May 31 – Even as US whisteblower Edward Snowden is saying he sought asylum in Russia because America revoked his passport, Secretary of State John Kerry has asked the former to return home, calling him a fugitive from justice.
Reports quoted Kerry as saying if Snowden, 30, “believes in America, he should trust the American system of justice”. “A patriot would not run away,” Kerry has said. Snowden has said he is not a low-level analyst, but a trained spy.
Calling the former National Security Agency contractor “confused”, Kerry said the latter “has done great damage to his country”.
HE RAISED CONCERN IN EMAIL:
An email exchange released on Thursday shows that Snowden questioned the US National Security Agency’s legal training programmes, but provides no evidence the former contractor complained internally about vast NSA surveillance programmes that he later leaked to the media, Reuters adds.
The release of the April 2013 emails between Snowden and the NSA’s legal office is the latest round in a battle between Snowden, who casts himself as a crusading whistleblower, and US security officials, who say he failed to report his concerns to superiors before acting.
In an interview with NBC News on Wednesday, Snowden said he had raised alarms at multiple levels about the NSA’s broad collection of phone, email and Internet connections.
-INDIA TODAY
