Posted on 06/21/2013 3:22:17 PM PDT by Nachum
Federal prosecutors have filed a sealed criminal complaint against Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who leaked a trove of documents about top-secret surveillance programs, and the United States has asked Hong Kong to detain him on a provisional arrest warrant, according to U.S. officials.
Snowden was charged with espionage, theft and conversion of government property, the officials said.
The complaint was filed in the Eastern District of Virginia, a jurisdiction where Snowden’s former employer, Booz Allen Hamilton, is headquartered, and a district with a long track record in prosecuting cases with national security implications.
A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment.
Snowden flew to Hong Kong last month after leaving his job at an NSA facility in Hawaii with a collection of highly classified documents that he acquired while working at the agency as a systems analyst.
The documents, some of which have been published in The Washington Post and Britain’s Guardian newspaper, detailed some of the most secret surveillance operations undertaken by the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as classified legal memos and court orders underpinning the programs in the United States.
The 29-year-old intelligence analyst revealed himself June 9 as the leaker in an interview with the Guardian and said he went to Hong Kong because it provided him the “cultural and legal framework to allow me to work without being immediately detained.”
Snowden subsequently disappeared from public view; it is thought that he is still in the Chinese territory. Hong Kong has its own legislative and legal systems but ultimately answers to Beijing, under the so-called “one country, two systems” arrangement.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Hopefully China will intervene and protect him and he’ll continue to drip out revelations about our criminal blackmail government.
Tell what crimes we are committing, and we will kill you.
We’ll do it out in the open, in public too.
We have nothing to fear. We are your overlords.
You better watch and learn or you’re next...
Maybe, just maybe, Snowden is a legit outraged man who has seen enough of tyranny.
Until other evidence comes to light, I am taking him at face value - he is standing up for freedom in the face of the new nationalist socialist communist regime in this country. I hope he survives and damages the Obama regime so deeply that they crumble.
Nobody else has taken such risks for a return to freedom, in recent memory.
Jury Nullification,,, it isn’t just for black urban gangsta types.
Obama is scared. Very scared. Bring them all down. God please bring all these traitors down. god Bless America!
Burkina Faso? Togo?
It was legal. The secret court with a secret judge appointed secretly said so...
Yes but what has he accomplished? He hasn’t accomplished ANYTHING. He’s a moron. He was in a position where he could have brought down Obama if he played his cards right, could have gathered evidence linking him to so many things: The IRS harassment of conservatives for starters. But nooo, instead he acted like a kid being a tattle-tale “Waaah! They are spying on our phone calls bwaaaahhh!” Nobody gives a damn, not to mention people ALREADY knew about that! So what has he accomplished? Nothing except getting himself a life sentence. And people are calling this guy a hero? A hero of what? Being a moron? All he did is throw himself on the knife for no good reason.
Oh, I disagree whole heartily. He has changed so much. The American people now know for certain the gubbamint has come after them in so many covert ways.
If he'd “used his head” as you stated, what would he have done differently? Go to the gubbamint and ask them politely to stop their covert snooping activities? He did what made the largest impact...and it WORKED!
Citizens attempting to relay their fears and concerns for years were being called conspiracy nutjobs worthy of tinfoil hats and such. They have now been vindicated and those who berated them are now eating crow...fried, baked, poached, grilled.
Snowden brought these evil deeds into the light and like cockroaches, they began to scramble for cover. Snowdens revelations came atop the other scandals, specifically the IRS’s targeting of particular groups. Talk about scary.
This infuriates millions of Americans. To know that the MOST powerful agency in the federal gubbamint has been used as a weapon against it's citizens in which they are supposed to SERVE. So...who is the enemy here? The American citizen? What have we done? Why are we being treated as suspects?
Millions of Americans have been scrutinized, shaken down, groped, spied on...to catch a handful of muzzies. Now, we know for certain. My hat is off to this young man who sacrificed everything to help keep us free. Wow! That's courage.
I myself stopped using sites such as google, Facebook and Yahoo. Began using more secure proxy browsers. I've stepped up my political efforts to unseat anti-American politicians.
Guarantee ya, hundreds of thousands of Americans, if not millions have been and are now stepping up preparations to protect their families against any eventuality.
You may not feel he made a difference, but it is so painfully evident, one man caused an enormous earthquake that shook the foundations of the most powerful spying apparatus known to modern man.
Apparently he revealed some more stuff last night but SRM *including FNC* isn’t talking about it.
>>How ironic.<<
Right?
If he mysteriously dies...like so many “witnesses” have lately.....
In other words, he sold out our national secrets WITHOUT orders.
Because Snowden is charged with espionage, that means the government is not spying on you. Is that their logic?
Yep....agree completely......It may very well believe Snowden contacted Wikileaks Assauge long before he left this country...especially since he was just three months with the company....this guy is NOT working alone by any means...nor was he from the get go Imo.
Ogot? Osaf Anikurb?
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