A 29-year-old government contractor publicly identified himself
Sunday as the source of recent disclosures about secret National
Security Agency data-gathering programs, an admission that exposes him
to criminal prosecution and resolves a mystery that has captivated the
country for nearly a week.
Edward Snowden said he leaked the information because he
wanted to spark a national debate about the surveillance of U.S.
citizens. In an online story and video posted by the Guardian news
organization, Mr. Snowden said he was a former employee of the Central
Intelligence Agency and currently a consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton, a
strategy and technology consulting firm, and until recently had been
working at an NSA facility in Hawaii. Booz Allen confirmed his
employment.
While the government has pursued a number of criminal leak cases in
recent years, Mr. Snowden's case stands out in that few leakers have
publicly revealed themselves and, in essence, dared U.S. authorities to
pursue them.
Edward Snowden, a U.S. government contractor,
identified himself as the source of recent disclosures about secret
National Security Agency data-gathering programs. The WSJ’s Alex Frangos
tells us why Mr. Snowden chose to reveal himself in Hong Kong.
Mr. Snowden
said he was in Hong Kong and had stayed holed up in a hotel room for
weeks leading up to the publication of stories by the Guardian and the
Washington Post about documents he had provided them on secret NSA
programs. The Justice Department on Sunday said it had started a
criminal investigation "into the unauthorized disclosure of classified
information by an individual with authorized access." The Wall Street
Journal was unable to reach Mr. Snowden for comment independently.
What is the top-secret PRISM program, and how
does it work? How does the U.S. government get access to data from U.S.
companies? WSJ's Jason Bellini has "The Short Answer."
"I understand that I will be made to suffer for my actions,''
the Guardian quoted
Mr. Snowden as saying. He said he would be satisfied "if the federation
of secret law, unequal pardon and irresistible executive powers that
rule the world that I love are revealed even for an instant.''
The U.S.
has an extradition treaty with Hong Kong,
which was negotiated with Beijing's participation in 1997, just before
Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule. But the proceedings can take months,
and a provision of the treaty gives the Chinese government the right to
veto an extradition request if it affects Beijing's "essential public
interest or policy."
Booz Allen said that Mr. Snowden had
been an employee of the firm for less than three months. It called
reports of the leaks by Mr. Snowden
"shocking'' and said it would "work closely with our clients and authorities in their investigation of this matter."
The NSA didn't immediately comment. A
spokesman for the Director of National Intelligence said U.S.
intelligence agencies are "currently reviewing the damage that has been
done by these recent disclosures."
Mr. Snowden told the Guardian he grew
up in Elizabeth City, N.C., though his family later moved to Maryland.
He described himself as having been a poor high school student who
eventually obtained a GED. He enlisted in the Army in 2003, but left the
military after a training accident. He started working as a security
guard at an NSA site, went on to work for the CIA, and left that job in
2009, he told the Guardian.
Mr. Snowden told the Guardian there
were many other secrets he could have revealed if he had wanted to harm
national security, but said that wasn't his aim. Rather, he said, his
intent was to disclose those details that would
spark a national debate over government surveillance. He said he understood he was risking his future and could face criminal prosecution.
"If I had just wanted to harm the U.S.,
then you could shut down the surveillance system in an afternoon, but
that's not my intention," he said in a video posted by the Guardian.
"The greatest fear that I have regarding the outcome for America of
these disclosures is that nothing will change.''
Mr. Snowden's move to out himself may
force the hand of government officials who have been considering the
risks and benefits of prosecuting the leaker. At the same time, his
public statements create a complication: The more he can show himself to
be a whistleblower, whose goal was to create a policy debate, the more
prosecutors may worry about his ability to draw sympathy from jurors.
Any prosecution of Mr. Snowden would also have to be balanced against the risk a public trial could
reveal more government secrets.
Mr. Snowden's announcement likely will
reignite questions about the number of federal contractors who are
cleared to access troves of classified documents. As of last October,
nearly five million people held government security clearances. Of that,
1.4 million held top-secret clearances. More than a third of those with
top-secret clearances are contractors, which would appear to include
Mr. Snowden.
Mr. Snowden attributed his access to
documents seemingly beyond the purview of his job to his work in network
security, which would allow him to access a wide variety of secret
files. Some large companies are currently lobbying the federal
government to grant more of their employees security clearances, in part
to fend off hackers from Iran, China and elsewhere.
The U.S. went through a similar debate
in 2010, when Army Pfc. Bradley Manning admitted turning over hundreds
of thousands of documents to the website WikiLeaks that he had obtained
despite being a low-ranking officer. Mr. Manning's trial over whether he
aided the enemy began last week.
"The public is owed an explanation,''
Mr. Snowden said in his interview with the Guardian, describing himself
as a small player in the intelligence world who wanted to effect a major
re-examination of how the government conducts surveillance.
"I'm no different than anybody else. I
don't have special skills. I'm just another guy who sits there day to
day in the office, watches what's happening and goes, 'This is something
that's not our place to decide. The public needs to decide whether
these programs and policies are right or wrong.' ''
Within hours of publication of Mr. Snowden's statement, lawmakers were urging his extradition and trial.
"If Edward Snowden did in fact leak
the NSA data as he claims, the United States government must prosecute
him to the fullest extent of the law and begin extradition proceedings
at the earliest date," said Rep.
Peter King
(R., N.Y.). "The United States must make it clear that no country
should be granting this individual asylum. This is a matter of
extraordinary consequence to American intelligence."
—Alex Frangos, Dion Nissenbaum and Siobhan Gorman contributed to this article.
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