|
US contractor risks
steep prison time for data leak
AP, WASHINGTON
The man who exposed two sweeping US surveillance programs and touched off a
debate on privacy versus security has revealed his own identity. He risks
decades in prison for the disclosures to reporters ¡X if the US can extradite him
from Hong Kong where he says he has taken refuge.
Edward Snowden, 29, who says he worked as a contractor at the National Security
Agency (NSA) and the CIA, allowed the Guardian and the Washington Post
newspapers to reveal his identity on Sunday.
Both papers have published a series of top-secret documents outlining two NSA
surveillance programs. One gathers hundreds of millions of US telephone records
while searching for possible links to known terrorist targets abroad, and the
second allows the government to tap into nine US Internet companies to gather
all Internet usage to detect suspicious behavior that begins overseas.
The revelations have reopened the post-Sept. 11, 2001, debate about individual
privacy concerns versus heightened measures to protect the US against terrorist
attacks. The NSA has asked the US Department of Justice to conduct a criminal
investigation into the leaks.
US President Barack Obama said the programs are authorized by the US Congress
and subject to strict supervision of a secret court, and US Director of National
Intelligence James Clapper says they do not target US citizens.
However, Snowden says the programs are open to abuse.
¡§Any analyst at any time can target anyone. Any selector. Anywhere,¡¨ Snowden
said in a video on the Guardian¡¦s Web site. ¡§I, sitting at my desk, had the
authority to wiretap anyone, from you or your accountant to a federal judge to
even the president if I had a personal e-mail.¡¨
Some lawmakers have expressed similar concerns about the wide reach of the
surveillance.
¡§I expect the government to protect my privacy. It feels like that isn¡¦t what¡¦s
been happening,¡¨ said Democratic US Senator Mark Udall, a member of the US
Senate Intelligence Committee.
Snowden says he was a former technical assistant for the CIA and a current
employee of defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, which released a statement
on Sunday confirming he had been a contractor with them in Hawaii for less than
three months, and promising to work with investigators.
Snowden could face many years in prison for releasing classified information if
he is extradited from Hong Kong, according to Mark Zaid, a national security
lawyer who represents whistleblowers.
Hong Kong has an extradition treaty with the US that took force in 1998,
according to the US Department of State Web site.
|
