The full 36-page House committee review remains classified, but the committee released a three-page executive summary slamming Snowden both personally and for the “tremendous damage” the committee said was done to American national security.
Advertisement
Former U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden has rejected a scathing report issued by a U.S. House committee. “He had been reprimanded just two weeks before he began to illegally downloading classified documents”, said the Intelligence Committee in a statement.
The Edward Snowden portrayed in that trailer by actor Joseph Gordon-Leavitt, Rooney says, is not the serial exaggerator and fabricator the committee’s report says he is.
Judgment day for Snowden will come from the Stone movie – and from President Obama and the developing rumors of a pardon for the whistleblower/traitor.
The lawmakers argue that because Snowden released over 1.5 million files -many of which weren’t related to NSA’s surveillance program, according to the comittie- he doesn’t qualify as a whistle-blower, but as a criminal. When asked if a more reasonable outcome would be for Snowden to reach an agreement with the USA government that would significantly trim the 30-year prison sentence he could face-an outcome Snowden himself has said he’s amenable to-Wizner said he’s eyeing only a full pardon.
In a videoconference Wednesday, Snowden repeated that he could not receive a fair trial in the United States under the Espionage Act.
Amnesty International and two other groups this week launched a campaign to have him pardoned.
Unsurprisingly, Snowden has hit back at the allegations with a series of messages on Twitter calling several aspects of the report into question.
In 2015, a similar pardon campaign gathered more than 160,000 signatures but a poll the same year from the American Civil Liberties Union, which is backing the new campaign, found that almost two-thirds of Americans viewed him negatively.
“After years of investigation, the committee still can’t point to any remotely credible evidence that Snowden’s disclosures caused harm”, Wizner said.
The inquiry also raises questions about Snowden’s candor, claiming the NSA leaker exaggerated injuries sustained in Army basic training, lied about his position title at the Central Intelligence Agency, and falsified his resume to win promotions at the NSA.
“One of them we would be is to pardon Snowden”, he said.
“I nearly think there’s a weird metaphor, an unintentional metaphor going on with the Band-Aid”, Gordon-Levitt said in an interview at the Toronto International Film Festival, where “Snowden” made its world premiere. Officials say those documents contained information that protected United States troops overseas and revealed the US’ cyber capabilities.
The production values are first-rate – Stone’s movies are always very good looking – and the finely shaded performance of Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the lead role is a revelation. Edward Snowden’s actions have put them in greater danger.
He said the report’s release appeared to have been a response to the release of Stone’s film.
Advertisement
Share with Us – We’d love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article, and smart, constructive criticism.
