We Keep Gary McKinnon But Lose The Trust Of The Americans -- Con Coughlin, The Telegraph
The Home Secretary’s volte-face endangers intelligence co-operation agreements with the US, writes Con Coughlin
As Home Secretary, one of Theresa May’s fundamental duties is to protect the nation from terrorist attack. She not only oversees the operations of the Security Service, MI5, but is also responsible for ensuring that we have an effective legal framework for dealing with terrorism suspects as and when they are apprehended by the law enforcement authorities. So it would be interesting to hear how she considers that blocking the extradition to America of computer hacker Gary McKinnon has benefited our national security.
Before Mrs May made her remarkable volte-face last week, intelligence co-operation with our most important ally was already going through a rocky patch following the Binyam Mohamed affair, when the British courts insisted on making public sensitive intelligence that the Americans had supplied in confidence. Nor did the decision of the Scottish authorities in 2009 to return the Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi to Libya on health grounds do much to reassure Washington that London was serious about tackling security issues.
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My Comment: Why is Britain deciding to protect a self confessed hacker who openly boasted of his attempts to break U.S. law by breaching the Pentagon's firewalls is beyond me .... but such is the state of affairs between Britain and the U.S.. But as bad as this case is, what is going to make the situation even more poisonous is if this case goes forward.