Plane Carrying NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden Lands in Russia

Edward Snowden, the former contractor and NSA whistleblower who exposed secrets about the federal government’s surveillance programs, left Hong Kong legally Sunday with the help of the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks and now his plane has landed in Russia.

UPDATE: The United States revokes NSA leaker Edward Snowden’s passport, a source confirms to Fox News.

UPDATE: Anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks says NSA leaker Edward Snowden is bound for Ecuador to seek asylum. Russian authorities and news agencies are reporting that he is bound for Cuba on Monday, and headed to Equador after.

EARLIER: WikiLeaks issued a statement Sunday saying Snowden left Hong Kong and is bound for a “democratic nation via a safe route for the purposes of asylum, and is being escorted by diplomats and legal advisers from WikiLeaks.”

Hong Kong’s government had confirmed earlier that Snowden has left their territory, where he had been hiding for several weeks since he revealed information on highly classified spy programs.

An Aeroflot representative told Fox News that Snowden was on a flight to Moscow, which landed Sunday afternoon. The airline also said a ticket had been purchased in Snowden’s name for another Aeroflot flight Monday to Cuba, but it is unclear what Snowden’s final destination will be.

His departure came a day after the United States made a formal request for his extradition and warned Hong Kong against delaying the process of returning him to face trial in the U.S.

Fox News confirmed Saturday that the U.S. was talking with Hong Kong officials about seeking extradition for Snowden. The talks were reported first by CBS News, but a senior administration official told Fox News late Saturday:

If Hong Kong doesn’t act soon, it will complicate our bilateral relations and raise questions about Hong Kong’s commitment to the rule of law.

Hong Kong acknowledged the U.S. extradition request, but said U.S. documentation did “fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law.” It said additional information was requested from Washington, but since the Hong Kong 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.”

National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said Saturday the U.S. contacting Hong Kong authorities is based on the complaint filed June 14 and in accordance with the countries’ Agreement for the Surrender of Fugitive Offenders.
Based on Snowden’s information, The Guardian and The Washington Post earlier this month published blockbuster stories about the federal government’s far-reaching efforts to gather data on phone calls, emails and other electronic communications to thwart terrorism.

The complaint, filed under the Espionage Act, charges Snowden with the theft and communication of classified intelligence, then giving the information to an unauthorized person.

Snowden’s departure came as the South China Morning Post released new allegations from Snowden that U.S. hacking targets in China included the nation’s cellphone companies and two universities hosting extensive Internet traffic hubs.

He told the newspaper that “the NSA does all kinds of things like hack Chinese cellphone companies to steal all of your SMS data.” It added that Snowden said he had documents to support the hacking allegations, but the report did not identify the documents. It said he spoke to the newspaper in a June 12 interview.

Snowden said Tsinghua University in Beijing and Chinese University in Hong Kong, home of some of the country’s major Internet traffic hubs, were targets of extensive hacking by U.S. spies this year. He said the NSA was focusing on so-called “network backbones” in China, through which enormous amounts of Internet data passes.

The Chinese government has not commented on the extradition request and Snowden’s departure, but its state-run media have used Snowden’s allegations to poke back at Washington after the U.S. had spent the past several months pressuring China on its international spying operations.

A commentary published Sunday by the official Xinhua News Agency said Snowden’s disclosures of U.S. spying activities in China have “put Washington in a really awkward situation.”

Washington should come clean about its record first. It owes … an explanation to China and other countries it has allegedly spied on. It has to share with the world the range, extent and intent of its clandestine hacking programs.

Commentary

I have been extending the benefit of the doubt to Edward Snowden, and had expressed my utter opposition to the government surveillance programs; however, considering that the neutral and truly democratic country of Iceland had offered to take and protect Snowden from United States prosecution, this activity does not fair well for my opinion of the man.

WikiLeaks, too, should give pause to any of Snowden’s supporters, considering their past reputation.

I am certain that many other Americans who had also reserved judgement on Snowden will not consider the same concerns I have as well.