Kerry: Terrorists might attack US because of NSA leaks
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that terrorists would possibly attack the United States as they know how to protect themselves thanks to recent revelations about the U.S. government’s global spying programs.
“People may die as a consequence of what this man [Edward Snowden] did,” Kerry told CNN on Monday.
“It is possible that the United States would be attacked because terrorists may now know how to protect themselves in some way or another that they didn’t know before. This is a very dangerous act,” he added.
Kerry’s remarks come as the whereabouts of former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden, who is charged with espionage for disclosing secret intelligence information, is still unclear.
The former CIA employee admitted that he leaked top secret information about the U.S. government’s surveillance programs. He left Hong Kong for Russia on Sunday to seek asylum in another country possibly Ecuador.
However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that Snowden never crossed the border into Russia.
"I would like to say right away that we have no relation to either Mr. Snowden or to his relationship with American justice or to his movements around the world," Lavrov said.
Kerry also called on the international community to cooperate with Washington in apprehending the whistleblower and sending him back to the United States for prosecution.
"We obviously have to find out from the Chinese what happened. We hope that the Russians will recognize the request of the United States," he said.
The recent disclosures have strained Washington’s relations with Beijing and Moscow.
Former U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton criticized China for damaging its relationship with the U.S. by allowing Snowden to flee from Hong Kong, despite a request to arrest him for extradition.
"That kind of action is not only detrimental to the U.S.-China relationship but it sets a bad precedent that could unravel the intricate international agreements about how countries respect the laws - and particularly the extradition treaties," she said.
Snowden, who was hired as a contractor for the NSA, has revealed to the news media details of secret surveillance programs under which the U.S. spy agencies collect massive amounts of data on people’s communications via telephone and the Internet.