Edward Snowden's leaks put Britain at grave risk of terror strike

[struggle4progress]

'The gift to evade us and strike at will': Edward Snowden's leaks put Britain at grave risk of terror strike
MI5 chief Andrew Parker has spoken out about the damage caused to national security by the publication of secret data
Kim Sengupta
Tuesday 08 October 2013

Leaks of secrets by Edward Snowden, the former US intelligence official, have gravely endangered national security and given terrorist groups like al-Qa’ida “the gift they need to evade us and strike at will”, the head of MI5 has warned in his first public address since taking office.

Andrew Parker, the director-general, said that the information given away by Mr Snowden - much of it to The Guardian newspaper - posed a particular threat to the work of GCHQ, the government’s communications intelligence gathering centre. “What we know about the terrorists and the details of the capabilities we use against them together represent our margin of advantage. That margin gives us the prospect of being able to detect their plots and stop them,” he stressed.

“But that margin is under attack. GCHQ intelligence has played a vital role in stopping many of the terrorist plots that MI5 and the police have tackled in the past decade. It causes enormous damage to make public the reach and limits of GCHQ techniques. Such information hands the advantage to the terrorists.” Mr Parker, who led the investigation into the 7/7 bombings, has decided to focus on this issue of leaks because he is said to believe it was one of the most crucial being faced on matters of public safety. In doing so, he has become one of the most senior officials to speak out in robust terms about the extent of the damage the government and Britain’s security and intelligence services hold has been caused by the publication of material supplied by Mr Snowden.

The undermining of security from the leaks comes, said Mr Parker, at a time when the terrorist threat to the UK has “become more diversified… more diffuse; more complicated; more unpredictable”. He added: “It remains the case there are several thousand Islamist extremists here who see the British people as a legitimate target” ...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/the-gift-to-evade-us-and-strike-at-will-edward-snowdens-leaks-put-britain-at-grave-risk-of-terror-strike-8867399.html

[Comrade Grumpy]

1. Exactly what I expect to hear from a top spook.

[11 Bravo]

3. Yeah, because intelligence agencies have NO interest in protecting their nations.

They spend millions of dollars every year just because they get off on fucking with doughy white boys.
See, I can sound as ignorant and intransigent as you can! YEAH!
There has to be a middle ground between absolute security and absolute privacy, and now that the rules have changed I hope we can find it soon.

[LittleBlue]

4. Yep. Gotta justify the "threats" somehow

The evil mastermind Snowden must be defeated. And I see a few on DU still cling to these obvious lies.

[struggle4progress]

7. Of course, people seldom seek such employment, and seldom get it, without

believing in the importance of what the organization does -- that is, by-nature clandestine intelligence or counter-intelligence work

I suppose one can oppose all such programs on pure principle, but most people won't -- and if one accepts the need for such programs in even limited circumstances, then one also also must accept that the programs cannot be frankly and publicly discussed in detail

So with regard, say, to terrorism, one either decides that

(1) there will be no intelligence/counter-intelligence programs directed at potential terrorist planning,

or else one accepts that

(2) there will be some clandestine aintelligence/counter-intelligence programs designed to produce information about potential terrorist planning

The choice (1) is simple; the choice (2) raises knotty practical questions about balancing rights, acceptable levels of program failures (including false positives or missed threats), and required structural safeguards

[Hutzpa]

2. He added:

there are several thousand Islamist extremists here who see the British people as a legitimate target

Then deport all of them, why use them as boogie men and deprive law abiding citizens from enjoying freedom
of speech by interjecting their personal data.

[Tarheel_Dem]

5. Bookmarked. nt

[flamingdem]

6. Good idea.

It will all come out in the wash, and in Greenwald's book!