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 At a hearing where the heads of five U.S. intelligence agencies
ratcheted up rhetoric calling Snowden a "grave threat" to the
nation, U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper made
comments that appeared to accuse journalists who wrote stories based
on Snowden's leaks.
"Snowden claims he's won and that his mission is accomplished,"
Clapper testified at the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee's annual
hearing on global security threats.
"If that is so, I call on him and his accomplices to facilitate the
return of the remaining stolen documents that have not yet been
exposed to prevent even more danger to U.S. security," he said.
Clapper's comments were immediately criticized by Glenn Greenwald, a
writer who met with Snowden in Hong Kong and wrote about documents
he received from him in the Guardian and other media outlets.
Greenwald currently is setting up a new media venture with EBay
founder Pierre Omidyar.
"Is it now the official view of the Obama administration that these
journalists and media outlets are 'accomplices' in what they regard
as Snowden's crimes? If so, that is a rather stunning and extremist
statement. Is there any other possible interpretation of Clapper's
remarks?" Greenwald wrote on a personal blog.
Snowden, who has accepted temporary asylum in Russia, has said that
he gave journalists all the documents he took with him when he left
his job as an NSA contractor in Hawaii. One U.S. official familiar
with the matter said privately this week that in reality, U.S.
authorities do not know how many documents Snowden downloaded.
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Some U.S. officials have suggested publicly that he acquired as many
as 1.7 million documents, though several sources familiar with what
he delivered to media outlets said the quantity was a fraction of
that — at most hundreds of thousands of papers.
In the wake of Snowden's disclosures and deep public concern about
widespread surveillance, President Barack Obama has proposed NSA
eavesdropping reforms, including restrictions on a current agency
program that collects masses of telephone "metadata" on both
foreigners and Americans.
Several bills calling for reforms of the NSA's data collection are
making their way through Congress.
There is strong support for Snowden around the world.
On Wednesday, a Norwegian member of parliament nominated the former
contractor for the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize.
(Editing by Dan Grebler)
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