No clemency for Snowden: White House, lawmakers
The US Federal Prosecutors have charged Mr. Snowden with theft and with two Violations of the Espionage Act of 1917 .
Snowden has dnied any treasonous intent , saying the disclosed secrets to the news media , not to hostile foreign powers , and did so to push for reform which is now clear because reforms to politics , supervision and laws are being suggested .
[ Snowden exclaimed his position in an open letter to the US GOVERNMENT . ]
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"Citizens have to fight against the suppression of information about affairs of essential importance for the public. Those who speak the truth are not committing a crime."
Mr Snowden also set out his position in a letter, which Hans-Christian Stroebele showed to reporters at a news conference in Berlin on Friday.
"Speaking the truth is not a crime," Mr Snowden wrote. He claimed that the US government was persecuting him by charging him with espionage.
On Sunday, the White House said that no offers for clemency were being discussed.
This view was echoed by the Republican Congressman Mike Rogers and Democratic senator Dianne Feinstein.
She said that if Mr Snowden had been a true whistleblower, he could have reported privately to her committee, but had chosen not to.
"We would have seen him and we would have looked at that information. That didn't happen, and now he's done this enormous disservice to our country," Senator Feinstein said in an interview on CBS television.
"I think the answer is no clemency," she said.
The scale of the alleged US espionage has provoked international concern and calls for tighter supervision.
Reports that the US bugged German Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone for years have caused a diplomatic rift.
The head of US intelligence has defended the monitoring of foreign leaders as a key goal of operations but the US is facing growing anger over reports it spied on its allies abroad.
It has also been reported that the NSA monitored French diplomats in Washington and at the UN, and that it conducted surveillance on millions of French and Spanish telephone calls, among other operations against US allies.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said last week that in some cases, US spying had gone too far.
He said he would work with President Barack Obama to prevent further inappropriate actions by the NSA.
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The Espionage Act of 1917 is too old for present International Community .
The President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress for the legislation in December 7, 1915 .
The Espionage Act of 1917 was passed, along with the Trading with the Enemy Act, just after the United States entered World War I in April 1917. It was based on the Defense Secrets Act of 1911, especially the notions of obtaining or delivering information relating to "national defense" to a person who was not "entitled to have it", itself based on an earlier British Official Secrets Act. The Espionage Act law imposed much stiffer penalties than the 1911 law, including the death penalty.[3]
President Woodrow Wilson in his December 7, 1915 State of the Union address asked Congress for the legislation:[4]
The US Federal Prosecutors have charged Mr. Snowden with theft and with two Violations of the Espionage Act of 1917 .
Snowden has dnied any treasonous intent , saying the disclosed secrets to the news media , not to hostile foreign powers , and did so to push for reform which is now clear because reforms to politics , supervision and laws are being suggested .
[ Snowden exclaimed his position in an open letter to the US GOVERNMENT . ]
++++++++++++++++++
"Citizens have to fight against the suppression of information about affairs of essential importance for the public. Those who speak the truth are not committing a crime."
Mr Snowden also set out his position in a letter, which Hans-Christian Stroebele showed to reporters at a news conference in Berlin on Friday.
"Speaking the truth is not a crime," Mr Snowden wrote. He claimed that the US government was persecuting him by charging him with espionage.
On Sunday, the White House said that no offers for clemency were being discussed.
This view was echoed by the Republican Congressman Mike Rogers and Democratic senator Dianne Feinstein.
She said that if Mr Snowden had been a true whistleblower, he could have reported privately to her committee, but had chosen not to.
"We would have seen him and we would have looked at that information. That didn't happen, and now he's done this enormous disservice to our country," Senator Feinstein said in an interview on CBS television.
"I think the answer is no clemency," she said.
The scale of the alleged US espionage has provoked international concern and calls for tighter supervision.
Reports that the US bugged German Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone for years have caused a diplomatic rift.
The head of US intelligence has defended the monitoring of foreign leaders as a key goal of operations but the US is facing growing anger over reports it spied on its allies abroad.
It has also been reported that the NSA monitored French diplomats in Washington and at the UN, and that it conducted surveillance on millions of French and Spanish telephone calls, among other operations against US allies.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said last week that in some cases, US spying had gone too far.
He said he would work with President Barack Obama to prevent further inappropriate actions by the NSA.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Espionage Act of 1917 is too old for present International Community .
The President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress for the legislation in December 7, 1915 .
The Espionage Act of 1917 was passed, along with the Trading with the Enemy Act, just after the United States entered World War I in April 1917. It was based on the Defense Secrets Act of 1911, especially the notions of obtaining or delivering information relating to "national defense" to a person who was not "entitled to have it", itself based on an earlier British Official Secrets Act. The Espionage Act law imposed much stiffer penalties than the 1911 law, including the death penalty.[3]
President Woodrow Wilson in his December 7, 1915 State of the Union address asked Congress for the legislation:[4]
There are citizens of the United States....who have poured the poison of disloyalty into the very arteries of our national life; who have sought to bring the authority and good name of our Government into contempt....to destroy our industries....and to debase our politics to the uses of foreign intrigue....[W]e are without adequate federal laws....I am urging you to do nothing less than save the honor and self-respect of the nation. Such creatures of passion, disloyalty, and anarchy must be crushed out.
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