Edward Snowden says he leaked information to show the extent to which citizens were spied on in the US. Picture: AP / The Guardian Source: AP
The US Justice Department has charged former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden with espionage and theft of government property in the NSA surveillance case.
Snowden, believed to be holed up in Hong Kong, has admitted providing information to the news media about two highly classified NSA surveillance programs.
A one-page criminal complaint unsealed today in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, says Snowden engaged in unauthorised communication of national defence information and wilful communication of classified communications intelligence information. Both are charges under the Espionage Act.
Snowden also is charged with theft of government property. All three crimes carry a maximum 10-year prison penalty.
It was unclear whether the US had made an extradition request and Hong Kong officials remained tight-lipped today as to whether Snowden had been approached by the law enforcement authorities or was still a free man.
Police commissioner Andy Tsang told reporters it was "inconvenient'' to disclose details of the case.
Tsang insisted any extradition request "has to go through... relevant institutions and also the courts for it to be handled'' in the former British colony.
The federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia where the complaint was filed is headquarters for Snowden's former employer, government contractor Booz Allen Hamilton.
The complaint is dated June 14, five days after Snowden's name first surfaced as the leaker of information about the two programs in which the NSA gathered telephone and internet records to ferret out terror plots.
The complaint could become an integral part of a US government effort to have Snowden extradited from Hong Kong, a process that could turn into a prolonged legal battle.
Snowden could contest extradition on grounds of political persecution. In general, the extradition agreement between the US and Hong Kong excepts political offences from the obligation to turn over a person.
The Espionage Act arguably is a political offence. The Obama administration has now used the act in eight criminal cases in an unprecedented effort to stem leaks.
In one of them, Corporal Bradley Manning acknowledged he sent more than 700,000 battlefield reports, diplomatic cables and other materials to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks. His military trial is under way.
Democratic senator Bill Nelson, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, welcomed the charges against Snowden.
"I've always thought this was a treasonous act," he said in a statement. "I hope Hong Kong's government will take him into custody and extradite him to the US."
Michael di Pretoro, a retired 30-year veteran with the FBI who served from 1990 to 1994 as the legal liaison officer at the American consulate in Hong Kong, said "relations between US and Hong Kong law enforcement personnel are historically quite good".
"In my time, I felt the degree of cooperation was outstanding to the extent that I almost felt I was in an FBI field office," said di Pretoro.
The US and Hong Kong cooperate on law enforcement matters and have a standing agreement on the surrender of fugitives.
However, Snowden's appeal rights could drag out any extradition proceeding.
The success or failure of any extradition proceeding depends on what the suspect is charged with under US law and how it corresponds to Hong Kong law under the treaty.
In order for Hong Kong officials to honour the extradition request, they have to have some applicable statute under their law that corresponds with a violation of US law.
In Iceland, a business executive said a private plane was on standby to transport Snowden from Hong Kong to Iceland, although Iceland's government says it has not received an asylum request from Snowden.
Businessman Olafur Vignir Sigurvinsson said he hds been in contact with someone representing Snowden and has not spoken to the American himself. Private donations are being collected to pay for the flight, he said.
"There are a number of people that are interested in freedom of speech and recognise the importance of knowing who is spying on us," Sigurvinsson said. "We are people that care about privacy."
Disclosure of the criminal complaint came as President Barack Obama held his first meeting with a privacy and civil liberties board as his intelligence chief sought ways to help Americans understand more about sweeping government surveillance efforts exposed by Snowden.
The five members of the little-known Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board met with Obama for an hour in the White House Situation Room, questioning the president on the two NSA programs that have stoked controversy.
One program collects billions of US phone records.
The second gathers audio, video, email, photographic and internet search usage of foreign nationals overseas, and probably some Americans in the process, who use major providers such as Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Yahoo.