Republican strategist Karl Rove said on Wednesday that “America is now a less safe place” thanks to NSA leak suspect Edward Snowden and that the 29-year-old should be brought back to the U.S. to face justice.
“America is now a less safe place. The world is a less safe place because of what Mr. Snowden unilaterally did. He deserves to be prosecuted,” Rove said, appearing on Fox News' “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren.”
“I hope they find him in the hole that he’s hiding in in Hong Kong and bring him home and try him,” he asserted.
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Rove, a key advisor to President George W. Bush, cited a Washington Times article that reported al-Qaida had already changed its method of communicating since Snowden’s disclosures in the media concerning the National Security Agency’s secret monitoring programs, which screened millions of phone calls and emails.
Rove said he suspects that there is a “very serious re-examination” taking place within NSA based on Snowden’s disclosures.
“He’s a 29-year-old contractor in Hawaii — ex CIA, ex military, a drop out from the military,” according to Rove. “So it strikes me that this is a profile you want to continually monitor. And he had access to some of the crown jewels.”
Rove was less critical of James R. Clapper, director of national intelligence, who in March denied at a Senate hearing that the NSA collects any type of data on millions — or hundreds of millions — of Americans.
In recent days Clapper described his earlier response as “the most truthful or least untruthful manner” he could answer the question.
“The administration bears some responsibility for not sitting down with him, and saying ‘okay here’s the best way to explain what you did,’” Rove told host Greta Van Susteren
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