David Miranda with journalist Glenn Greenwald at an airport in Brazil.
Elements
of the U.S. government were given a “heads-up” before the British
government detained David Miranda, the Brazilian partner of Glenn
Greenwald, for nine hours over the weekend, White House Deputy Press
Secretary Josh Earnest said Monday. He also declined to condemn the
action.
“There was a heads-up that was provided by the British
government,” he told reporters in the midst of a spirited exchange with
reporters. “So this — again, this is something that we had an indication
was likely to occur, but it’s not something that we requested. And it’s
something that was done specifically by the British law-enforcement
officials there.”
Earnest
said there were “classified, confidential conversations” around the
detention, but would not state whether the U.S. government expressed
displeasure with the action. He would not say why the British informed
the American government before the detention.
Miranda was detained
for nine hours under that country’s Terrorism Act while transiting
through Heathrow Airport, and had a range of electronic devices
confiscated. He was traveling home from Germany, where he had stayed for
a time with Laura Poitras, an American documentary filmmaker who has
worked with Greenwald on stories about the National Security Agency.
Greenwald is the author of a series of articles about the U.S.’s
intelligence efforts at home and abroad based on information given to
him by Edward Snowden, a former U.S. intelligence contractor.
Earnest
would not say whether U.S. intelligence services have reviewed any
documents obtained from Miranda’s devices. “I’m just not in a position
to talk to you about the conversations between British law-enforcement
officials and American law-enforcement officials,” he said.
Earnest
denied that the U.S. government was involved in the decision to detain
Miranda. ”What you’re referring to is a law-enforcement action that was
taken by the British government,” Earnest said. “The United States was
not involved in that decision or in that action.”
Earnest would not state whether Miranda is on any U.S.-government operated travel watch-lists.
A selection of the exchange with reporters Monday:
Collective Evolution
