The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee on Sunday condemned former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden as a “thief” and said that he may have had help from Russia.
“I believe there’s a reason he ended up in the hands, the loving arms, of an FSB agent in Moscow,” said Rep. Mike Rogers, (R-Mich.), in a reference to Russian president Vladimir Putin, a former head of the Russian security service. “I don’t think that’s a coincidence.”
He said that some the things Snowden did were “beyond his technical capabilities” and that it appeared that “he had some help and he stole things that had nothing to do with privacy.” He did not elaborate on when he believes Russian officials and Snowden were first in contact.
Rogers, appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said he believes that Snowden’s actions have done significant damage to the U.S. military.
The majority of what Snowden took from government systems, Rogers said, had nothing to do with the Americans’ privacy, but rather, focused on U.S. military operations and may now have been obtained by states.
In an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” Rep. Mike McCaul (R-Tex.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said he believes Snowden was “cultivated by a foreign power.”
Snowden has denied turning over any documents to Russia, where he obtained a one-year asylum visa after flying into the country from Hong Kong in June. He has also denied providing any classified material to China.
Rogers said that organizations including al-Qaeda and nation-states have already changed their communication protocols in response to Snowden’s leaks and that the U.S. will have to spend billions to rebuild its capabilities.
In a speech Friday, President Obama said he no longer wants the government to collect and hold the phone records of millions of Americans and would like to narrow access to the data by officials.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that she was heartened by the president’s speech, particularly because he intends to continue to allow the collection of Americans’ phone records, albeit by some outside entity. Obama has instructed the attorney general and the director of national intelligence to come with a plan to make good on his proposal.
“The president very clearly said, ‘We need this capability to keep people safe,’ ” said Feinstein, also appearing on “Meet the Press,” adding that the majority of members on her committee would agree with that.
Opponents of the NSA’s collection of American’s phone records were also heartened by Obama’s speech.
“It showed he was listening to those of us across the political spectrum,” said Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.), on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “We are now in a position to keep faith with the constitution.”
Privacy advocates, however, said that questions remain about how much personal privacy should be sacrificed for the good of national security.
“That is a false choice,” said Alexis Ohanian, Internet activist and co-founder of Reddit, on “Meet the Press. “It’s possible for us to have security while also not overstepping our right to privacy.”
Some lawmakers said implementing the president’s proposal could prove difficult.
“The attorney general will have a very difficult decision to make,” said McCaul, adding that it is “hard to say who has the capability to store and use this data.”
In an appearance on “Face the Nation,” Rogers argued that taking the phone records database out of the government’s direct control will open Americans up to new privacy concerns as divorce lawyers and others petition companies for access to the data.
“The companies tell us they will be deluged with warrants on these telephone records that the companies can’t sustain,” he said.
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