U.K. security rapped over U.S. renditions

LONDON, July 26 (UPI) -- A British parliamentary committee criticized the MI5 domestic and MI6 foreign intelligence agencies over its intelligence sharing with the United States.

The parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee said the agencies should have advised the government as soon as they became aware the United States could be using shared data to detain terror suspects and fly them to third countries for interrogation, The Times of London reported.

U.S. authorities call the practice "extraordinary renditions," although under a British-U.S. intelligence sharing agreement, Britain wouldn't participate "where there is a real risk of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment," the report said.

The committee's criticism was about not notifying government ministers sooner and its report said there was no evidence of any British agency "being directly involved in the U.S. rendition program."

After the United States changed its policy of hunting terror suspects in 2002, the parliamentary report said MI5 and MI6 "should have detected the emerging pattern of renditions sooner and used greater caution in working with the United States at an earlier stage."