Pentagon hacker Gary McKinnon 'should not be extradited', IT expert claims

Pentagon hacker Gary McKinnon should not be extradited to the US, according to an IT expert who was charged with drug offences in America but allowed to face justice in Britain.

 

McKinnon faces up to 70 years in an American prison for raiding 97 Pentagon, US navy, army and NASA computers, after the Crown Prosecution Service last month announced it will not bring charges against him.

The move opens the way for the 42-year-old Scotsman to be extradited instead, under the 2003 Extradition Act.

Duane Jackson, the millionaire owner of software firm Kashflow, has offered his support to Mr McKinnon, describing his plight as "ludicrous".

The entrepreneur was arrested for drug trafficking and money laundering in the US in 1999 but the charges were dropped following an agreement between British police and the United States Drug Enforcement Agency.

Mr Jackson was sent back to Britain and subsequently jailed for five years in 2000 after he was convicted of conspiracy to export 6,500 ecstasy pills and conspiracy to launder the proceeds.

The 30-year-old, who has forged a successful IT career since his release, said: "The Home Secretary must not extradite Gary McKinnon.

"My crime was conducted in the US and I was sent home for trial. Here we have a ludicrous situation where he committed a crime at home in the UK and is being sent abroad.

"Bearing in mind, the US's hard line on illegal drugs, surely it would be less likely for me to have been sent back to the UK to serve my sentence than it would be for the Pentagon hacker to be extradited there."

Mr McKinnon admits that he hacked into the Pentagon and NASA systems between February 2001 and March 2002, but he has always maintained that he was motivated by a desire to find evidence of UFOs.

Now, his last hope of staying in the UK appears to rest with a judicial review of Home Secretary Jacqui Smith's decision that, despite his Asperger's syndrome, there is no medical objection to his extradition for trial.

Mr Jackson joins a string of other high-profile supporters of Mr McKinnon, including pop star Sting and wife Trudie Styler, who have written to Jacqui Smith, and London Mayor Boris Johnson.

Following his release, Mr Jackson established Kashflow, which is now the UK's largest supplier of online accountancy software, and valued at £10million.

 

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PENTAGON OUGHT TO ‘THANK’ HACKER, SAYS FORMER HOSTAGE

By Jack Doyle, Press Association Legal Affairs Correspondent

 

Human rights campaigner and former Middle East hostage Terry Waite has called on the US to drop charges against hacker Gary McKinnon.

Mr Waite, who was kidnapped in the Lebanon in 1987 and held for more than four years, said the Pentagon ought to thank the self-confessed computer hacker for “exposing” the fragility of its IT security.

He said McKinnon’s illness made him “irrationally obsessive” and it was a “waste of time” to pursue him.
McKinnon has been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, a form of Autism. He is challenging Home Secretary Jacqui Smith’s decision to allow his extradition.

Mr Waite said he supported the efforts of the authorities to “track down and stop illegal activity” on the web.
But he said some “common sense” was needed in this case.
He said: “Gary is clearly a very clever chap. He has that unique ability to find his way through the internet jungle and enter the inner recesses of the Pentagon. Full marks for his ingenuity.

“Was Gary a spy? Was he attempting to bring down the mighty military force of the USA? As far as I know he was not. He was simply looking for little green men!”

“Anyone who has the slightest acquaintance with that problem (Asperger’s Syndrome) will know that while the sufferer can be, and indeed often is, brilliant in certain logical processes they can become irrationally obsessive in other directions.

He said McKinnon’s behaviour was “hardly that of a serious spy” and his motives were “pretty harmless”.
He added: “The Pentagon ought to thank him for exposing the vulnerability of their systems.”
“More importantly, the accused is suffering from Asperger's Syndrome and no nation under the sun ought to convict an individual whose behaviour is occasioned by illness.”

McKinnon, 42, from Wood Green, north London, faces a 70-year sentence if convicted in the US of sabotaging vital defence systems in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.