Snowden attacks the terror Bill prompted by his treason: Fugitive says plans to monitor communications 'defies belief'

Edward Snowden causes fury for attack on Britain's new surveillance bill

Defence contractor wanted for treason for leaking spy agency documents

David Cameron claims new laws necessary because of Snowden's leaks

Comes amid concern of new bomb making threats from Al Qaeda



Fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden has attacked Britain's new anti-terror legislation

Fugitive CIA worker Edward Snowden caused fury last night by attacking Britain for introducing emergency legislation to foil terrorist plots.

His critics said the new surveillance Bill was being pushed through Parliament today largely because of his treachery in leaking Britain’s spy secrets.

Snowden, who has become one of the world’s most wanted men, said the measures to allow the security services and police to monitor the public’s phone, email and internet records ‘defied belief’.

He is wanted for treason after stealing classified documents from the US National Security Agency.



The defence contractor, a computer specialist at an intelligence centre in Hawaii, leaked highly damaging revelations of attempts by state spy agencies – including Britain’s GCHQ and MI5 – to monitor citizens’ private information.

After he revealed how intelligence agents had access to data compiled by the likes of Google and Yahoo, some of the internet giants – under pressure from civil liberties groups – became reluctant to co-operate with the Government and say they may withhold crucial intelligence.

David Cameron insisted last week that new snooping laws were urgently needed because Snowden had compromised the ability of the spy agencies to keep track of dangerous extremists.

Last night, in an interview with the Guardian newspaper conducted in Russia where the 31-year-old has been granted temporary asylum, Snowden blasted the Government for passing emergency laws in peace time.

He said: ‘We don’t have bombs falling. We don’t have U-boats in the harbour.’

He added that the move to introduce anti-terror legislation so quickly mirrored the way the US brought in the Protect America Act in 2007 after the NSA lost cooperation from telecom and internet companies.

‘The NSA could have written this draft,’ he said. ‘They passed it under the same sort of emergency justification. They said we would be at risk. They said companies will no longer cooperate with us. [They said] We’re losing valuable intelligence that puts the nation at risk.’

Snowden also questioned why the Home Office had introduced new laws following a judgement by the European courts that declared some existing surveillance measures invalid. Communications firms are obliged by a 2006 EU directive to store records such as who a person called, where from and when for at least a year.

But this was ruled unlawful by the EU Court of Justice in April and companies had told the Government that, if they did not pass the new law, they would begin destroying crucial phone records.

Snowden has become of the world's most wanted men after he stole classified documents from the NSA

Snowden said: ‘Is it really going to be so costly for us to take a few days to debate where the line should be drawn about the authority and what really serves the public interest?

‘If these surveillance authorities are so interested, so invasive, the courts are actually saying they violate fundamental rights, do we really want to authorise them on a new, increased and more intrusive scale without any public debate?’

He said the British government had been silent in the year since he had exposed the scale of surveillance by the NSA and GCHQ.

Snowden said: ‘Yet suddenly we’re told there’s a brand new Bill. And we don’t have time to debate it, despite the fact that this was not a priority, this was not an issue that needed to be discussed at all, for an entire year. It defies belief.’ The Government has justified the legislation amid intelligence fears that Islamist militants are plotting to blow up a transatlantic airliner having developed a stealth bomb undetectable to airport scanners.

There are mounting concerns that Al Qaeda’s top bomb-maker Ibrahim Al-Asiri has developed a non-metallic bomb that can be hidden inside human bodies or electronic devices.

Civil liberties groups have cast doubt on Government claims that the Bill will not increase the powers of the surveillance agencies.

But Tory MP Julian Smith said: ‘Edward Snowden and the Guardian continue with their crackpot conspiracy theories and we should take no lessons from them.