Washington: The US was struggling to contain one of the most explosive national security leaks in US history yesterdy, as public criticism grew of the sweeping surveillance state revealed by whistleblower Edward Snowden.
Political opinion was split, with some members of Congress calling for the immediate extradition of a man they consider a "defector" but other senior politicians from both parties questioning whether US surveillance practices had gone too far.
Daniel Ellsberg, the former military analyst who revealed secrets of the Vietnam war through the so-called Pentagon Papers in 1971, described Snowden's leak as even more important and perhaps the most significant leak in American history.
In London, the British foreign secretary, William Hague, was forced to defend the UK’s use of intelligence gathered by the US. Other European leaders also voiced concern.
The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, is expected to grill Obama next week, during a much-awaited summit in Berlin. Peter Schaar, Germany's federal data protection commissioner, told the Guardian it was unacceptable for the US authorities to have access to EU citizens' data, and that the level of protection is lower than that guaranteed to US citizens.
In Washington, the Obama administration offered no indication on Monday about what it intended to do about Snowden, who was praised by privacy campaigners but condemned by some US politicians keen for him to be extradited from Hong Kong and put on trial. The White House made no comment beyond a short statement released by a spokesman for the US director of national intelligence on Sunday. Shawn Turner said Snowden's case had been referred to the Justice Department, and that US intelligence was assessing the damage caused by the disclosures.
"Any person who has a security clearance knows that he or she has an obligation to protect classified information and abide by the law," Turner said.
Snowden disclosed his identity in an explosive interview with the Guardian, published on Sunday.
The Guardian
