NSA leaker Edward Snowden, helped by WikiLeaks, heads to Ecuador via Russia
The computer technician who faces criminal charges for leaking details of U.S. spying programs left Hong Kong on Sunday to seek asylum in Ecuador, reigniting debate over his conflicted status as either a champion for personal privacy or a traitor who might curry favor with hostile nations.
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| Eduard Snowden - Washington Times |
Lawmakers from both political parties cried foul Sunday over the short list of Mr. Snowden’s reported destinations, which included Latin American nations with unfriendly attitudes toward Washington. “The freedom trail is not exactly China, Russia, Cuba, Venezuela,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, told “Fox News Sunday.”
But WikiLeaks revealed by afternoon that Mr. Snowden was bound for Ecuador, a small nation on the Pacific that has sheltered Mr. Assange in its London embassy for more than a year, so he would not be extradited to Sweden for questioning in a sexual assault case.
The organization said Mr. Snowden was bound for the South American country “via a safe route for the purposes of asylum, and is being escorted by diplomats and legal advisors from WikiLeaks.”
Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino confirmed on Twitter that his government had received an asylum request from Mr. Snowden, who landed in Moscow on Sunday and planned to travel to South America through Cuba, The Associated Press reported, citing Russian news agencies.
When Mr. Snowden passed information about secret surveillance tactics this month to The Guardian newspaper, it immediately raised questions about the boundaries between privacy and national security. Some praised him, while others decried him as a traitor who stole classified information and fled from his private contractor’s station in Hawaii to Hong Kong instead of following proper whistleblower procedures.
U.S. authorities asked Hong Kong on Friday to extradite Mr. Snowden, but officials there said the request did not comply with their laws. Gen. Keith Alexander, who heads the National Security Agency, acknowledged Sunday that he did not know how Mr. Snowden was able to leave Hawaii in the first place. Nevertheless, he said, the confessed leaker “betrayed the trust and confidence we had in him.”
“This is an individual who is not acting, in my opinion, with noble intent,” he told ABC’s “This Week,” adding later: “What Snowden has revealed has caused irreversible and significant damage to our country and our allies.”
Other lawmakers directed their ire at China and Russia. Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, told CNN that there would be “serious consequences for the United States-Russia relationship” if its is revealed that President Vladimir Putin helped Mr. Snowden evade American authorities. Others are taking a nuanced view toward the suddenly famous leaker who was recently fired from Booz Allen Hamilton, an American consulting firm. Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican known for libertarian views, said how Mr. Snowden will be judged is an “open question.” “If he cozies up to either the Russian government, the Chinese government or any of these governments that are perceived still as enemies of ours, I think that that’ll be a real problem for him in history,” he told CNN’s “State of the Union,” noting that Iceland would be a preferred destination.
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