Manchester police have stopped sharing intelligence on the arena attack with the United States after a series of leaks to the press that police say may have “undermined” the ongoing investigation.

Forensic evidence gathered at the scene by British authorities was published by The New York Times, including detailed descriptions and photos of the bomb. The images included the remains of the bomb, a detonator and a shredded backpack possibly used by the bomber.

British authorities believe US officials leaked the photos to the press after a series of leaks to US media earlier in the week.

British police said Thursday that such recklessness with sensitive information has jeopardised the mutual trust that underpins security cooperation between foreign partners.

“When that trust is breached it undermines these relationships, and undermines our investigations and the confidence of victims, witnesses and their families,” a spokesman for Britain’s anti-terror police told reporters.

“This damage is even greater when it involves unauthorised disclosure of potential evidence in the middle of a major counter-terrorism investigation.”

The decision to stop sharing information with US authorities was made by the Greater Manchester police and not the prime minister’s office, a Downing Street spokesman told the Guardian, adding that officers have a certain degree of latitude in such matters and calling it an “operational matter”.

British Prime Minister Theresa May will address the leaks when she meets with US President Donald Trump at a NATO summit in Brussels later on Thursday.

A senior government source called the breaches “unacceptable” and said that Britain had made its objections known “at every relevant level”.

“These images from inside the American system are clearly distressing to victims, their families and other members of the public,” the source told the Guardian. “Protests have been lodged at every relevant level between the British authorities and our US counterparts. They are in no doubt about our huge strength of feeling on this issue. It is unacceptable.”

The new round of US media revelations came even after US officials had been warned over previous leaks to the press involving the Manchester investigation.

Britain’s interior minister, Home Secretary Amber Rudd, said Wednesday that she made clear to US officials that such leaks "shouldn't happen again".

Rudd noted that it was important to control the flow of information on any ongoing investigation to ensure police have the advantage of an “element of surprise”.
"The British police have been very clear that they want to control the flow of information in order to protect operational integrity, the element of surprise,” she told BBC Radio 4's "Today" programme.

"So it is irritating when it gets released from other sources and I have been very clear with our friends that that should not happen again."

Israel reviews US cooperation

A series of recent US intelligence leaks has raised questions about the current US administration’s commitment to the levels of confidentiality necessary to protect intelligence sources and ongoing operations. Trump dismayed both US politicians and foreign allies when he revealed top secret intelligence on Islamic State (IS) group plans to threaten airliners in an Oval Office meeting with Russian officials.

He raised more concerns on Monday during a trip to Israel, when he announced to Israeli officials that he never identified Israel as having been the source of the intelligence on the IS group plans.

“Just so you understand, I never mentioned the word or the name ‘Israel',” Trump said as a press conference was finishing. “Never mentioned it during that (Oval Office) conversation.”

But to many observers, the pronouncement appeared to be an admission that the source had, in fact, been Israel. "Donald Trump appears to have inadvertently confirmed that Israel was the source of intelligence he shared with Russia," the Guardian observed.

News of the revelation was being taken very seriously by the Israeli spy community, a military intelligence officer told USA Today last week. The officer, who asked not to be identified, said Israel had been warned months ago to be cautious in sharing information with the Trump administration and that it now appeared the warning was justified.

Israel appeared to take steps to address its concerns on Wednesday, with Defence Minister Avigdor Liberman announcing that Israeli officials had done a “spot repair” of its intelligence-sharing arrangement with Washington.

“We discussed the issue with our friends in America,” Liberman told Army Radio. “We did our checks.”

Liberman did not specify what alterations had been made, saying: “Not everything needs to be discussed in the media; some things need to be talked about in closed rooms.” But he added that the US-Israeli alliance remained strong, and that overall there is “unprecedented intelligence cooperation with the United States”.

Other US allies also appear to be on edge over the Trump administration’s penchant for disclosure.

A senior European intelligence official told The Associated Press last week that his country might stop sharing sensitive information with the United States if it is confirmed that Trump shared classified intelligence with Russian officials, saying that to do otherwise “could be a risk for our sources”. The official spoke on condition of anonymity and declined to have his country identified.

Burkhard Lischka, a senior lawmaker from Germany’s Social Democratic Party, also expressed concern about the reports, saying, “if it proves to be true that the American president passed on internal intelligence matters that would be highly worrying”.

Lischka, a member of the German parliament’s intelligence oversight committee, observed that the US president has access to “exclusive and highly sensitive information, including in the area of combating terrorism”.

He said that if the president “passes this information to other governments at will, then Trump becomes a security risk for the entire western world”.

Date created : 2017-05-25