Tinfoil Hats Don't Ward Off Extradition Papers

I might have to remember that in the event the Home Office somehow has misplaced my visa application. This is becoming evident as lawyers for 43-year-old Gary McKinnon are down to last-ditch efforts to prevent his extradition to the U.S. to face charges of hacking into Department of Defense computers. McKinnon, who has been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, a higher-functioning form of autism, says he did access those computers but he was looking for evidence on UFOs, specifically whether the US government was covering up information on their existence as well as their propulsion systems.

While this defense might bring about a chuckle on the US side, the case has generated widespread disapproval in the UK. Yesterday, Home Secretary Alan Johnson again declined to intercede, saying he was powerless to prevent the move and added that he had received assurances that McKinnon's condition would be taken into account with regards to his custody while in the US. Government critics, including a committee in the House of Commons, say McKinnon's mental health is too precarious to allow his removal from the UK, while others have pointed out apparent inequities in the extradition treaty between America and Britain.

Unfortunate for McKinnon, he picked the weeks following 9/11 to start gaining unauthorized access to DoD computers and look for this information on UFOs. This is a gross breach of national security, and while more needs done to safeguard IT resources, breaking into a foreign government's computers is a form of cyber warfare. As he could have gained more sensitive information if he had wanted, McKinnon must face the music, and unless the US expresses willingness to set up a temporary courtroom on Grosvenor Square in London, his extradition is thus necessary. Likewise, if a US citizen were to hack into the UK's Ministry of Defence computers looking for information on something as benign as who's contracted to forge the Victoria Cross medallions, he or she should expect ramifications from UK authorities.

Conversely, should McKinnon find himself in a US courtroom, his diagnosis of Asperger's must be weighed when it comes to sentencing. 70 years does seem excessive for someone with a mental condition, especially if such a sentence is served in Leavenworth. As McKinnon has admitted on multiple occasions to the BBC his actions, a plea bargain which would allow him to serve the majority of his sentence in the UK would be wise.

Therefore, instead of McKinnon's advocates convincing a UK government that is struggling to find some remnant of credibility to hold onto, they should instead put the pressure on the US State Department to be the compassionate ones. After all, it was Barack Obama who won the Nobel Peace Prize in spite of declining to issue a pardon posthumously to boxer Jack Johnson. If he wants to prove to a growingly skeptical international community that he does aim to "strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples," he could start by scrapping extradition and either hammer a plea deal with McKinnon or let him be tried in the UK.