved or disapproved of the detention.

Meanwhile, it's been noted by some that Miranda was, in fact, carrying a USB key that contained some relevant information, but Greenwald has said that he's not worried at all about it, because the data was encrypted:

"We both now typically and automatically encrypt all documents and work we carry – not just for the NSA stories," says Greenwald via email. "So everything he had – for his personal use and everything else – was heavily encrypted, and I'm not worried at all that they can break that."

Either way, under the rules in the UK, they could only detain Miranda to determine if he was involved in terrorist activities. Doing investigative journalism is not a terrorist activity unless you're an authoritarian police state. Either way, it really does appear that this abuse of power is likely to backfire big time on the UK (and the US, whatever its role). It's unlikely that it did anything to help stop the dissemination of this kind of information, but did reveal the thuggish tactics and police-state mentality by the UK government.

Filed Under: david miranda, encryption, glenn greenwald, journalism, white house

Blatant Intimidation: Glenn Greenwald's Partner Detained At Heathrow Under Terrorism Law, All His Electronics Seized

from the obnoxiousness dept

In a move that is clearly driven more to intimidate Glenn Greenwald than anything else, his partner, David Miranda, was detained for nine hours at Heathrow airport, which he was flying through on his way home to Rio de Janeiro from Berlin. On top of that, all of his electronics -- his mobile phone, laptop, camera, memory sticks, DVDs and games consoles -- were seized and not returned. This was nothing but basic government thuggery and intimidation. There is simply no credible reason to detain Miranda other than to "send a message" to Greenwald as punishment for doing his job and exposing government abuse. The law under which he was detained, Schedule 7, is extremely controversial already, but it appears that the UK officials were clearly abusing it.

As Jerome Taylor notes, Schedule 7 makes clear that the "power to stop, question and detain" applies solely for the purpose of "if they fall within section 40(1)(b)," which you can look at here:

40. Terrorist: interpretation.

(1) In this Part “terrorist” means a person who—

(a) has committed an offence under any of sections 11, 12, 15 to 18, 54 and 56 to 63, or
(b) is or has been concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.

(2)The reference in subsection (1)(b) to a person who has been concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism includes a reference to a person who has been, whether before or after the passing of this Act, concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism within the meaning given by section 1.

In short, the only reason you're supposed to be able to detain someone is to determine if they're involved in committing, preparing or instigating "acts of terrorism." Clearly, that's ridiculous when it comes to even Glenn Greenwald, let alone his partner. The law is already ridiculous enough in that it allows officials to detain anyone, even without suspicion, solely for the purpose of questioning them to see if they fall under this section (i.e., having something to do with terrorism). Under the law, they have nine hours to do this questioning, and then they need to release or arrest the detainee. In this case, they held Miranda for all nine hours. This is not common. As the Guardian points out, the government's own stats show that 97% of people detained under this law are released in less than an hour. Only one person out of every 2000 are kept for more than six hours. Yet, suddenly, they had to hold Miranda for all nine hours and then take all of his electronics?

That's just government thuggery and intimidation.

Filed Under: david miranda, glenn greenwald, intimidation, journalism, schedule 7, terrorism, uk