A
secretive British police investigation focusing on journalists who
have worked with Edward Snowden’s leaked documents is still active
more than four years after it was launched, The Intercept has
learned.
The
investigation – codenamed “Operation Curable” – is being led
by a counterterrorism unit within London’s Metropolitan Police,
under the direction of the force’s head of Specialist Operations,
Mark Rowley. The Metropolitan Police confirmed the status of the
investigation last week in response to a Freedom of Information Act
request.
The
disclosure that the probe remains active prompted criticism on Monday
from the National Union of Journalists, the U.K.’s largest
journalists’ organization. Sarah Kavanagh, a spokesperson for the
group, said that news reports based on the Snowden documents had
exposed unlawful covert surveillance activities in the public
interest.
“The
media are often the only group in society able to reveal the
intelligence and security forces have exceeded their legitimate
powers and remit,” Kavanagh said. “The Met Police should
be condemned for keeping journalists under investigation because they
worked on the Snowden leaks. The investigation should be halted
immediately. Journalism is not a crime.”
The
origins of the investigation can be traced back to May 2013, when
Snowden, a National Security Agency contractor, turned over a cache
of classified documents about government surveillance to journalists,
including Intercept co-founder Glenn Greenwald, who was at that time
working for British news organization The Guardian. Among the
documents were details about mass surveillance programs operated by
the U.K.’s largest spy agency, Government Communications
Headquarters, or GCHQ.
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report:
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