Thread: Manchester attack: Police 'not sharing information with US'

Manchester attack: Police 'not sharing information with US'

17 minutes ago
From the section UK

Image copyright New York Times

Image caption The New York Times says this evidence was gathered at the scene of the attack

Police investigating the Manchester Arena bomb attack have stopped sharing information with the US after leaks to the media, the BBC understands.

UK officials were outraged when photos appearing to show debris from the attack appeared in the New York Times.

It came after the name of bomber Salman Abedi was leaked to US media just hours after the attack, which killed 22 - including children - and injured 64.

Theresa May is to raise concerns with Donald Trump at a Nato meeting later.

Greater Manchester Police hopes to resume normal intelligence relationships - a two-way flow of information - soon but is currently "furious", the BBC understands.

The force - which is leading the investigation on the ground - gives its information to National Counter-Terrorism, which then shares it across government and - because of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing agreement - with the US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

In total eight men are now in custody following the attack, carried out by Manchester-born Abedi, a 22-year-old from a family of Libyan origin.

It has also emerged two people who had known Abedi at college made separate calls to a hotline to warn the police about his extremist views.

Pictures of debris

Home Secretary Amber Rudd had said she was "irritated" by the disclosure of Abedi's identity against the UK's wishes and had warned Washington "it should not happen again".

However, the pictures of debris - which appear to show bloodstained fragments from the bomb and the backpack used to conceal it - were subsequently leaked to the New York Times, prompting an angry response from within Whitehall and from UK police chiefs.

BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera says UK officials believe that US law enforcement rather than the White House is the likely culprit for the leaks.

A Whitehall source described the second US leak as "on another level", and said it had caused "disbelief and astonishment" across the British government.

Analysis

By Dominic Casciani, BBC home affairs correspondent

The police decision to stop sharing information specifically about the Manchester attack with their security counterparts in the US is a hugely significant move and shows how angry British authorities are.

The information from the crime scene wasn't shared on a whim: the British and Americans have a lot of shared world-leading expertise in improvised explosive devices and scientists would be discussing whether the Manchester device tells them something new that could, ultimately, track down a bomb-maker.

Other sharing will continue. The UK and US share a vast amount of information about terror and espionage threats - its a tight-knit network that also encompasses Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

That system is based on trust and the "control principle": if a piece of intelligence is shared, the receiving nation has no right to further disseminate it without permission.

The UK's National Police Chiefs' Council described the "unauthorised disclosure" as a breach of trust which had potentially undermined a "major counter-terrorism investigation".

Counter-terrorism detectives have spoken in the past about how a delay of about 36 hours before the public know who is being investigated can allow known associates of the suspect to be arrested without being tipped off.

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said the leaks had worried him "greatly", and he had raised them with the US ambassador.

Lord Blair, who was the head of the Metropolitan Police at the time of the bombings in London on 7 July 2005 said intelligence leaks by the US were not new.

"I'm afraid it just reminds me exactly of what happened after 7/7 when the US published a complete picture of the way the bombs in 7/7 had been made up," he said.

"It's a different world in which the US operate in terms of how they publish things and this is a very grievous breach but I'm afraid it's the same as before."

In other developments:

Two men were arrested following a search of an address in the Withington area of Greater Manchester on Thursday morning, taking the number of people held to eight

The government has announced a minute's silence will be held at 11:00 BST in remembrance of those who lost their lives or were affected by the attack

The Conservatives and Labour are to resume local general election campaigning on Thursday, and national campaigning on Friday

Manchester United fans observed a minute's silence in memory of the victims of Monday's bombing, ahead of the team's Europa League final win

What's happening with the investigation?

Ismail Abedi was detained in Chorlton, south Manchester; his father, Ramadan, was held in Tripoli

Eight men and one woman have been arrested in the UK since Monday night, including Abedi's older brother Ismail, 23. The woman has since been released.

Abedi's younger brother Hashem, 20, was held by special forces linked to the interior ministry in the Libyan capital Tripoli, as was their father.

Speaking on Wednesday, Greater Manchester Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said: "It's very clear that this is a network that we are investigating.

"And as I've said, it continues at a pace. There's extensive investigations going on and activity taking place across Greater Manchester."

As part of their investigation, police raided a block of flats near Manchester Piccadilly station in the city centre, requiring them to carry out a controlled explosion and briefly close the railway line.

Police carried out another controlled explosion in the early hours of Thursday morning at an address in the Moss Side area of Manchester.

Some of the victims had been making their way outside at the end of the Ariana Grande gig when Abedi detonated his "nuts-and-bolts" bomb.

They include children and teenagers and others who had been waiting in the foyer to pick up concert-goers.

The youngest so far known to have died is eight-year-old Saffie Roussos, while an off-duty Cheshire police officer, who has not yet been named, was also among the dead.

The latest victim to be named is Eilidh MacLeod, a 14-year-old from Barra in the Outer Hebrides, also died. Her family issued a statement saying: "Words cannot express how we feel at losing our darling Eilidh."

Of the 64 injured, 20 are in a critical condition. Twelve of them are children.

Salman Abedi was a 22-year-old born in Manchester to Libyan parents, and a former University of Salford student.

He attended Burnage Academy for Boys in Manchester between 2009 and 2011, and The Manchester College until 2013.

A former classmate told the BBC that Abedi was a "very jokey lad" but also "very short tempered" and would get angry at "the littlest thing".

The man, who did not want to be identified, said Abedi had hung around "the wrong crowd and was very, very gullible".

Before leaving Burnage Academy, Abedi had become "more and more religious", the man added.

A Muslim community worker, who did not want to be identified, has told the BBC that two people who had known Abedi at college had made separate calls five years ago to a hotline to warn about his extremist views.

He said they had been worried that Abedi was "supporting terrorism" and he had expressed the view that "being a suicide bomber was ok".

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-40040210

BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera says UK officials believe that US law enforcement rather than the White House is the likely culprit for the leaks.

That would be the FBI. Something very rotten is going on in the FBI. Does the New York Times need to be put on the Terrorist Watch List? Are they publishing these reports of classified information as a means to signal terrorists of what law enforcement knows so they can take counter-measures in the US to escape or change or expedite their plans?

my hart is broken

They are furious because they want to try and keep it out of "another muslim terror disaster" classification. You can see, they were warned of this person as where other EU countries prior to incidents and did nothing. The creeps are left to do what they want and police are told hands off. That goes for rape too.

Donald Trump vows to prosecute culprit behind Manchester leaks

US President Donald Trump (C) delivers a speech next to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg CREDIT: AFP/GETTY IMAGES

• Gordon Rayner, political editor, brussels

25 MAY 2017 • 4:09PM

Donald Trump has promised to prosecute those who leaked intelligence about the Manchester bomber to the US media, after Theresa May warned the leaks could undermine the “special relationship”.

The US president aid the US leaks are "deeply troubling" and has vowed "to get to the bottom of this".

The Prime Minister, in common with the police and British intelligence agencies, is furious that sensitive material about the investigation has repeatedly been handed to the US media, which ministers say risks compromising the fast-moving inquiry.

Theresa May arrives for the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) summit CREDIT: AFP/EMMANUEL DUNAND

Mr Trump, attending his first Nato summit, responded by saying those responsible for the leaks should be prosecuted.

He said: "I am asking the Department of Justice and other relevant agencies to launch a complete review of this matter, and if appropriate, the culprit should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. "

After arriving in Brussels for a Nato summit which is also being attended by President Trump, Mrs May said: “On the issue of the intelligence-sharing with the USA, we have a special relationship with the USA, it is our deepest defence and security partnership that we have.

People attend a one minute silence to the victims of Monday's explosion at St Ann's Square in Manchester CREDIT:RUI VIEIRA/AP

“Of course, that partnership is built on trust. And part of that trust is knowing that intelligence can be shared confidently and I will be making clear to President Trump today that intelligence that is shared between law enforcement agencies must be shared securely.”

Greater Manchester Police has suspended its intelligence-sharing with the US after Whitehall sources described the leaks as “unacceptable”.

Mr Trump said: “The leaks of sensitive information pose a grave threat to our national security.” He added that, if appropriate, “the culprit should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law”.

US President Donald Trump CREDIT: AP PHOTO/MATT DUNHAM

During the unveiling of a memorial to the 9/11 victims, Mr Trump told Mrs May: “All of the nations here today grieve with you and stand with you.”

He said it was time for communities to start “exposing, finding and removing these killers…we must drive them out and never, ever let them back in”.

Meanwhile Mrs May will tell Nato that the Manchester attack underlines the need for the alliance to do more in the fight against terrorism.

British Prime Minister Theresa May disembarks a plane as she arrives to attend a NATO summit CREDIT: JUSTIN TALLIS/WPA

She has already backed a call by Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg for the alliance to join the US-led coalition against Isil, and urged Nato countries to “take responsibility” and increase their defence spending.

She said: "That attack, I think, shows why it is important for the international community including Nato to do more in our fight against terrorism and that is what I am going to be pushing for today.

"I am also going to be pushing the UK's agenda on burden-sharing and we are proud, as the UK, that we meet the target of spending 2% of our GDP on defence and 20% of our defence budget on equipment.

"And other nations must be prepared to take responsibility and that includes more investment in defence.”

Earlier, Mr Stoltenberg expressed confidence that the allies would agree to join the counter-IS coalition.

The move is seen as largely symbolic as he made clear they would not be taking part in combat.

"It's totally out of the question for Nato to engage in any combat operations," he said.

A sign that reads "We Love MCR" is displayed in solidarity above a street in central Manchester CREDIT: BEN STANSALL

Nato already provides surveillance planes to support anti-IS operations as well as training officers in Iraq.

A UK Government source said the alliance signing up to the coalition would send a "strong political message" of its commitment to the counter-IS cause.

The source said that would also enable the alliance to build up the capabilities of partner states in the region such as Jordan, where Britain is volunteering to run a pilot project co-ordinating counter-terrorist action.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017...chester-leaks/