Ex-US Attorney General admitted the possibility of the authorities deal with Snowden
Former US Attorney General Eric Holder, in an interview with Yahoo News, said that "there is a possibility" that the Justice Department will make a deal with former NSA employee Edward Snowden. As a result of a possible agreement, Snowden will be able to return home to the United States. The former official refused to discuss any details of the possible deal, as well as the fate of Snowden if it was accepted by both parties.
Holder, who has worked for the Department of Justice for almost 40 years, noted that the revelations of a runaway US intelligence officer, despite the authorities' initial harsh rhetoric, nevertheless entailed a reassessment of the situation. As a result, President Barack Obama and the United States Congress decided to revise the policy of collecting data on American citizens. Apparently, Holder is referring to the fact that the US Congress suspended the Patriot Act, which was put into effect after the events of September 11, 2001, and which gave the NSA the right to listen to Americans' phones. True, a month later it became known that the NSA took advantage of a loophole in the law and extended the data collection program for 180 days in a less aggressive mode, intending to “work” only with telephone conversations.
In March of this year, Edward Snowden’s lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, told reporters that his client would like to return to his homeland. The main condition for the return was an open legal process, in which Snowden could publicly express his point of view on the problem. Since American court practice already had a similar precedent - in 1971, military analyst Daniel Ellsberg, who passed incriminating materials about the Vietnam War to journalists, was justified under the pressure of the public - then Snowden would like to be in the same position and risk his freedom.
A little later, Snowden, speaking on a teleconference with students and staff at Stanford, said that he did not feel himself either a hero or a traitor to his country, because he had to cross the ordinary face of the everyday life of the average person. "You must have a greater desire for justice than the fear of the law," said Snowden. “We all have our limits to injustice, lack of culture and inhumanity in our daily lives, which we are ready to pay attention to or ignore. We are ready to hide the eyes of the beggar in the street. But we all have a limit of strength, after which we must begin to act, ”he continued.
Holder, who has worked for the Department of Justice for almost 40 years, noted that the revelations of a runaway US intelligence officer, despite the authorities' initial harsh rhetoric, nevertheless entailed a reassessment of the situation. As a result, President Barack Obama and the United States Congress decided to revise the policy of collecting data on American citizens. Apparently, Holder is referring to the fact that the US Congress suspended the Patriot Act, which was put into effect after the events of September 11, 2001, and which gave the NSA the right to listen to Americans' phones. True, a month later it became known that the NSA took advantage of a loophole in the law and extended the data collection program for 180 days in a less aggressive mode, intending to “work” only with telephone conversations.
In March of this year, Edward Snowden’s lawyer, Anatoly Kucherena, told reporters that his client would like to return to his homeland. The main condition for the return was an open legal process, in which Snowden could publicly express his point of view on the problem. Since American court practice already had a similar precedent - in 1971, military analyst Daniel Ellsberg, who passed incriminating materials about the Vietnam War to journalists, was justified under the pressure of the public - then Snowden would like to be in the same position and risk his freedom.
A little later, Snowden, speaking on a teleconference with students and staff at Stanford, said that he did not feel himself either a hero or a traitor to his country, because he had to cross the ordinary face of the everyday life of the average person. "You must have a greater desire for justice than the fear of the law," said Snowden. “We all have our limits to injustice, lack of culture and inhumanity in our daily lives, which we are ready to pay attention to or ignore. We are ready to hide the eyes of the beggar in the street. But we all have a limit of strength, after which we must begin to act, ”he continued.
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Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/356804/
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