The Gary McKinnon Case

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Gary McKinnon
Gary McKinnon

Case Brief

Gary McKinnon is accused by the United States of perpetrating one of the "biggest military computer hacks of all time." Following legal hearings in the UK it was decided in July 2006 that he should be extradited to the United States. In February 2007 his lawyers argued against ruling in an appeal to the High Court in London, which was turned down in April. He still has the possibility of appealing to the House of Lords using the argument that because the alleged offences were committed in the UK this is where he should be tried. The prison sentence the US justice department is seeking - should Gary be successfully extradited - is up to 70 years. Gary's case has attracted attention due not only to the controversial sentencing and extradition but because of his claims that he found evidence of deliberate airbrushing of UFO-like anomalies and documents mentioning 'non-terrestrial officers' and space-based 'fleet-to-fleet transfers'.


Case History

In 1983, when Gary McKinnon was 17, he went to see the movie War Games at his local cinema in Crouch End, north London. This film created his interest in computers and computer networks and was ironically prophetic of events that would take over Gary's life. Born in Glasgow in 1966, Gary spent some time growing up in Falkirk, Scotland which is close to the infamous Bonnybridge UFO sighting hotspot. Gary's stepfather also encouraged his interest in science fiction books and UFOs generally - giving Gary the impetus to join BUFORA in his teens.

Somewhat frustrated by the common avenues of UFO research, Gary began some basic computer hacking techniques from his girlfriend's Aunt's house in the mid-late 1990s. Soon he began using a system of scanning for blank administrator passwords on supposedly secure networks and found that on certain occasions this was effective for entering systems that could possibly contain information on the UFO and free energy phenomena. A major catalyst for his research was the information he heard about via Dr. Steven Greer's Disclosure Project. Gary claimed one of the reasons he was looking for validation was that "in the UK old age pensioners are dying each winter because they cannot pay their fuel bills..." - the implication being that above-government agencies are keeping highly efficient sources of power, possibly derived from alien hardware, to themselves. The Disclosure Project witness statements also contained reference to photo retouching work done in building 8 of the Johnson Space Centre. McKinnon also made some attempt to confirm this testimony by Donna Hare, a former employee. Hare insisted that NASA was retouching photographs of the lunar surface, airbrushing out “anomalies” such as flying saucers.

By the time his home was raided in 2002, it is claimed that Gary had penetrated a range of secure networks including NASA, the US Army, US Navy, Department of Defence and the US Air Force. Gary claims to have found evidence of photographic or satellite images being retouched before public distribution - he claims that in building 8 he found PC directories with 'before' and 'after' airbrushed images and located pre-tampered images of anomalous objects casting shadows onto the earth surface. However the information that has caused the biggest stir in the Exopolitical communities was Gary's claim to have seen documentary evidence of what could be alternative space programs. This controversial element to the case was based on Gary allegedly finding spreadsheet data relating to 'non-terrestrial officers' and 'fleet-to-fleet transfers'. Gary found names of "ships" listed in this data and separately researched these names against military sea-based vessels but found no correlation. We have only Gary's testimony on these issues as he used a dial-up connection that was too slow to download any images or documentation. The software merely replicated a low resolution version of the remote PC's content on his PC. At one point Gary claims an official at one of the organisations questioned him via a text editor to which Gary claimed he was a technician 'checking for security issues'. On another occasion he claims the his activity was noticed and the connection terminated. An important point raised by McKinnon's supporters is why he alone was targeted. It appears that throughout the many networks he explored there were in fact many other IP addresses that had also gained access, many of which originated in places like China.

After being traced by his purchase of 'Remotely Anywhere' - the software McKinnon used to replicate networked computer contents on his own PC, he was arrested by the UK's then recently formed National Hi-Tech Crime Unit. No charges were brought against McKinnon in the UK, but authorities in the US started extradition proceedings against him. These have continued to this day and may continue for several years yet. In 2003 Britain signed a new United States. This legislation is the notorious Extradition Act, which was passed by the Labour Government after Gary was arrested in 2002. This new treaty included far fewer safeguards for British citizens. Under the previous arrangement, the US government would be required to present evidence in a British court that a crime had been committed. A British judge would review the evidence and make a decision on whether or not extradition should take place. Under the new treaty, however, none of this happened. Extradition was almost automatic. It has been suggested that what Gary is accused of is not necessarily serious crime especially regarding the alleged amount of financial damage. His legal team maintain that the UK Computer Misuse Act 1990, also covers computer "hacking" in foreign countries from the UK, and should therefore should take precedence.

For these reasons and more, the exopolitical field are supporting the case on a human rights issue as much as anything else.


NASA Documents

Case Updates

Update August 2007

Gary McKinnon heard yesterday that he had won the right to have his case against extradition to the US heard by the House of Lords. The agreement by the law lords to listen to arguments that the US authorities acted in an "oppressive" and "arbitrary" manner is the first step in what Mr McKinnon and his legal team hope will be an end to extradition proceedings which began in 2004. He has always argued that, because the alleged offences took place in the UK, that is where he should stand trial. No date has been set for the House of Lords hearing and he remains on bail. "Gary McKinnon is delighted to learn of this important development," said his barrister, Ben Cooper of Charter chambers, last night.

Update June 2007

After British MPs voted to agree to the extradition of Gary and his failure of Appeal at the British High Court he is currently in the process of appealing to the House of Lords on a number of technicalities related to the extradition. The appeal points generally revolve around the plea bargaining process adopted by US officials early on in the case and the status of the terrorist extradition laws themselves.

Update Feb 2008

Gary McKinnon's Law Lords appeal hearing date set provisionally for Thursday 19th June 2008.

Update May 2008

Exopolitics UK just spoke to Gary - despite the official campaign site giving the June 19th date for the Law Lords extradition hearing it has been moved to June 16th. Gary pointed out that the US legal system can indeed dispute the Lords' decision should it go Gary's way but this in itself may be a positive move. Support Gary Article

Update August 2008

Gary's final British stage, the Law Lords appeal against his extradition to the USA has been refused. On 30th July they announced their decision and reasoning from the 16th June hearing. His last move is to take the case before the European Court of Human Rights.

External Resources and Links

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