Snowden leaks cost lives, say terror experts: Extremists 'changed their tactics after fugitive's leaks about intelligence operations'
- Former admiral said terrorists had learned from Snowden's revelations
- He says people are dying as a result of more sophisticated data encryption
- Called for reintroduction of bill dubbed 'snooper's charter' by opponents
Lives are being lost to terrorists because Edward Snowden hampered security service operations, according to terror experts.
Lord West, a former admiral who served as UK security minister until 2010, warned that extremists changed their tactics after the US fugitive leaked details of intelligence agency operations – with fatal results.
Raymond Kelly, a former New York Police Department commissioner, also said that leaks from Snowden had caused huge damage.
‘People that I know, certainly in the US government, say that this is the worst leak that they are aware of,’ he said. ‘The damage is significant and ongoing and you can see it has also damaged relations between the US and other countries.
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Exile: Lives are being lost to terrorists because Edward Snowden's leaks hampered security service operations, according to terror experts
‘We see major corporations having difficulty doing business outside the US and, as a result, putting impenetrable encryption in their products which ultimately hurts the whole law enforcement effort.’
Lord West said the Government must reintroduce the Communications Data Bill, which is dubbed a ‘snoopers’ charter’ by opponents.
The proposed legislation would make internet companies keep records of every website their customers visited.
Lord West, a former admiral who served as UK security minister until 2010, warned that extremists changed their tactics after the US fugitive leaked details of intelligence agency operations
Snowden, 31, became one of the world’s most wanted men in June last year – less than a month after Lee Rigby’s murder – when he broke cover as the civilian CIA worker who stole classified documents from the US National Security Agency.
He leaked information about attempts by spying agencies – including GCHQ and the NSA – to view citizens’ private information.
He claimed that internet history, emails, text messages, calls and passwords were harvested.
Lord West, a former first sea lord, said: ‘Since the revelations of the traitor Snowden, terrorist groups – in particular Isil (Islamic State) – have changed their methods of communications and shifted to other ways of talking to each other.
‘Consequently there are people dying who actually would now be alive.
‘It is now critical that we move forward the Communications Data Bill that was paused so unreasonably because there is a very real danger that unless we do this, I think it is not exaggerating to say that people will die in this country who would have been safe if that had been in place.’
Baroness Stowell, the Leader of the House of Lords, said: ‘The leaking by Snowden and the reporting of his leaks have had a serious effect on intelligence gathering – that is unquestionable.’
MI5, MI6 and GCHQ chiefs insist they urgently need extended powers to track down terrorists but the Liberal Democrats claim the bill is ‘dead and buried’ because it is a breach of civil liberties.
Snowden, who was a computer specialist at an intelligence centre in Hawaii, tricked colleagues into handing over passwords so he could copy up to 1.7million files in one of the biggest leaks in US history.
The defence contractor claims he had to act because the US government’s policies were a ‘threat to democracy’. He fled to Hong Kong, then Russia, where he was granted asylum and now lives in a secret location.
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