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EU-USA: DATA SURVEILLANCE: SPIN & REALITY: Theresa May had advance notice of David Miranda detention at Heathrow

20 August 2013

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"Home secretary confirms Met briefed her before but denies she directed actions, saying police had 'operational independence' "Downing Street confirmed that the prime minister was also informed. "We were kept abreast in the usual way," a No 10 source said. "We do not direct police investigations." "

The "spin", the official line, is that the Metropolitan Police decided to detain and question Miranda at Heathrow for 9 hours under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000. The Metropolitan Police informed the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary of the decision taken by the police, who then gave the USA the "heads up" on what was going to happen.

See the full article: Theresa May had advance notice of David Miranda detention at Heathrow (Guardian, link)

Tony Bunyan, Statewatch News Editor, comments:
"In reality this is not the way things happen. The NSA and GCHQ/MI6, the "cousins" in intelligence lexicon, were tracking the movements of Greewald and Miranda and knew that Miranda had been in Germany and was going to change planes in London. They decided to intervene and sought clearance by informally telling their governments what was planned. Given the OK the Metropolitan Police, the "foot soldiers", formally detained Miranda to be questioned by intelligence officials."

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EU-USA: DATA SURVEILLANCE: So the innocent have nothing to fear? After David Miranda we now know where this leads - The destructive power of state snooping is on display for all to see. The press must not yield to this intimidation

 

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