UK asked New York Times to destroy Snowden material
A INGTON euters — The British government has asked the New York Times to destroy copies of documents leaked by former National ecurity Agency contractor dward nowden related to the operations of the spy agency and its British partner, Government ommunications eadquarters G , people familiar with the matter said.
The British request, made to Times e ecutive editor Jill Abramson by a senior official at the British embassy in ashington, was greeted by Abramson with silence, according to the sources. British officials indicated they intended to follow up on their request later with the Times, but never did, one of the sources said.
On riday, in a public statement, Alan usbridger, editor of the Guardian, said his newspaper, which had faced threats of possible legal action from British authorities, on July had destroyed copies of leaked documents which it had received from nowden.
usbridger said that two days later, on July , the Guardian informed British authorities that materials related to G had made their way to the New York Times and the independent investigative ournalism group ProPublica.
usbridger said in his statement that it then took British authorities “more than three weeks before anyone from the British government contacted the New York Times.
“ e understand the British embassy in ashington met with the New York Times in mid-August — over three weeks after the Guardian’s material was destroyed in ondon. To date, no-one has contacted ProPublica, and there has been two weeks of further silence toward the New York Times from the government,” usbridger said.
usbridger added that, “This five week period in which nothing has happened tells a different story from the alarmist claims made by the British government in a witness statement it submitted on riday to a ondon court hearing regarding an investigation by British authorities into whether the handling of nowden’s leaks violated British anti-terrorism and official secrets laws.”
A spokesman for the British embassy in ashington told Reuters “ e are not going to get into the specifics about our efforts but it should come as no surprise if we approach a person who is in possession of some or all of this material.”