Tag Archives: Edward Snowden

The Associated Press reports: Former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, who fled prosecution after revealing highly classified surveillance programs, has received a Russian passport and taken the citizenship oath, Russian news agencies quoted his lawyer as saying Friday. Lawyer Anatoly Kucherena was reported as saying that Snowden got the passport and took the oath on Thursday, about three months after …

The Associated Press reports: President Vladimir Putin has granted Russian citizenship to former U.S. security contractor Edward Snowden, according to a decree signed by the Russian leader on Monday. Snowden is one of 75 foreign nationals listed by the decree as being granted Russian citizenship. The decree was published on an official government website. Snowden, a former contractor with the …

The Guardian reports: The US whistleblower Edward Snowden and his wife are applying for Russian citizenship in order not to be separated from their future son in an era of pandemics and closed borders, he said on Monday. Snowden’s wife, Lindsay, is expecting a child in late December, the Interfax news agency cited Anatoly Kucherena, his Russian lawyer, as saying. …

The Associated Press reports: Attorney General William Barr said he would be “vehemently opposed” to any attempt to pardon former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, after the president suggested he might consider it. The attorney general’s comments in an interview with The Associated Press come days after President Donald Trump said he would “look at” whether to pardon Snowden, …

Mediaite reports: Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) did not mince words in a tweet about Edward Snowden Sunday evening, calling him a “traitor” and stating that granting him a pardon “would be unconscionable.” Cheney’s tweet almost certainly came in response to a comment by Trump on Saturday that he was apparently willing to consider pardoning Snowden. “I’m going to look at …

The Guardian reports: Donald Trump said on Saturday that he would look at the issue of giving a pardon to whistleblower Edward Snowden. Snowden disclosed highly classified information from the National Security Agency in 2013. He revealed the news covertly to the Guardian after he fled to Hong Kong, before flying to Moscow to avoid extradition back to America. He …

Just in from the Department of Justice: The United States today filed a lawsuit against Edward Snowden, a former employee of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and contractor for the National Security Agency (NSA), who published a book entitled Permanent Record in violation of the non-disclosure agreements he signed with both CIA and NSA. The lawsuit alleges that Snowden published …

NBC News reports: U.S. intelligence has collected information that Russia is considering turning over Edward Snowden as a “gift” to President Donald Trump — who has called the NSA leaker a “spy” and a “traitor” who deserves to be executed. That’s according to a senior U.S. official who has analyzed a series of highly sensitive intelligence reports detailing Russian deliberations …

Deadline recaps: Oliver Stone wants you to turn off your smartphone while you’re in a theater watching a movie — which he surely thinks should probably be his upcoming Snowden, but that’s beside the point. Or is it? The Oscar-winning filmmaker taped a new PSA which, by the way, debuted in front of a screening of Snowden held during Comic-Con …

From the Daily Beast: The trailer for the forthcoming Oliver Stone movie Snowden has been viewed over two million times less than 24 hours after it was posted on Youtube, suggesting huge interest in the story of one of America’s most polarizing heroes/traitors, ahead of the film’s release in September this year. After the clip was posted, the real Edward …

The Intercept reports: Edward Snowden isn’t just a hashtag anymore. The NSA whistleblower joined Twitter on Tuesday, using the @snowden Twitter handle. Snowden, who has lived in Russia since turning over a trove of top-secret documents to reporters more than two years ago, has remained in the public eye thanks to frequent appearances and interviews using video links and sometimes …

Via NBC News: Snowden spoke to the “Last Week Tonight” host in Moscow, where he has been for more than a year since being charged with espionage after leaking classified information regarding the NSA’s extensive surveillance programs. Oliver asked Snowden to explain the implications of NSA surveillance on racy personal photos. “The good news is there’s no program named ‘the …

Via the Guardian: He has tackled the Kennedy assassination and the Watergate break-in, the Vietnam conflict and the Bush administration’s “war on terror”. Now the Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone is set to whip up fresh controversy with his adaptation of The Snowden Files, an account of the ongoing NSA scandal written by the Guardian journalist Luke Harding. Stone’s thriller will …

Gay journalist Glenn Greenwald returned to the United States today for the first time since breaking the Edward Snowden story. Some have called for his arrest as Snowden’s alleged co-conspirator. Greenwald himself said he expected to be detained at once, but he exited JFK airport without incident. TIME reports on the reason for today’s visit: Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras, …

Fugitive NSA leaker Edward Snowden skyped into a SXSW panel today via seven proxy servers, a tactic probably taken to cloak his location. NPR has the story: Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who has leaked large amounts of classified information about the agency’s electronic surveillance programs, spoke via video to a sympathetic audience at South By Southwest …

“I absolutely refuse to be exiled from my own country for the crime of doing journalism, and I’m gonna force the issue just on principle, and I think coming back for a ceremony like the Polk Award or other forms of journalistic awards would be a really good symbolic test to put the government in the position of having to …

“I’m not going to dwell on Mr. Snowden’s actions or his motivations. I will say that our nation’s defense depends in part on the fidelity of those entrusted with our nation’s secrets. If any individual who objects to government policy can take it into their own hands to publicly disclose classified information, then we will not be able to keep …

From the Times editorial board: Considering the enormous value of the information he has revealed, and the abuses he has exposed, Mr. Snowden deserves better than a life of permanent exile, fear and flight. He may have committed a crime to do so, but he has done his country a great service. It is time for the United States to …