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New York Times
31 minutes ago
- New York Times
U.K. Secretly Spent $3.2 Million to Stop Journalists From Reporting on Data Breach
The British government spent $3.2 million on a secret legal order preventing journalists from reporting a data breach that put almost 19,000 Afghans and their families at risk, according to records obtained by The New York Times. The breach, which happened in 2022, exposed the personal details of thousands of Afghans who had worked with British forces before the Taliban takeover in 2021. The government, led by the Conservative Party at the time, went to England's High Court to obtain an order barring anyone from disclosing the breach, even to the people whose lives were feared to be at risk from the Taliban as a result. Journalists were also prevented from reporting on the existence of the court order itself. The government's legal action began in August 2023, when journalists first asked the Ministry of Defense about the breach, and continued until the order was lifted last month. It cost the British government 2.4 million pounds, or over $3.2 million, according to information disclosed in response to a Freedom of Information request. Government ministers involved in the decision have since defended the stringent legal order, which is known in Britain as a 'super injunction,' arguing that it was necessary to protect the people whose personal details had been disclosed. As a direct result of the data breach, Britain spent at least £400 million on a secret program to relocate 4,500 Afghans to Britain. But the government's unprecedented use of a super injunction has intensified questions about freedom of the press in the country. The State Department's annual publication of reports on international human rights on Tuesday criticized Britain's record, describing 'credible reports of serious restrictions on freedom of expression,' while Vice President JD Vance has also argued that free speech is under threat. The British government has said it upholds free speech, but that it balances that right with the need to prevent violent disorder, hate crimes and the swaying of trial juries. Justice Martin Chamberlain, the judge who lifted the order relating to the Afghan data breach last month, said that it was the first super injunction ever granted 'contra mundum,' meaning 'against everyone,' and that it interfered with freedom of expression and Britain's democratic processes. When Labour entered government last year, it commissioned an independent review into the super injunction and the resettlement program, which led to the lifting of the injunction and the public disclosure of the data breach. Critics argued that the government's legitimate interest in protecting the safety of Afghans was supplanted over time by a desire to avoid an embarrassing headline during an election year. The breach happened in February 2022, when a member of the British military accidentally emailed an external contact a spreadsheet containing the details of 18,700 Afghan servicemen, police officers and others seeking refuge in Britain after the Taliban takeover. The disclosure was not discovered until part of the spreadsheet was posted on Facebook in August 2023. Within days, journalists approached the Ministry of Defense about the breach, prompting the government's application for an injunction. Holly Bancroft, the home affairs correspondent for the Independent newspaper, was among the first journalists to be served with the order. She told The New York Times that she was unaware of the data breach and had asked the Ministry of Defense why many Afghans who had previously been denied permission to travel to Britain were suddenly being approved — decisions she now knows were part of the emergency response. Ms. Bancroft said she had been invited into a room inside the ministry's headquarters, handed a paper copy of the super injunction and told not to 'talk to anyone about it' other than a lawyer. Ms. Bancroft estimates that over the next 18 months, she attended more than 20 hearings at London's High Court, where The Independent and other news organizations, including The Times of London and Associated Newspapers, were campaigning for the injunction to be lifted. The government fielded a roster of senior lawyers to argue against them. Asked for comment on Wednesday, the Ministry of Defense pointed to the statement made by John Healey, the defense secretary, while disclosing the breach last month. He said he felt 'deeply concerned about the lack of transparency' and had chosen to 'reassess' the basis for the injunction when he entered government. Steve Kuncewicz, a specialist media lawyer from Glaisyers Solicitors, said that no legal power comparable to super injunctions existed in the United States and 'couldn't be considered' because of the First Amendment. 'They are a creature of the U.K. courts,' he said. The orders had previously been sought to prevent the disclosure of 'embarrassing details of people's private lives,' he noted, such as the order obtained in 2010 by a former England soccer player, John Terry, over allegations of an extramarital affair. The use of super injunctions has long been contentious in Britain but, Mr. Kuncewicz said, the Afghan data breach case was 'unique.' 'These orders are only meant to stay in place for the shortest amount of time, and be granted in the narrowest terms possible,' he added. 'They are really chilling to free speech.'
CNN
an hour ago
- CNN
Donald Trump celebrates his pantheon of Trump-approved stars
Everyone likes to share their taste. Donald Trump is just like us, except he also has tanks. Today the president returned to the Kennedy Center to make announcements about this year's honorees, showing off his vision for the arts institution that would fulfill the goal he promised earlier this year: to 'reflect the brightest STARS on its stage from all across our Nation.' Trump is eager to leave his imprint on America not just through participating in legislation and budgeting but by changing what culture we recognize and celebrate and teach, across American museums, universities and beyond. For colleges, he is brokering deals where he promises to withhold funding until the schools pay the government for various misdeeds he says they have committed, thereby earning a clean slate for some period of time. For DC, he brought in the FBI, military and tanks. For the Kennedy Center, it was even easier: he simply appointed a board that would name him as chairman. 'It's going to be a big evening,' Trump said, about the upcoming Kennedy Center awards evening. 'I've been asked to host,' he said, adding that he'd declined, but that the board had insisted. 'Next year we'll honor Trump.' His 'STARS' turned out to be: George Strait, the record-setting country recording artist. Also, Michael Crawford, 'one of the greatest talents I've ever actually seen,' Trump said. He waxed rapturous about Crawford's roles in the theater, most notably in 'The Phantom of the Opera.' Trump gave a big lead up to an 'action movie icon and a friend of mine, a very unique man,' Trump said. That was Sylvester Stallone. 'He was very honored to be honored.' Gloria Gaynor, singer of the great American gay anthem 'I Will Survive,' also made the list — 'an unbelievable song,' Trump said. 'One of those few that get better every time you hear it.' Ivana Trump agreed — this was the song, she wrote in her memoir, 'Raising Trump,' that she listened to in court with headphones during her divorce trial from Trump. Also making the list: the legendary makeup-forward rock band Kiss. The president's love of culture has always been deep if narrow and has often turned to disco. A Spotify playlist of his 2020 campaign presidential rally songs brings together artists as diverse yet clustered together as Elton John, the Village People and Bachman-Turner Overdrive. That playlist also includes the Rolling Stones, who are among the many artists who have objected to Trump's endorsement of or use of their music. Trump clearly adores the song 'Macho Man' and the brassiest of show tunes. This is the president who once allegedly had a fellow around to play him the song 'Memory' from Cats whenever he was too upset. The experience of seeing 'Cats' is what Trump recalled, with great passion, in a meeting with Kennedy Center trustees in March, during which he pledged to bring Andrew Lloyd Weber musicals back to our nation's capital. One funny thing about 'Memory,' that show's most famous song, is that it's famous because of Betty Buckley's performance, which Trump says he remembers with great detail. Buckley herself says she built that performance from following around women who were homeless. In doing so, she had a realization. She explained to the New Yorker: 'I began to follow homeless people—women my age, women who were like me—trying literally to interpret them. I was playing it pathetically—but what I saw instead on the streets were women really trying to hold on to their dignity, so their self-presentation was all dignity and grace.' After announcing the honorees, the president offered some thoughts of his own about homeless people. As part of his plan to make Washington 'beautiful'—now that he has taken over the city's police department and dispatched federal officers and the National Guard — Trump said, 'We're going to have to remove the tents and the people that are living in our parks.' 'They're saying 'he's a dictator,'' Trump said of critics of his current approach to governance. 'Instead of saying 'he's a dictator,' they should say 'We're going to join him.'' The president promised more intervention in cities beyond D.C., including Los Angeles, Chicago and New York: 'Our whole country is going to be so different.' 'I don't want to call a national emergency,' he said, 'but if I have to I will.'
Fox News
2 hours ago
- Fox News
Harmeet Dhillon says 'malodorous homeless person' tried to steal her phone in DC
Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, reported in a post on X that a "malodorous" individual unsuccessfully tried to steal her phone in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. "A malodorous homeless person attempted to swipe my phone today while I was walking in DC back to the DOJ from an appointment -- but he was not in his right mind and I artfully dodged the attempt. It'll be a while till things feel safe in this city, so everyone stay alert!" Dhillon wrote. She said in another post that she was "ok," and "nothing happened." "I was faster than the homeless guy. It was next to the NY Ave Presbyterian Church. Several other homeless and mentally fragile people around. Close to the WH and tourist stuff," Dhillon explained. President Donald Trump is aiming to crackdown on crime in the nation's capital city. "This is liberation day in D.C. and we're gonna take our capital back," Trump declared during a press conference on Monday. A memorandum directs "the Secretary of Defense to mobilize the District of Columbia National Guard and order members to active service, in such numbers as he deems necessary, to address the epidemic of crime in our Nation's capital." An executive order declares that "Effective immediately, the Mayor of the District of Columbia (Mayor) shall provide the services of the Metropolitan Police force for Federal purposes for the maximum period permitted under section 740 of the Home Rule Act."
