Story highlights
- Edward Snowden to participate in live online chat Monday, the Guardian reports
- National Security Agency director to release details of electronic surveillance programs
- Report: Britain spied on delegates at an international economic summit in the UK
- Several hundred protesters took to Hong Kong's streets Saturday to support Snowden
Every new day seems to bring new revelations and reactions to the controversial electronic surveillance programs. On Monday, self-avowed leaker Edward Snowden reportedly is to participate in a live Internet chat about his actions. Over the weekend we learned that the British electronic intelligence agency tried to monitor delegates during a G-20 summit. We also heard from administration officials, past and present, who tried to assuage Americans worried about privacy.
Here is a summary of the latest developments:
Snowden to chat with Guardian readers
Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor behind the leaks, will answer the public's questions Monday in a live online chat, according to the UK-based Guardian newspaper.
The chat, conducted by the Guardian, is set to begin at 11 a.m. ET.
"An important caveat: the live chat is subject to Snowden's security concerns and also his access to a secure Internet connection," the Guardian's website read Monday morning. "It is possible that he will appear and disappear intermittently, so if it takes him a while to get through the questions, please be patient."
More details are coming
NSA Director Keith Alexander is expected to release details of cases where the programs have stopped a terrorist attack, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein said. The information may be available as soon as Monday.
"He wants to be exact about the details," she said.
Over the weekend a three-page document on the NSA programs was released to congressional intelligence committees and states the plots were thwarted in the United States and more than 20 other countries.
NSA whistleblower: Hero or traitor? 06:10
Hong Kong rallies to support NSA leaker 02:50
Guardian columnist defends role 10:22
Photos: Sharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaks
Photos: Sharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaks
Sharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaks – John Walker ran a father and son spy ring, passing classified material to the Soviet Union from 1967 to 1985. Walker was a Navy communication specialist with financial difficulties when he walked into the Soviet Embassy and sold a piece of cyphering equipment. Navy and Defense officials said that Walker enabled the Soviet Union to unscramble military communications and pinpoint the location of U.S. submarines at all times. As part of his plea deal, prosecutors promised leniency for Walker's son Michael Walker, a former Navy seaman. Click through the gallery to see other high-profile leak scandals the United States has seen over the years.
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Photos: Sharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaks
Sharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaks – Military analyst Daniel Ellsberg leaked the 7,000-page Pentagon Papers in 1971. The top-secret documents revealed that senior American leaders, including three presidents, knew the Vietnam War was an unwinnable, tragic quagmire. Further, they showed that the government had lied to Congress and the public about the progress of the war. Ellsberg surrendered to authorities and was charged as a spy. During his trial, the court learned that President Richard Nixon's administration had embarked on a campaign to discredit Ellsberg, illegally wiretapping him and breaking into his psychiatrist's office. All charges against him were dropped. Since then he has lived a relatively quiet life as a respected author and lecturer.
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Photos: Sharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaks
Sharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaks – Jonathan Pollard is a divisive figure in U.S.-Israeli relations. The former U.S. Navy intelligence analyst was caught spying for Israel in 1985 and was sentenced in 1987 to life imprisonment. Previously, the United States and Israel discussed his possible release as part of efforts to save fragile Middle East peace negotiations, according to sources familiar with the talks. On July 28, 2015, Pollard's lawyer announced that the convicted spy had been granted parole and would be released on November 21 -- exactly 30 years after his arrest.
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Photos: Sharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaks
Sharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaks – Wen Ho Lee was a scientist at the Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico who was charged with 59 counts of downloading classified information onto computer tapes and passing it to China. Lee eventually agreed to plead guilty to a count of mishandling classified information after prosecutors deemed their case to be too weak. He was released after nine months in solitary confinement. Lee later received a $1.6 million in separate settlements with the government and five news agencies after he sued them, accusing the government of leaking damaging information about him to the media.
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Photos: Sharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaks
Sharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaks – Members of the Bush administration were accused retaliating against Valerie Plame, pictured, by blowing her cover in 2003 as a U.S. intelligence operative, after her husband, former Ambassador Joe Wilson, wrote a series of New York Times op-eds questioning the basis of certain facts the administration used to make the argument to go to war in Iraq.
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Photos: Sharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaks
Sharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaks – In 2007, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, was convicted on charges related to the leak of the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame. Libby was convicted of obstruction of justice and perjury in connection with the case. His 30-month sentence was commuted by President George W. Bush. Cheney told a special prosecutor in 2004 that he had no idea who leaked the information.
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Photos: Sharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaks
Sharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaks – Aldrich Ames, a 31-year CIA employee, pleaded guilty to espionage charges in 1994 and was sentenced to life in prison. Ames was a CIA case worker who specialized in Soviet intelligence services and had been passing classified information to the KGB since 1985. U.S. intelligence officials believe that information passed along by Ames led to the arrest and execution of Russian officials they had recruited to spy for them.
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Photos: Sharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaks
Sharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaks – Robert Hanssen pleaded guilty to espionage charges in 2001 in return for the government not seeking the death penalty. Hanssen began spying for the Soviet Union in 1979, three years after going to work for the FBI and prosecutors said he collected $1.4 million for the information he turned over to the Cold War enemy. In 1981, Hanssen's wife caught him with classified documents and convinced him to stop spying, but he started passing secrets to the Soviets again four years later. In 1991, he broke off relations with the KGB, but resumed his espionage career in 1999, this time with the Russian Intelligence Service. He was arrested after making a drop in a Virginia park in 2001.
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Photos: Sharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaks
Sharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaks – Army Pvt. Bradley Manning was convicted July 30 of stealing and disseminating 750,000 pages of classified documents and videos to WikiLeaks, and the counts against him included violations of the Espionage Act. He was found guilty of 20 of the 22 charges but acquitted of the most serious charge -- aiding the enemy. Manning was sentenced to 35 years in military prison in 2013.
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Photos: Sharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaks
Sharing secrets: U.S. intelligence leaks – Former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden revealed himself as the leaker of details of U.S. government surveillance programs run by the U.S. National Security Agency to track cell phone calls and monitor the e-mail and Internet traffic of virtually all Americans. Snowden has been granted temporary asylum in Russia after initially fleeing to Hong Kong. He has been charged with three felony counts, including violations of the U.S. Espionage Act, over the leaks.
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China: Snowden not our spy
The Chinese foreign ministry said Monday that suggestions that Snowden may have spied for China were "completely groundless."
Speaking at a regular news briefing, ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said it was up to the United States to provide an explanation of Snowden's actions to the international community.
Snowden is currently believed to be in Hong Kong, where he has said he plans to stay and fight any attempt to extradite him back to the United States. His exact whereabouts are unknown.
Over the weekend, Former Vice President Dick Cheney described Snowden as a "traitor." Asked if he thought Snowden was spying for China, Cheney said he was "deeply suspicious."
White House: No violations of privacy
The president's chief of staff said Sunday that his boss doesn't feel he has violated the privacy of any American.
"He does not," Denis McDonough said when asked directly if Barack Obama feels that way about the government's controversial surveillance programs.
On CBS' "Face the Nation," McDonough added the president plans to "talk about this in the days ahead."
McDonough said the president will emphasize the need to "find the right balance, especially in this new situation where we find ourselves with all of us reliant on Internet, on e-mail, on texting."
McDonough said he does not know where Snowden went after he checked out of his Hong Kong hotel a week ago.
Congressman: No recording going on here
The chairman of the House intelligence committee echoed the White House, saying that the National Security Agency is not recording Americans' phone calls under U.S. surveillance programs.
Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Michigan, said on CNN's "State of the Union" that the NSA "is not listening to Americans' phone calls" or monitoring their e-mails.
Declassified: Behind security clearance 02:29
NSA fallout could be 'harmful' 00:50
Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers
Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers
Former intelligence worker Edward Snowden revealed himself as the source of documents outlining a massive effort by the NSA to track cell phone calls and monitor the e-mail and Internet traffic of virtually all Americans. He says he just wanted the public to know what the government was doing. "Even if you're not doing anything wrong, you're being watched and recorded," he said. Snowden has been granted temporary asylum in Russia after initially fleeing to Hong Kong. He has been charged with three felony counts, including violations of the U.S. Espionage Act, over the leaks.
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Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers
Military analyst Daniel Ellsberg leaked the 7,000-page Pentagon Papers in 1971. The top-secret documents revealed that senior American leaders, including three presidents, knew the Vietnam War was an unwinnable, tragic quagmire. Further, they showed that the government had lied to Congress and the public about the progress of the war. Ellsberg surrendered to authorities and was charged as a spy. During his trial, the court learned that President Richard Nixon's administration had embarked on a campaign to discredit Ellsberg, illegally wiretapping him and breaking into his psychiatrist's office. All charges against him were dropped. Since then he has lived a relatively quiet life as a respected author and lecturer.
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Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers
Starting in 1932, the U.S. Public Health Service studied untreated syphilis in black men who thought they were getting free health care. The patients weren't told of their affliction or sufficiently treated. Peter Buxtun, who worked for the Public Health Service, relayed information about the Tuskegee syphilis experiment to a reporter in 1972, which halted the 40-year study. His testimony at congressional hearings led to an overhaul of the Health, Education and Welfare rules concerning work with human subjects. A class-action lawsuit was settled out-of-court for $10 million, with the U.S. government promising free medical care to survivors and their families. Here, participants talk with a study coordinator.
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Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers
In 2005, retired deputy FBI director Mark Felt revealed himself to be the whistle-blower "Deep Throat" in the Watergate scandal. He anonymously assisted Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward with many of their stories about the Nixon administration's cover-up after the June 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters. The stories sparked a congressional investigation that eventually led to President Nixon's resignation in 1974. The Post won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage. Felt was convicted on unrelated conspiracy charges in 1980 and eventually pardoned by President Ronald Reagan before slipping into obscurity for the next quarter-century. He died in 2008 at age 95.
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Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers
Mordechai Vanunu, who worked as a technician at Israel's nuclear research facility, leaked information to a British newspaper and led nuclear arms analysts to conclude that Israel possessed a stockpile of nuclear weapons. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its weapons program. An Israeli court convicted Vanunu in 1986 after Israeli intelligence agents captured him in Italy. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Since his release in 2004, he has been arrested on a number of occasions for violating terms of his parole.
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Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers
President Ronald Reagan addresses the media in 1987, months after the disclosure of the Iran-Contra affair. A secret operation carried out by an American military officer used proceeds from weapons sales to Iran to fund the anti-communist Contras in Nicaragua and attempted to secure the release of U.S. hostages held by Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. Mehdi Hashemi, an officer of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, leaked evidence of the deal to a Lebanese newspaper in 1986. Reagan's closest aides maintain he did not fully know, and only reluctantly came to accept, the circumstances of the operation.
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Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers
Tobacco industry executive Jeffrey Wigand issued a memo to his company in 1992 about his concerns regarding tobacco additives. He was fired in March 1993 and subsequently contacted by "60 Minutes" and persuaded to tell his story on CBS. He claimed that Brown & Williamson knowingly used additives that were carcinogenic and addictive and spent millions covering it up. He also testified in a landmark case in Mississippi that resulted in a $246 billion settlement from the tobacco industry. Wigand has received public recognition for his actions and continues to crusade against Big Tobacco. He was portrayed by Russell Crowe in the 1999 film "The Insider."
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Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers
For 10 years, Frederic Whitehurst complained mostly in vain about practices at the FBI's world-renowned crime lab, where he worked. His efforts eventually led to a 1997 investigation that found lab agents produced inaccurate and scientifically flawed testimony in major cases, including the Oklahoma City and World Trade Center bombings. The Justice Department recommended major reforms but also criticized Whitehurst for "overstated and incendiary" allegations. He also faced disciplinary action for refusing to cooperate with an investigation into how some of his allegations were leaked to a magazine. After a yearlong paid suspension he left the bureau in 1998 with a settlement worth more than $1.16 million.
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Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers
FBI whistle-blower Coleen Rowley accused the bureau of hindering efforts to investigate a suspected terrorist that could have disrupted plans for the September 11, 2001, terror attacks. In 2002 she fired off a 13-page letter to FBI Director Robert Mueller and flew to Washington to hand-deliver copies to two members of the Senate Intelligence Committee and meet with committee staffers. The letter accused the bureau of deliberately undermining requests to look into Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person convicted in the United States of playing a role in the attacks. She testified in front of Congress and the 9/11 Commission about the FBI's mishandling of information. Rowley was selected as one of Time magazine's People of the Year in 2002, along with whistle-blowers Sherron Watkins of Enron and Cynthia Cooper of WorldCom.
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Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers
Sherron Watkins, a former vice president at Enron, sent an anonymous letter to founder Kenneth Lay in 2001 warning him the company had accounting irregularities. The memo eventually reached the public and she later testified before Congress about her concerns and the company's wrongdoings. More than 4,000 Enron employees lost their jobs, and many also lost their life savings, when the energy giant declared bankruptcy in 2001. Investors lost billions of dollars. An investigation in 2002 found that Enron executives reaped millions of dollars from off-the-books partnerships and violated basic rules of accounting and ethics. Many were sentenced to prison for their roles in the Enron scandal.
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Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers
Cynthia Cooper and her team of auditors uncovered massive fraud at WorldCom in 2002. They found that the long-distance telephone provider had used $3.8 billion in questionable accounting entries to inflate earnings over the past five quarters. By the end of 2003, the total fraud was estimated to be $11 billion. The company filed for bankruptcy protection and five executives ended up in prison. Cooper started her own consulting firm and told her story in the book "Extraordinary Circumstances: The Journey of a Corporate Whistleblower."
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Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers
In 2003, federal air marshal Robert MacLean anonymously tipped off an MSNBC reporter that because of budget concerns, the TSA was temporarily suspending missions that would require marshals to stay in hotels just days after they were briefed about a new "potential plot" to hijack U.S. airliners. The news caused an immediate uproar on Capitol Hill and the TSA retreated, withdrawing the scheduling cuts before they went into effect. MacLean was later investigated and fired for the unauthorized disclosure of "sensitive security information."
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Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers
Joe Darby is the whistle-blower behind the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal in Iraq. He says he asked Army Reserve Spc. Charles Graner Jr. for photos from their travels so he could share them with family. Instead, he was given photos of prisoner abuse. Darby eventually alerted the U.S. military command, triggering an investigation and global outrage when the scandal came to light in 2004. Graner was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his part in the abuse. He was released in 2011 after serving 6½ years of his sentence. The military and members of Darby's own family ostracized him, calling him a traitor. Eventually he and his wife had to enter protective custody.
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Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers
The New York Times reported in 2005 that in the months after the September 11, 2001, attacks, President George W. Bush authorized the U.S. National Security Agency to eavesdrop without a court warrant on people in the United States, including American citizens, suspected of communicating with al Qaeda members overseas. The Bush administration staunchly defended the controversial surveillance program. Russ Tice, an NSA insider, came forward as one of the anonymous sources used by the Times. He said he was concerned about alleged abuses and a lack of oversight. Here, President Bush participates in a conversation about the Patriot Act in Buffalo, New York, in April 2004.
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Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers
Army Pfc. Bradley Manning was convicted July 30 of stealing and disseminating 750,000 pages of classified documents and videos to WikiLeaks, and the counts against him included violations of the Espionage Act. He was found guilty of 20 of the 22 charges but acquitted of the most serious charge -- aiding the enemy. Manning is set to speak in his defense when he takes the stand during the sentencing phase of his court-martial on Wednesday, August 14. He could face up to 90 years in prison if the judge imposes the maximum sentence.
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Photos: Hong Kong rallies for Edward Snowden
Photos: Hong Kong rallies for Edward Snowden
Hong Kong rallies for Edward Snowden – Several hundred protesters took to Hong Kong's streets on Saturday to support Edward Snowden, a week after the 29-year-old whistleblower behind the U.S. National Security Agency's mass surveillance program revealed he was hiding out in the city.
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Photos: Hong Kong rallies for Edward Snowden
Hong Kong rallies for Edward Snowden – The rain led protesters determined to show their support to prepare laminated placards and umbrellas painted with slogans.
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Photos: Hong Kong rallies for Edward Snowden
Hong Kong rallies for Edward Snowden – Protesters and media gathered in Chater Garden in the city's business district to kick off the three-hour protest.
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Photos: Hong Kong rallies for Edward Snowden
Hong Kong rallies for Edward Snowden – "We're rallying in order not to disappoint him and to ask Hong Kong to protect his well-being, not to extradite him, and to uphold Hong Kong law," said blogger-activist and protest co-organizer Tom Grundy (L).
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Photos: Hong Kong rallies for Edward Snowden
Hong Kong rallies for Edward Snowden – "The U.S is supposed to be the champion of democracy, but it's been conducting blanket surveillance on a global scale. If the guy at the top has access to all our lines of communication, how is...anyone ever going to start a revolution?" said Claudio Mo, a member of the Hong Kong legislature.
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Photos: Hong Kong rallies for Edward Snowden
Hong Kong rallies for Edward Snowden – Standing in Chater Garden in the city's business district, Hong Kong legislator Albert Ho said the protest was a "march for justice."
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Photos: Hong Kong rallies for Edward Snowden
Hong Kong rallies for Edward Snowden – The protest brought together representatives from 27 civil rights, labor rights, and left-wing democratic groups, as well as many ordinary members of the public and media.
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Photos: Hong Kong rallies for Edward Snowden
Hong Kong rallies for Edward Snowden – Organizers announced an overall turnout of 900 protesters, while police cited a peak turnout of 300.
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Photos: Hong Kong rallies for Edward Snowden
Hong Kong rallies for Edward Snowden – Ruth Jopling brought her daughters, Amber, 8, and Jade, 3, to the protest, who held cut-out masks on sticks bearing Snowden's image. "It's not just about our generation, but the next generation as well," Jopling said. Amber echoed her mother's sentiment: "When I grow up, I can tell my children about this."
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Photos: Hong Kong rallies for Edward Snowden
Hong Kong rallies for Edward Snowden – "As Americans, it's kind of disheartening to know (the surveillance program) is going on behind our backs and we don't have a say in it," said Adi Koul (R), a University of Texas student studying abroad in Hong Kong. "It's empowering to see people who aren't necessarily American fighting for something they feel is a universal human right."
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Photos: Hong Kong rallies for Edward Snowden
Hong Kong rallies for Edward Snowden – In a televised interview with Bloomberg on Wednesday on how Hong Kong would handle Snowden's case, Leung repeatedly responded that he "does not comment on individual cases." His stonewalling infuriated many Hong Kongers.
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Photos: Hong Kong rallies for Edward Snowden
Hong Kong rallies for Edward Snowden – Protesters unfurl a banner en route to the U.S. consulate, where organizers presented an open letter addressed to ambassador Stephen Young.
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Photos: Hong Kong rallies for Edward Snowden
Hong Kong rallies for Edward Snowden – George Orwell's concept of "Big Brother" dominated much of the signage and discourse.
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Photos: Hong Kong rallies for Edward Snowden
Hong Kong rallies for Edward Snowden – Hong Kong legislator "Long Hair" spoke to the crowd at the second rallying point outside the U.S. consulate.
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Photos: Hong Kong rallies for Edward Snowden
Hong Kong rallies for Edward Snowden – Police at the Hong Kong government headquarters in Tamar blocked off most of the square with two circles of fences, forcing protesters into a narrow outer perimeter.
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The NSA has repeatedly said that it collects only metadata, phone numbers and duration, of phone calls, but not the actual conversations taking place. If it needs to listen to a conversation, it must first obtain an order from the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Court.
Cantor: Programs strike balance between security, liberty
The House majority leader said on CNN's "New Day" Monday morning that he believes congressional hearings will show that not only have the programs helped authorities go after terrorists, but also that they take the protection of civil liberties into account.
"I think the discussion that will unfold through our committee process, the oversight hearings, (is) going to be able to demonstrate that," Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Virginia, said. "These programs hopefully will be proven to strike that balance that's so necessary in our country."
Cheney: NSA surveillance programs are a good thing
Former Vice President Dick Cheney vehemently defended the National Security Agency surveillance programs that started under President George W. Bush, but said current White House scandals like Benghazi and the IRS have hurt its credibility.
"I think it's important to separate out that program from the scandals," he told CNN. "It's done great work, it has saved lives, stopped attacks against the United States, and it's vital to continue."
Earlier, Cheney told "Fox News Sunday" that he believed the programs could have prevented 9/11 if they had been in place before the attack.
Everyone is doing it
Britain's electronic intelligence agency monitored delegates' phones and tried to capture their passwords during an economic summit held there in 2009, the Guardian newspaper reported Sunday.
The targets included British allies such as Turkey and South Africa, the newspaper reported. The Guardian cited documents provided by Edward Snowden, the American computer analyst and former government contractors now spilling secrets of the U.S. intelligence community.
The British signals intelligence agency, GCHQ, is the UK equivalent of the National Security Agency.
Hong Kong demonstrators support Snowden
On the run from the United States, Snowden has picked up hundreds of supporters in Hong Kong, the last place he was seen and where he's still believed to be hiding out.
Demonstrators took to Hong Kong's streets in the rain on Saturday voicing support for the 29-year-old computer technician.
Snowden has said his intention was to "ask the courts and people of Hong Kong to decide my fate."
The protesters chanted "Protect Snowden!" and "NSA has no say!"
