The U.S. House intelligence committee on Thursday unanimously approved a blistering report on the activities of Edward Snowden, saying his disclosures of top-secret documents and programs did “tremendous damage” to national security.
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Although privacy advocates have hailed Snowden as a courageous whistleblower who exposed an out-of-control surveillance state to the American people, his critics have long accused him of treason for revealing classified information and endangering national security.
The committee also said it had completed a 36-page report summarizing the results of its multiyear investigation into the leaks and their effect.
It says that most of the material he leaked related to military secrets that had nothing to do with Americans’ privacy but were to “protect American troops overseas and. provide vital defenses against terrorists and nation-states”.
Following what lawmakers have described as an exhaustive two-year investigation, the committee released a scathing report Thursday condemning the former NSA contractor as a liar and a thief whose disclosures have endangered national security in ways we have yet to understand.
On Wednesday, prominent human rights advocates publicly urged U.S. President Barack Obama to issue a pardon for Snowden before he leaves office – a suggestion Snowden himself made to the Guardian newspaper earlier in the week.
Following Snowden’s revelations, widespread outrage prompted Congress to adopt measures in June 2015 to regulate the NSA’s collection of Americans’ phone call metadata.
Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the ranking Democrat on the House intelligence committee, said the probe revealed that the vast majority of what Snowden took had nothing to do with American privacy.
Edward Snowden, who is in Moscow, is seen on a giant screen during a live video conference for an interview as part of Amnesty International event in Paris, France, Dec. 10, 2014.
Snowden is living in Russian Federation under a grant of political asylum.
The report’s assessment of Snowden differs substantially from his public image, which portrays him as a patriotic crusader concerned with privacy rights. Instead, it relied on interviews with USA intelligence officials. “Snowden’s actions. set in motion the most important debate about government surveillance in decades, and brought about reforms that continue to benefit our security and democracy”, the letter says.
Charged with theft of government property, unauthorized communication of national defense information and communication of classified communications intelligence, Edward Snowden is wanted by the United States government.
Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone has been premiering his latest movie “Snowden” in New York City.
“A close review of Snowden’s official employment records and submissions reveals a pattern of intentional lying”, the report said.
Two weeks before he began to download classified documents at an NSA installation in Hawaii, the report said, he was reprimanded after “engaging in a workplace spat” with managers.
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White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters Wednesday that the administration’s position remains unchanged: that Snowden should return to the US and face “the very serious charges” against him.
