Defence of the realm

The Guardian deserves praise for destroying intelligence secrets leaked by whistle blower Edward Snowden. The newspaper came under great political pressure to destroy the leaked information. The British government says its intelligence agencies act within the law and that the Snowden leaks, which revealed U.S. and British surveillance of global communication networks, threaten national security. The United States has brought espionage charges against Snowden, who has found temporary asylum in Russia. In other-words it was a case of national security and by agreeing to destroy the information the Guardian put the “defence of the realm” before headline grabbing stories. In the present climate I don't think publishing state secrets would have done anything but embarrass the government and the security services. Britain, like the U.S. is taking the Snowden case very seriously and this was evident when the partner, a reporter who wrote about the leaks by Edward Snowden was detained at Heathrow airport on Sunday. David Miranda, was questioned for nine hours before being released without charge. This incident has caused a worldwide outcry and even Russia, whose own track record on counter espionage leaves alot to be desired, has criticised the British government. But let us remember that we are talking about national security and the security services were just doing their job.