Obama Downplays Snowden Case, Says US Not ‘Scrambling Jets to Get a 29-Year-Old Hacker’ (+video)

Photo Credit: Fox News

Photo Credit: Fox News

President Obama said Thursday he has not gotten personally involved in the case of Ed Snowden, because he expects other countries to “abide by international law” and not provide harbor to a fugitive. At the same time, he indicated he does not plan to go to extraordinary lengths to capture the NSA leaker, saying: “No, I’m not going to be scrambling jets to get a 29-year-old hacker.”

As Republican lawmakers urge Obama to get tough with Russia as it denies extradition requests, Obama said he has not directly spoken with Russia’s Vladimir Putin or Chinese President Xi Jinping. He flashed some annoyance as he declared he has not called either leader because “I shouldn’t have to.”

He noted that the U.S. does “a whole lot of business” with both countries, and said he doesn’t want to be in a position where he’s “wheeling and dealing and trading” just to “get a guy extradited.”

The president suggested this should have been a routine bit of business for either leader, so he decided not to get personally involved. Read more from this story HERE.

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Tensions flare with Ecuador, Hong Kong over Snowden

Tensions flared Thursday between the Obama administration and countries that appear to be helping NSA leaker Edward Snowden, with the State Department pointedly warning a defiant Ecuador there will be “grave consequences” if the foreign government grants Snowden asylum.

State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell also ripped Hong Kong officials for trying to claim a day earlier that a misspelled middle name on Snowden’s paperwork contributed to him being allowed to catch a flight from Hong Kong to Moscow over the weekend.

“They knew he was a wanted fugitive, and they intentionally let him go,” Ventrell said, calling their excuse frivolous. “They’ve tried to sort of say, oops, he just left. And we’re saying, no, that this was an intentional decision.”

The dueling statements escalated the already-tense stand-off involving several countries now.

The Obama administration has warned that Hong Kong’s decision to let Snowden go could hurt U.S.-China relations. U.S. officials, to little avail, are still trying to convince the Russian government to expel Snowden to the United States — Snowden is believed to be hunkered down in the Moscow airport, but Russian officials claim he is not their problem. Read more from this story HERE.


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Obama administration reportedly allowed NSA to gather Americans’ Internet data until 2011

The Obama administration allowed the National Security Agency to gather Americans’ Internet information, including emails, until 2011 under a secret program launched by President George W. Bush, according to newly leaked documents.

The data collection was first reported by the Guardian newspaper. An official confirmed its existence to the Associated Press.

The NSA ended the program that collected email logs and timing, but not content, in 2011 because it did not do what was needed to stop terrorist attacks, according to the NSA’s director. Gen. Keith Alexander, who also heads the U.S. Cyber Command, said all data was purged at that time.

The Guardian Thursday released documents detailing the collection, although the program was also described earlier this month by The Washington Post.

The Guardian said that according to secret documents it had obtained, a federal judge sitting on the FISA court, a secret surveillance panel, would approve a collection order for Internet metadata every 90 days. Read more from this story HERE.