That was when I really started engaging with what was going on as general counsel. I started to realise what an enormous story it was – both in terms of the story itself but also in terms of the legal implications.Īt that point it also became apparent that it wasn’t just a United States security story, but that there were GCHQ documents involved. He told me that the person behind the leaks about the NSA was in Hong Kong, as was Glenn Greenwald. I was thinking, ‘wow, this is like a spy novel!’ He took me to a park and basically filled me in on the details. When I got there, I was contacted by one of The Guardian’s journalists, Ewen MacAskill, who invited me to take a short trip with him but insisted that I leave all my electronic devices behind. I can see why Alan may have wanted some US legal advice.’Ī few days later I was due to be flying back to the UK via Hong Kong, and it was suddenly suggested that I might like to spend two or three days in Hong Kong ‘to do with all this’ – that was about as far as it went. At that point I started thinking, ‘Oh, ok! I’m starting to make some links here. Could you put me in touch with a US national security lawyer?’ I began to think, ‘Ok, something is going on,’ but I gave him a few names.
I got a cryptic phone call from Alan Rusbridger one night saying, ‘I can’t really talk about this as using the phone might be unreliable. Gill Phillips (GP): I was actually in Australia as we were in the process of opening our office there. How did you first hear about it, and what were your initial thoughts? GC: Obviously the Snowden story was a huge scoop for The Guardian.
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