Top security aides are concerned that Edward Snowden, the Ex-CIA whistleblower that leaked classified documents about the NSA's PRISM program, may be thinking about defecting to China, ABC News reports.
Snowden left his home and girlfriend in Hawaii for Hong Kong with classified documents at the end of May, citing a battle with epilepsy as his reason for departing his $122,000/year job as a securities consultant for Booz Allen Hamilton. The documents were then leaked from abroad to the Guardian, a British newspaper.
The leaks that Snowden let out provided details to government surveillance efforts that have, until now, been kept classified from the American people. One effort allows the intelligence agencies to check cell phone record "metadata", including all numbers dialed to and from, the duration of calls, and where cell phone calls are placed. Another program allows the government to go through international records of major information websites, including Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Facebook and Skype.
Shortly after the story was leaked, the hacker made his identity public (again through the Guardian), and gave a comprehensive interview explaining his rationale for choosing Hong Kong as his safe haven. According to Snowden, the Chinese territory has a long history of free speech protection and he believed the people would be sympathetic to his cause. In a later interview with the South China Post, Snowden told the local paper that the U.S. Government had also been hacking into Chinese records for years.
Currently, the whistleblower's future is up in the air, which government agencies believes poses a serious risk to American security. Russian President Vladimir Putin extended an offer to consider granting political asylum to the former American agent.
The decision to defect to either Russia or China would be an ironic twist for a purported government transparency and free-information idealist. According to the Reporters Without Border's Press Freedom Ranking, Russia places 148th out of 179 countries for free journalism. China places 173rd.
Of Latino countries, Uruguay is the freest in the world (27th).
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