If I had very sensitive information and was of interest to the government,

[MineralMan]

I do not believe I would attempt to carry it while traveling internationally. I believe I'd FedEx an encrypted USB thumbdrive, and then travel to whatever destination unladen by anything like the information.

Things are not what they were, and not every country has even the promise of protection that the USA offers. The 4th Amendment or some equivalent, for example, does not exist in many places, and doesn't apply outside of US borders. Other places may well have no such protections, and carrying stuff in those places can cause problems. In addition, the promised constitutional protections offered to US citizens do not necessarily apply to foreign nationals transiting our airports. And that's assuming that they are honored in the first place.

Now, most of the time, business travelers and others carry computers, thumbdrives, and all sorts of stuff through airports, but their movements are not of interest to the authorities. On the other hand, the travels of people who are associated with Snowden, Greenwald, Assange, and others are closely watched. Carrying sensitive information openly is almost asking for it to be seized by authorities in some country or another.

Where caution is needed, it should be taken, it seems to me.

[leftstreet]

1. Wasn't the info only of interest to the US?

He wasn't traveling through the US airports, right?

[MineralMan]

3. Not at all. The US has arrangements with the UK and other countries

regarding intelligence sharing. Especially with the UK. That is something of very, very long standing. The NSA is in a collaborative relationship with the UK, and has been since the NSA was started.

There are also intelligence relationships with Germany.

There are far more nations interested in this than the US alone. That's not a secret, and is pretty well detailed on even Wikipedia, if you take the time to look around. In fact, most of what has been revealed by Snowden has been on Wikipedia since the mid 2000 decade. Other information has been publicly known long before that, including the relationships with other countries.

So, yes, the UK has a strong interest in this whole clustered intercourse.

Apparently, though, Greenwald isn't that aware of the NSA's long reach. He's rather naive, it seems, based on situations like the one with his partner. I think he needs to pay more attention.

[leftstreet]

4. Why didn't Germany detain him?

There are also intelligence relationships with Germany.

[MineralMan]

5. How would I know that? You'd have to ask the Germans.

I'm sure they could have detained him, too, had they wanted to. Or, they could have just let the UK do it. I have no idea.

[PowerToThePeople]

2. exactly.

[riqster]

6. Unless what a traveler wanted was an incident.

In that case, one might have acted as the traveler did.

[MineralMan]

7. Ah, well, I'm not capable of such complex thinking, I guess.

Here's what I think: Greenwald, et al, are amateurs at international intrigue and intelligence operations. But, it's such a juicy story that it has the power to turn Greenwald into a massive celebrity, rather than an obscure sort of blogger. That's awfully tempting.

But, based on what I have seen throughout this, Greenwald seems naive about much of what he is meddling with. I think he's in way over his head with this, frankly. His bluster and threats about the UK "regretting" their decision is another indication of that. Still, he persists in what he is doing. Courageous or foolish? I don't know. We shall see, though, no doubt.

I'm just observing all of this. It's interesting, to be sure.

[riqster]

9. Yes, it's puzzling. Thus all the speculation.

I have come to believe that this mess may never be fully understood, at least by we the peeps.

[MineralMan]

11. Now, that is most certainly true.

Even though I've been following the international intelligence community for a few decades, a lot of it is obscure and impenetrable. So, yes, it probably will never be well understood generally. Lots of confusing stuff and apparent contradictions. I doubt that will change. So, it's just interesting, really.

[Bradical79]

8. Thats what I would do

If I felt I was in the right as a journalist I'd pretty much dare them to detain me while making sure copies of the info got to where it needed to be through some other means

[Th1onein]

10. You hit the nail on the head.