Originally published in the Daily Mail

Edward Snowden’s intelligence leaks have crippled Britain’s ability to fight terrorists, a major study confirms today.

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But it said it is ‘untrue’ that the UK and US were engaged in ‘mass surveillance of ordinary citizens or brazenly looking at their emails’. Report author Robin Simcox said there must be ‘greater societal acceptance’ of the risk that an innocent person’s communications might be accidentally collected by GCHQ and the NSA as they hunt for terrorists.

He said: ‘Western citizens are generally happy for the state to have an army with sophisticated weaponry because they know that it will not be misused; there is a faith that the checks and balances are sufficient to ensure public safety.

‘This same principle should apply to the weaponry given to our spy agencies.’

Mr Simcox concluded: ‘Ultimately, Snowden only exposed that our agencies are essentially doing what we ask: they are not spying on the phone calls of ordinary citizens or brazenly looking at our emails; they are legally intercepting certain communications in an attempt to advance the national interest.

‘The state giving up these powers invites attack from terrorists, cyber-criminals or a host of other state and non-state actors.’

Snowden claims he had to act because the US and other Western governments’ policies were a ‘threat to democracy’.

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