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Report: UK Police Identify Suspect Behind Leaked Envoy Memos

Reuters

   LONDON --The suspect behind the leak ofconfidential memos from
   Britain's Washington ambassador, whichsparked a major diplomatic rift
   with the United States, has beenidentified, theSunday Timesnewspaper
   reported.

   Last week, Britain'sMail on Sundaynewspaper publishedmemos from Kim
   Darroch in which he described DonaldTrump'sadministration as "inept"
   and "dysfunctional," prompting anangry response from the U.S. president
   and causing the envoy toannounce his resignation.

   British officials launched an inquiry to find theperson responsible for
   the leak, and counterterrorism policesaid Friday that they had launched
   a criminal investigation.

   According to theSunday Times, which cited an unnamedgovernment sources,
   a suspect has been identified andsuggestions that it could have been
   the result of a computer hack by aforeign state has been ruled out.

   'Quite crude'

   "They think they know who did the leaking," an unnamedgovernment source
   told the paper. "It's now a case of building acase that will stand up
   in court. It was someone with access tohistorical files. They went in
   and grabbed a range of material.It was quite crude."

   Both theSunday Timesand theMail on Sundayreported thatintelligence
   officials from the GCHQ eavesdropping spy agencywere about to join the
   investigation to find the suspect byscouring email and phone records.

   TheMailalso published further memos from Darroch, defyinga police
   warning that media that did so could be committing a crime.

   The paper said Darroch had written to the British governmentin May 2018
   that Trump decided to unilaterally withdraw fromIran's nuclear deal
   with major powers for "personality reasons"because it had been agreed
   to by his predecessor, Barack Obama.

   Darroch had said in the cable that the Trump administrationwas "set
   upon an act of diplomatic vandalism," the paper said.

   Warning criticized

   Britain's most senior counterterrorism police officer hadwarned the
   media not to print any more leaked documents, sayingit could breach the
   Official Secrets Act.

   However, he was widely criticized by editors and politicians, including
   Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt and ex-London MayorBoris Johnson, the two
   men battling to replace Theresa May asprime minister when she steps
   down in just over a week's time.

   "It cannot be conceivably right that newspapers or any othermedia
   organization publishing such material should faceprosecution," said
   Johnson, the front-runner.

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