MI6 has pulled its spies out of 'hostile countries' and America's intelligence agencies are on high alert after Russia and China cracked encrypted files leaked by fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden. The top-secret documents contain information that could lead to the identification of British and American spies, according to senior officials in Downing Street, the Home Office and the security services.
A senior Home Office official accused Snowden - the former National Security Agency NSA contractor responsible for the biggest confidential information leak in US history - of having 'blood on his hands' after they gained access to over one million files. Leaked: MI6 has pulled its spies out of 'hostile countries' after Russia and China cracked encrypted files leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden pictured which could identify its agents. Security services have reported increasing difficulties in tracking terrorists and dangerous criminals via email, chat rooms and social media since he exposed Western intelligence-gathering methods, the Sunday Times reports.
Now aides in British Prime Minister David Cameron's office have confirmed the top-secret material is now in the hands of spy chiefs in Moscow and Beijing. A British intelligence source added: 'Snowden has done incalculable damage. In some cases the agencies have been forced to intervene and lift their agents from operations to prevent them from being identified and killed.
Security services have reported increasing difficulties in tracking since Snowden pictured exposed Western intelligence-gathering methods. He said the leak could spark a 'global intelligence arms race', adding: 'I have no doubt whatever that programmes are being launched and money is being spent to try and catch up.
An official at British Prime Minister David Cameron's office has played down the threat posed to agents by saying there is 'no evidence of anyone being harmed'. Snowden fled the United States for Moscow in after he released 1. Snowden said he was protecting 'privacy and basic liberties' and claimed America's NSA and British-based GCHQ were carrying out massive surveillance programmes which target millions of innocent people.
