Reefa Posted December 16, 2013 Share Posted December 16, 2013 White House spokesman Jay Carney. Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP Jay Carney says government's position has not changed and NSA whistleblower should return to the US to face trial. The White House has dashed hopes that the administration might be considering an amnesty for NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, insisting he should still return to the US to stand trial.Despite mounting acknowledgement that Snowden has raised important matters of public interest through the leaks to the Guardian and other newspapers, a US government spokesman said its position remained unchanged.“Mr Snowden has been accused of leaking classified information and he faces felony charges in the US. He should be returned to the United States as soon as possible, where he will be accorded full due process,” spokesman Jay Carney told reporters on Monday.Asked about weekend comments by a senior NSA official suggesting that an amnesty was “worth talking about” if Snowden returned the missing NSA documents, Carney added: “Our position has not changed on that matter – at all. He was expressing he personal opinion; these decisions are made by the Department of Justice.”The NSA official in charge of assessing the alleged damage caused by Snowden’s leaks, Richard Ledgett, told CBS News that an amnesty still remains controversial within the agency, which has spent the past six months defending itself against a global outcry and legislative and executive proposals to restrain its broad surveillance activities.“My personal view is, yes, it’s worth having a conversation about,” Ledgett, who is under consideration to become the agency’s top civilian, said in an interview on CBS 60 Minutes on Sunday.“I would need assurances that the remainder of the data could be secured, and my bar for those assurances would be very high. It would be more than just an assertion on his part.”Snowden is in Russia, having been granted a year-long asylum that has sparked international intrigue.In June, the Justice Department filed a criminal complaint charging the 30-year old former contractor with theft of government property, unauthorized communication of national defense information and “wilful communication of classified communications intelligence information to an unauthorized person”, although he has not yet been indicted.The White House poured cold water on the idea of an amnesty as it separately revealed an internal review of the NSA's activities had sent more than 40 recommendations for reform to the president.Obama will also meet seven of the world's largest technology companies on Tuesday to hear their argument that Snowden's revelations showed the balance has tilted too far away from privacy and civil liberties.The heads of Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitter, LinkedIn and Yahoo published an open letter last week calling for a ban on bulk collection of data, and will be among 15 technology executives visiting the White House on Tuesday to discuss “national security and the economic impacts of unauthorized intelligence disclosures” among other subjects.Source:http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/16/edward-snowden-no-amnesty-white-house Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ambrocious Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 I feel so sorry for that guy and perhaps he should arrange for his whole family to move out of the United States. This tells me one thing extra too; he really was a whistleblower and not a double agent. The only way that he WOULD have been allowed back to the USA is if he was a double agent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nIGHT Posted December 17, 2013 Share Posted December 17, 2013 (edited) We owe Edward Snowden. If not for him we would not know that NSA spying went too far beyond what we could imagine. He may be a traitor to the USA but a hero to the rest of the world. :yes:Leverage is the main point in the spying game anyway. USA is so scared to loose on that. Edited December 17, 2013 by nIGHT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DesiPirate Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 He may be a traitor to the USA but a hero to the rest of the world. :yes:Very true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
locoJoe Posted December 18, 2013 Share Posted December 18, 2013 I dont think he is a traitor...I applaud him. I am proud to be an American but not proud of my govt nor its so called leaders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
janedoe Posted December 19, 2013 Share Posted December 19, 2013 I agree with locoJoe. I too am against the notion that Snowden is a traitor in any way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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