The HKSAR Government today (June 23) issued the following statement on Mr Edward Snowden:

Mr Edward Snowden left Hong Kong today (June 23) on his own accord for a third country through a lawful and normal channel.

The US Government earlier on made a request to the HKSAR Government for the issue of a provisional warrant of arrest against Mr Snowden. Since the documents provided by the US Government did not fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law, the HKSAR Government has requested the US Government to provide additional information so that the Department of Justice could consider whether the US Government's request can meet the relevant legal conditions. As the HKSAR Government has yet to have sufficient information to process the request for provisional warrant of arrest, there is no legal basis to restrict Mr Snowden from leaving Hong Kong.

The HKSAR Government has already informed the US Government of Mr Snowden's departure.

Meanwhile, the HKSAR Government has formally written to the US Government requesting clarification on earlier reports about the hacking of computer systems in Hong Kong by US government agencies. The HKSAR Government will continue to follow up on the matter so as to protect the legal rights of the people of Hong Kong.

Ends/Sunday, June 23, 2013
Issued at HKT 16:05

FLASH: WikiLeaks has assisted Mr. Snowden's political asylum in a democratic country, travel papers ans safe exit from Hong Kong. More soon.
4:49 AM - 23 Jun 2013

FLASH: Mr. Snowden is currently over Russian airspace accompanied by WikiLeaks legal advisors.
5:20 AM - 23 Jun 2013

It's possible Cuba could also be a staging point, according to Russian news agencies.

While both Interfax and Itar-Tass are now saying Snowden is booked on a Monday flight from Moscow to Havana, the latter is also citing an unnamed source as saying the America will then go on from Havana to Caracas in Venezuela.

Followed by an assassination.

The government, obviously. But we won't really know it's them until the movie comes out.

The government, obviously. But we won't really know it's them until the movie comes out.

Mr Edward Snowden, the American whistleblower who exposed evidence of a global surveillance regime conducted by US and UK intelligence agencies, has left Hong Kong legally. He is bound for the Republic of Ecuador via a safe route for the purposes of asylum, and is being escorted by diplomats and legal advisors from WikiLeaks.

Mr Snowden requested that WikiLeaks use its legal expertise and experience to secure his safety. Once Mr Snowden arrives in Ecuador his request will be formally processed.

Former Spanish Judge Mr Baltasar Garzon, legal director of Wikileaks and lawyer for Julian Assange has made the following statement:

"The WikiLeaks legal team and I are interested in preserving Mr Snowden’s rights and protecting him as a person. What is being done to Mr Snowden and to Mr Julian Assange - for making or facilitating disclosures in the public interest - is an assault against the people".

Edward Snowden secured a job with a US government contractor for one reason alone - to obtain evidence of Washington's cyberspying networks...

"My position with Booz Allen Hamilton granted me access to lists of machines all over the world the NSA hacked," he told the Post on June 12. "That is why I accepted that position about three months ago."

During a live global online chat last week, Snowden also stated he took pay cuts "in the course of pursuing specific work". He said: "Booz was not the most I've been paid."

...

He spent the time collecting a cache of classified documents as a computer systems administrator at Booz Allen Hamilton.

In his interview with the Post, Snowden divulged information that he claimed showed hacking by the NSA into computers in Hong Kong and the mainland.

"I did not release them earlier because I don't want to simply dump huge amounts of documents without regard to their content," he said.

"I have to screen everything before releasing it to journalists."

Asked if he specifically went to Booz Allen Hamilton to gather evidence of surveillance, he replied: "Correct on Booz."

The documents he divulged to the Post were obtained at Booz Allen Hamilton in April, he said. He intends to leak more of those documents later.

"If I have time to go through this information, I would like to make it available to journalists in each country to make their own assessment, independent of my bias, as to whether or not the knowledge of US network operations against their people should be published."

Except if Snowden actually cared about these surveillance programs that much, he would have never revealed himself. Revealing himself made the entire focus of the story on him and not the surveillance. So if this was his grand plan he failed miserably.

Anyone who thinks this story is a game-changer is a fool. People will forget by year's end.

the biggest issue honestly is that its not an election year. Midterms are still more than a year away and Presidential is three.

If this story had come out last year at this exact same time, it would have changed EVERYTHING IMO. The whole election gets rocked.

But it didn't. And by the time midterms come this story will be forgotten so it won't be an issue that people talk about and demand their politicians to really address.

http://wikileaks.org/Statement-from-Edward-Snowden-in.html?snow

Statement from Edward Snowden in Moscow

One week ago I left Hong Kong after it became clear that my freedom and safety were under threat for revealing the truth. My continued liberty has been owed to the efforts of friends new and old, family, and others who I have never met and probably never will. I trusted them with my life and they returned that trust with a faith in me for which I will always be thankful.

On Thursday, President Obama declared before the world that he would not permit any diplomatic "wheeling and dealing" over my case. Yet now it is being reported that after promising not to do so, the President ordered his Vice President to pressure the leaders of nations from which I have requested protection to deny my asylum petitions.

This kind of deception from a world leader is not justice, and neither is the extralegal penalty of exile. These are the old, bad tools of political aggression. Their purpose is to frighten, not me, but those who would come after me.

For decades the United States of America have been one of the strongest defenders of the human right to seek asylum. Sadly, this right, laid out and voted for by the U.S. in Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is now being rejected by the current government of my country. The Obama administration has now adopted the strategy of using citizenship as a weapon. Although I am convicted of nothing, it has unilaterally revoked my passport, leaving me a stateless person. Without any judicial order, the administration now seeks to stop me exercising a basic right. A right that belongs to everybody. The right to seek asylum.

In the end the Obama administration is not afraid of whistleblowers like me, Bradley Manning or Thomas Drake. We are stateless, imprisoned, or powerless. No, the Obama administration is afraid of you. It is afraid of an informed, angry public demanding the constitutional government it was promised — and it should be.

I am unbowed in my convictions and impressed at the efforts taken by so many.

Edward Joseph Snowden

Monday 1st July 2013

U.S. Justice Department spokeswoman Nanda Chitre rejected Snowden's claim that he was marooned "since he is still a United States citizen and his country is willing to take him back."

"As the State Department has already said, the U.S. government is prepared to issue individuals wanted on felony charges a one entry travel document to return home," she said.

Monday 1st July 2013

The plane carrying Bolivian President Evo Morales home from Russia was rerouted to Austria on Tuesday after France and Portugal refused to let it cross their airspace because of suspicions that NSA leaker Edward Snowden was on board, the country’s foreign minister said.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper apologized to Congress in a letter released today for giving a “clearly erroneous” answer to a question about whether the government collects data on millions of Americans.

“My response was clearly erroneous – for which I apologize,” Clapper wrote in a letter to Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.

The letter came after Clapper was accused of lying in response to a question by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., about whether the National Security Agency collects “any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans.”

In his March testimony, Clapper answered “no,” later adding, “not wittingly.”

It was later revealed that the NSA does collect “metadata” from telephone and Internet companies on millions of Americans – information that reveals information like the time, date and phone numbers of telephone calls, not the content of those calls.

...

In a statement today, a spokesman for Wyden said that a staff member in the Senator’s office asked Clapper to correct the public record after the March hearing, which he “refused” to do.

“Senator Wyden had a staff member contact the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on a secure phone line soon after the March hearing to address the inaccurate statement regarding bulk collection on Americans,” said Wyden spokesman Tom Caiazza. “The ODNI acknowledged that the statement was inaccurate but refused to correct the public record when given the opportunity. Senator Wyden’s staff informed the ODNI that this was a serious concern.”

“Senator Wyden is deeply troubled by a number of misleading statements senior officials have made about domestic surveillance in the past several years,” he added.

The Letter

Apparently, USA Today says that Venezuela will be giving asylum to Snowden. Excellente

"In the name of America's dignity ... I have decided to offer humanitarian asylum to Edward Snowden," (Venezuelan President Nicolas) Maduro told a military parade marking Venezuela's independence day.

"He is a young man who has told the truth, in the spirit of rebellion, about the United States spying on the whole world."

Maduro said Venezuela was ready to offer him sanctuary, and that the details Snowden had revealed of U.S. spy programs had exposed the nefarious schemes of the U.S. "empire."

"Who is the guilty one? A young man ... who denounces war plans, or the U.S. government which launches bombs and arms the terrorist Syrian opposition against the people and legitimate President Bashar al-Assad?" he asked, to applause and cheers from ranks of military officers at the parade.

"Who is the terrorist? Who is the global delinquent?"

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/06/us-usa-security-venezuela-idUSBRE96500420130706