US won’t pardon Snowden: White House

Just shy of 168,000 people signed the petition calling on the former NSA contractor to be “issued a a full, free, and absolute pardon for any crimes he has committed or may have committed related to blowing the whistle on secret NSA surveillance programs”.

In its response to the petition, the White House urged Snowden to come back to the U.S. and stand trial by jury, “not hide behind the cover of an authoritarian regime”.

“Instead of constructively addressing these issues, Mr. Snowden’s unsafe decision to steal and disclose classified information had severe consequences for the security of our country and the people who work day in and day out to protect it”, she said.

The petition passed the mark at which the White House should have responded over a year ago, but didn’t receive any official acknowledgement until today. The White House’s response said that while there is a legitimate need for intelligence reform, Snowden went about it the wrong way. During Obama’s presidency, seven other Americans have faced charges under the Espionage Act, more than all other administrations combined.

A five-paragraph commentary attributed to Monaco praises President Barack Obama for “work[ing] with Congress to secure appropriate reforms that balance the protection of civil liberties with the ability of national security professionals to secure information vital to keep Americans safe”.

Snowden now resides in Russian Federation, where he has been granted asylum. In that time support for Snowden has waxed and waned, but the position of the White House on Snowden’s actions has never changed.

If Snowden believed he was engaged in civil disobedience, he should have spoken out, engaged “in a constructive act of protest”, and faced the consequences, Monaco wrote.

Speaking at a national security forum in South Carolina, Rubio, a senator from Florida and staunch defender of the USA Patriot Act, said Snowden’s releases were “extremely damaging”.

The US government filed espionage charges against Snowden shortly after his revelations were made public. “We continue to face grave security threats like terrorism, cyber-attacks, and nuclear proliferation that our intelligence community must have all the lawful tools it needs to address”, she said.

Earlier this month, former Attorney General Eric Holder said Snowden had “spurred a necessary debate” and that the “possibility exists” for the Justice Department to offer him a plea bargain if he returned to the United States.