Fugitive whistleblower and current political refugee Edward Snowden may be given an opportunity to come home to his native United States. The former NSA contractor who fled the country after copying an immense quantity of classified data regarding NSA electronic surveillance programs may be offered an amnesty deal, according to sources in the NSA.
During a segment on the CBS program 60 Minutes, NSA official Rick Ledgett, who is heading the taskforce assigned with assessing the damage down by the
Snowden leaks, indicated that he would be willing to entertain a conversation on an amnesty deal. Ledgett, who is considered by many to be a strong candidate for the top position at the American spy agency, said that he would require assurances that go beyond Snowden's promises before he would consider offering a deal that allows the perpetrator of the single largest intelligence breach in American history to come home.
Snowden is believed to be living in Moscow after being granted asylum by Russian President Vladmir Putin. The NSA has admitted that they cannot be sure exactly how much data Snowden was able to smuggle out, but are not disputing his claim that he took over a million documents.
The release of just a portion of the information Snowden took has sparked a firestorm of controversy, as details of an immense and wide-ranging surveillance apparatus have emerged. The NSA has come under intense scrutiny from domestic and foreign critics amidst accusations of capturing mind-staggering amounts of data from phone calls and texts, emails and web traffic, and the servers of some of the biggest players in the onlnine world.
Revelations include spying on foreign heads of state, drilling into the data clouds of online giants such as Google and Amazon, and lifting metadata on every single phone call made in the United States for the past five years.
Keith Alexander, the current chief of the NSA, has denied that he and his spy agency are currently pursuing an amnesty deal with Snowden. Such a deal would also require the approval of the U.S. Justice Department, as Snowden has been charged under the Espionage Act.
Snowden has stated in interviews that he would consider coming home if an amnesty deal were offered.
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