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Subscribe to RSSU.S. authorities fear that American secrets will be revealed by British courts and have cut back on intelligence-sharing, a top U.K. official said Wednesday.
Kenneth Clarke, the justice secretary in the U.K. cabinet, has been criticized over proposals to hold some court hearings in secret to prevent sensitive information being disclosed.
The BBC said the plans were drawn up after a number of cases involving detainees at Guantanamo Bay, particularly that of British man Binyam Mohamed. The government has said it was forced to reveal U.S. intelligence information and this had caused friction.
'Americans have got nervous'
Speaking on BBC Radio 4, Clarke said "the Americans have got nervous that we are going to start revealing some of the information and they have started cutting back, I’m sure, on what they disclose."
“I’m not told exactly, but I’m told that in fact the Americans have been extremely cautious since the Binyam Mohamed case and it’s getting in the way of cooperation," he said. “I can’t force Americans to give our intelligence people full cooperation... If they fear our courts they won’t give us the material.”
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“It’s easy to say ‘Oh the Americans have got to take their chances, if British courts want to reveal American intelligence, that’s fine,’” Clarke added. “I’m afraid the Americans are not accountable to me; I cannot make the Americans put up with that and sometimes national security requires that we have to give a guarantee of complete confidentiality to third-party countries, not just the Americans.”
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The government's proposals are outlined in a "Justice and Security Green Paper," which is designed to seek views of politicians and other interested parties. Assuming it didn't abandon the proposals, it would then draw up a "white paper" of potential legislation, which must be put to a series of votes by lawmakers in parliament.
In a statement Wednesday, lawmaker Hywel Francis, chair of the U.K. parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights, said he was "troubled" that Clarke did seem to think that the proposals were "as radical a departure from our longstanding traditions of open justice and fairness as I, the Committee and many others believe them to be."
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"Closed material procedures [court hearings] are inherently unfair and the Government has failed to show that extending their use might in some instances contribute to greater fairness. All other means should be pursued to allow proceedings to take place without resort to them," Francis said.
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Too bad the US doesn't have the guts to wash our dirty laundry in public like the British do. We show poorly in comparison when it comes to openess and transparency.
But according to the current administration, there is unprecedented transparency. The American public is simply has difficulty understanding it.
Wait a second didn’t Obama release British secrets to the Russians last year? (I believe he shared nuclear secrets) and yet now they are afraid that the British will reveal American secrets to its own people (not a foreign power) well if this just isn’t another case of the American government saying “there’s one set of rules for us and another for the rest of the world”
And why should they not, we reveal information about Israel to the world so they might not bomb Iran. This is As the world turns and nothing else. No one is safe. Our government is one big joke....and the jester just keeps on rockin.
I am tired of the American government keeping secrets from me. How can we be an informed electorate and a democracy when we don't know what the government is up too.... I don't need to know the technology behind the stuff but I want to know what stuff my money and my name is being used for.
Sorry, my friend, but you don't have a right to know. However, if that bothers you, I recommend that you bypass your 15th Amendment Right to vote. Unless you are a person elected to an office of required responsibility, or investigated and holding a position requiring you access to the information, have no right to know. We are not "keeping secrets" from you. That would imply that somewhere in the Constitution or Bill of Rights it says "Tiredofitall and all other Citizens are entitled to know everything that the US Government knows". With that being said, people like you are why the Electoral College will always exist. Because while all of us may cast a vote, we, as commoners, are not capable of really picking the person to best lead our nation. Remember, running the country doesn't equate to "what makes me happy", it equates to "what is best for the nation". Sharing national secrets with commoners is DEFINITELY not in the best interest of our government or its security. If you can't see this, case in point on the electoral college thing above!
Sounds like SCOTUS, talk about a radical departure from our US Constitution since 2000 and their failure to uphold law by a revote and illegally APPOINTING Shrub as President when he did not even win and his brother's the Governor of the state that is violating election laws. Good to see they have at least some brave people in Parliment that are willing to point to the US and state that our government is violating our own constitution, keeping secrets because only the 'grownups' should know them. The terrorist excuse is wearing thin, time for Cheney and Rove to blow up another tower or two and use Rupert to tell us each day that we must be afraid, very afraid, if we don't let them abolish our Fourth Amendment. Terrorists don't scare me, the DC 93 Senators and ALEC, who created and passed the NDAA Act, now they scare me. Pretty bad when even the British are eyeing the US the same way they eyed Hitler. We've got authority that has run amuck, nationally and globally and a 99% population that is tired of providing 'military' welfare via 'Depression' tax dollars and do not support their cause. Punishment? NDAA and Illegal Search and Seizure for ANYTHING, courtesy of our Nazi Politicans, SCOTUS and their K Street Puppet Masters. Plus attempting to invalidate HealthCare law that we've paid a thousand politicans and lawyers to create. Congress and SCOTUS live on welfare. Let's consider all tax dollars welfare in the same vain as any person who is forced to sign up for 'welfare' because they are poor. If you're living off of tax dollars and living an elitist life, above the dwindling middle class, then you are a thief on welfare. These people are draining our cash flow to the 99% and America cannot afford them and their 1%'r corporations who enjoy all the benefits of America but pay no taxes.... GE, APPLE, MICROSOFT, HALLIBURTON all get hundreds of millions each year in tax refunds courtesy of NAFTA, i.e. the BIG SCREW. Yep, our tax dollars at work for the New World Order, By the Corporation and for the Corporation which equals a failed economy and nation.
Are these the "Bush/Cheney" files? Oh well, whatever.
This sounds like the British are setting the stage to withhold information from their courts. Just like is happening here,once you withhold information from your public to hide the commission of crimes,you lose your democracy. Governments that put themselves above the law,or no longer worthy to be called free and democratic.
During the Bush Administration, the only thing that didn't leak was the commodes in the ladies rooms. So if UK is revealing anything from that time period or that Obama attended Columbia and Harvard as a foreign student, and his agenda for certain policies and decisions, it's old news.
American-American, shhh be quite or you will be Detained Indeffinetly or something far worse. "I for one" Will follow the goverment in whatever direction they choose too bring the country. I trust my goverment to choose the right path for me & everyone else. They deffinetly know what is right & wrong for the people. People just need to go along for the ride. I'm sure they have it all well thought out! Don't you Love your Country? Aren't you a good Citizen? Then you trust your Goverment, Correct? I know I do, in all endeavours & follies alike. That is what makes American, trust in my Goverment & Love for my Country. ; )
I've got lots of military secrets--and you have NO right to know. Whoever thinks "As an American, I am entitled to (intelligence, confidential or secret material, etc)", you are sadly mistaken. All that Americans are entitled to are the things that are in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights...nothing in there says that your government, or those charged to protect the country and its sovereignty, are culpable to tell every citizen what they know. Sorry to say it, but the average American (or any average person for that matter) is not only incapable of processing the information in an intellectual manner, but quite frankly, wouldn't even know the information if it slapped them in the face. Let the government run the country, let the people be free, and let the advantages that we have over others to make our nation the supreme and unilateral world power that it is remain in the hands of those that know what to do with them.
Ok, for those of you who want to know national intelligence, let me ask this. What would you do with the information? For example, if I told you that Chalunga (made up country) had 48 SM3 surface-to-air missiles along its southern coast, and had 420 long-range bombers capable of striking 9000 miles with air refueling capability, how would that help YOU, the voter? Further, if I told you that Ahmed Muhammad, who was captured during a raid in Southern Afghanistan, has told us that within the next 12 months, Al Qeida planned to attack soft targets using 250-400lbs of C4 explosives, and under the leadership of a man by the name of "Jauah" would utilize vans from rental companies in the SE United States, how would that help you? This is like saying "I want the pilot of my aircraft to tell me the 50 checkpoints that he is going to enter into his aircraft navigation system, to include times at each point, and estimated wind speed/direction at each location." Or, "I want the head coach of my favorite sports team to send me a copy of his playbook before the game, so I know what plays he is going to run". Do you see how ridiculous it sounds when put in other terms?