The Guardian claims UK ordered destruction of Snowden material
The Guardian, one of the primary sources of leaked material from US whistle blower Edward Snowden, has said that the British government ordered it to either destroy classified documents in its possession or hand them over to the authorities.
Editor Alan Rusbridger made the claim in a column published on the paper's website, in which he espoused the dangers all journalists face as a result of Schedule 7 in wake of David Miranda’s detention, the partner of Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald.
In it Rusbridger recalled the words of one unnamed intelligence official who informed him bluntly ‘You've had your fun. Now we want the stuff back.’
There followed a visit by two security officials from Government Communication Headquarters who visited the guardian’s headquarters to oversee the physical destruction of computer equipment containing material provided by Snowden by the papers own staff.
Undaunted however Rusbridger implied that the paper would continue to make further Snowden disclosures in future, observing in his piece that it remained possible for media organisations to ‘take advantage of the most permissive legal environments’, adding that henceforth the guardian ‘did not have to do our reporting from London.’