Snowden Leak Caused ‘Tremendous’ Damage to U.S. Security

Snowden Leak Caused 'Tremendous Damage' to U.S. Security

  • Sep 16, 2016

In the recent days, Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor, has asked President Obama for a pardon that would allow him to come back into the United States without being arrested for leaking sensitive information. In response, a U.S. House committee released a scathing report accusing Snowden of lying about his background, feuding with co-workers and leaking secrets that “caused tremendous damage” to U.S. security.

The House of Representatives Intelligence Committee report declared that Snowden was “not a whistleblower” like he has said in many interviews and that most of the material that he stole from the NSA outposts was about intelligence and defense programs of great interest to  U.S. foreign adversaries.

The committee only released a four-page summary of the 36-page investigative report. The information in the report remains highly classified, but contained strong words about Snowden’s actions and background.

The committee admitted that the “full-scope” of damage caused by Snowden’s leak remains unknown. A review of materials he allegedly compromised "makes clear that he handed over secrets that protect American troops overseas and secrets that provide vital defenses against terrorists and nation-states."

U.S. officials have said that Obama is not considering a pardon for Snowden and that there is no discussion of such a pardon inside the Justice Department.

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