White House refuses to condone destruction of Guardian computers
The White House has refused to condone a recent raid on the offices of the Guardian newspaper in which computer hard drives containing files related to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden were smashed under the gaze of watching GCHQ employees.
This operation was sanctioned by David Cameron but when quizzed as to whether the US government would carry out similar operations a White House spokesperson said: “That’s very difficult to imagine a scenario in which that would be appropriate”.
Both the prime minister and home secretary Theresa May were briefed by the police and security officials in advance of their decision to detain the boyfriend of a Guardian journalist whilst he transited at Heathrow, but neither intervened to prevent it going ahead.
Remarking upon the quiescence of the top tier of government to the move on BBC Radio 4’s World at One Tory MP David Davis pointed out that this meant they had effectively approved it. He said: "They didn't direct it, nobody is suggesting they directed it. But they approved it by implication. If the home secretary is told this is going to happen and she doesn't intervene then she is approving it."