US expert says that Gary McKinnon should be hired not locked up
by THEUNHIVEDMIND, theunhivedmind.comJuly 11th 2012
‘We should hire McKinnon’: US expert on cyber warfare calls attempt to extradite hacker ‘ridiculous and punitive’
John Arquilla said others in U.S. government shared his view about Asperger’s sufferer
By James Slack
Gary McKinnon hacked into Nasa and Pentagon computers while looking for evidence of ‘little green men’
A U.S. government adviser on cyber warfare last night attacked his government’s ‘ridiculous’ and ‘punitive’ attempt to extradite Gary McKinnon.
John Arquilla, a professor of defence analysis at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, said officials should instead be hiring the Asperger’s sufferer.
Mr McKinnon has been fighting extradition for the past decade after hacking into Nasa and Pentagon computers while looking for evidence of ‘little green men’.
Medical experts say he may take his own life if bundled on a plane against his will.
Mr Arquilla said his extradition would not deter other hackers.
He added: ‘Personally I think it’s ridiculous. And punitive.
‘They’re attempting to create a deterrent effect that will not deter and is slowing our progress.’
Mr Arquilla said people with Mr McKinnon’s ability with computer
Nick Clegg, pictured with Janis Sharp outside the Home Office in 2009, has also pledged his support to Mr McKinnon in the past
s should be considered for a job providing security advice.
In an interview with the Guardian, he added: ‘There are other places in the world where these communities are embraced by official authority, and these are places that are becoming great cyber powers.
‘The analogy is as if after World War Two, the Russians were using these rocket scientists while we put the ones we got on trial and incarcerated them.’
Mr Arquilla said there were some people in the U.S. government who shared his view that hackers should be hired, not prosecuted.
He continued: ‘There are good people in many different departments of the U.S. government that are open to this idea, but they are a tiny minority.’
Mr McKinnon is awaiting Theresa May’s decision on whether he can be sent across the Atlantic despite the fears he may kill himself if extradited.
The Home Secretary is examining medical evidence about his psychiatric state.
There was outrage last month when a notorious paedophile won his battle against extradition to the U.S.
Shawn Sullivan, who was on Interpol’s most wanted list won the right to stay in Britain on human rights grounds.
The high court said the 43-year old was at risk of being put on a sex offenders programme that would breach his human rights.
Mr McKinnon’s case has also exposed the operation of the US/UK extradition treaty which critics say is lopsided and unfair on Britons.
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