WASHINGTON (AP) — Edward Snowden, the former government contractor who
says he revealed that the National Security Agency collects Americans'
phone records and Internet data from U.S.communication companies, now
faces charges of espionage and theft of government property.
Snowden is believed to be in Hong Kong, which could complicate efforts
to bring him to a U.S. federal court to answer charges that he engaged
in unauthorized communication of national defense information and
willful communication of classified communications intelligence
information.
In addition to those charges, both brought under the Espionage Act,
the government charged Snowden with theft of government property. Each
crime carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Hong Kong was silent Saturday on whether Snowden should be extradited
to the United States now that he has been charged, but some of China's
legislators said the decision should be up to the Chinese government.
The one-page criminal complaint against Snowden was unsealed Friday in
federal court in Alexandria, Va., part of the Eastern District of
Virginia where his former employer, government contractor Booz Allen
Hamilton, is headquartered, in McLean.
The complaint is dated June 14, five days after Snowden's name first
surfaced as the person who had leaked to the news media that the NSA,
in two highly classified surveillance programs, gathered telephone and
Internet records to ferret out terror plots.
It was unclear Friday whether the U.S. had yet to begin an effort to
extradite Snowden from Hong Kong. He could contest extradition on
grounds of political persecution. In general, the extradition
agreement between the U.S. and Hong Kong excepts political offenses
from the obligation to turn over a person.
Hong Kong had no immediate reaction to word of the charges against Snowden.
The Espionage Act arguably is a political offense. The Obama
administration has now used the act in seven criminal cases in an
unprecedented effort to stem leaks. In one of them, Army Pfc. Bradley
Manning acknowledged he sent more than 700,000 battlefield reports,
diplomatic cables and other materials to the anti-secrecy website
WikiLeaks. His military trial is underway.
Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., a member of the Senate Armed Services
Committee, welcomed the charges against Snowden.
"I've always thought this was a treasonous act," he said in a
statement. "I hope Hong Kong's government will take him into custody
and extradite him to the U.S."
But the Government Accountability Project, a whistle-blower advocacy
group, said Snowden should be shielded from prosecution by
whistle-blower protection laws.
"He disclosed information about a secret program that he reasonably
believed to be illegal, and his actions alone brought about the
long-overdue national debate about the proper balance between privacy
and civil liberties, on the one hand, and national security on the
other," the group said in a statement.
Michael di Pretoro, a retired 30-year veteran with the FBI who served
from 1990 to 1994 as the legal liaison officer at the American
consulate in Hong Kong, said "relations between U.S. and Hong Konglaw
enforcement personnel are historically quite good."
"In my time, I felt the degree of cooperation was outstanding to the
extent that I almost felt I was in an FBI field office," di Pretoro
said.
The U.S. and Hong Kong have a standing agreement on the surrender of
fugitives. However, Snowden's appeal rights could drag out any
extradition proceeding.
The success or failure of any extradition proceeding depends on what
the suspect is charged with under U.S. law and how it corresponds to
Hong Kong law under the treaty. In order for Hong Kong officials to
honor the extradition request, they have to have some applicable
statute under their law that corresponds with a violation of U.S. law.
Hong Kong lawmakers said Saturday that the Chinese government should
make the final decision on whether Snowden should be extradited to the
United States.
Outspoken legislator Leung Kwok-hung said Beijing should instruct Hong
Kong to protect Snowden from extradition before his case gets dragged
through the court system.
Leung urged the people of Hong Kong to "take to the streets to protect Snowden."
In Iceland, a business executive said Friday that a private plane was
on standby to transport Snowden from Hong Kong to Iceland, although
Iceland's government says it has not received an asylum request from
Snowden.
Business executive Olafur Vignir Sigurvinsson said he has been in
contact with someone representing Snowden and has not spoken to the
American himself. Private donations are being collected to pay for the
flight, he said.
"There are a number of people that are interested in freedom of speech
and recognize the importance of knowing who is spying on us,"
Sigurvinsson said. "We are people that care about privacy."
Disclosure of the criminal complaint came as President Barack Obama
held his first meeting with a privacy and civil liberties board and as
his intelligence chief sought ways to help Americans understand more
about sweeping government surveillance efforts exposed by Snowden.
The five members of the little-known Privacy and Civil Liberties
Oversight Board met with Obama for an hour in the White House
Situation Room, questioning the president on the two NSA programs that
have stoked controversy.
One program collects billions of U.S. phone records. The second
gathers audio, video, email, photographic and Internet search usage of
foreign nationals overseas, and probably some Americans in the
process, who use major Internet service providers, such as Microsoft,
Google, Apple, and Yahoo.
___
Associated Press writer Jenna Gottlieb in Reykjavik, Iceland,
contributed to this report.
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