Press Releases

HPSCI Chairman Mike Rogers and Ranking Member C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger -- “Snowden’s acts of betrayal truly place America’s military men and women in greater danger around the world.”
 

The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence recently received a classified report from the Department of Defense (DoD) on the harm to the United States caused by Edward Snowden’s theft of America's classified information.  

Commenting on the report, Chairman Mike Rogers expressed that, “This report confirms my greatest fears – Snowden’s real acts of betrayal place America’s military men and women at greater risk. Snowden’s actions are likely to have lethal consequences for our troops in the field.”

According to the DoD report, the Snowden compromises could “gravely impact” U.S. National Security. Further, it states that Snowden's theft of sensitive documents could put "Defense personnel in harm’s way and jeopardize the success of current DoD Operations.”

Rogers further commented, “Though Mr. Snowden and his defenders claim he is only ‘defending civil liberties’, the truth is that most of the documents Snowden stole concern vital operations of the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force.  Snowden handed over great insight to our adversaries, endangering each and every American.  Make no mistake, Snowden is no patriot and there is no way to excuse the irreparable harm he caused to America and her allies, and continues to cause.”

Congressman C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee, said, “Snowden handed terrorists a copy of our country’s playbook and now we are paying the price, which this report confirms. His actions aligned him with our enemy. We have begun to see terrorists changing their methods because of the leaks and this report indicates that the harm to our country and its citizens will only continue to endure.”

The DoD report concludes that:

•Snowden downloaded approximately 1.7 million intelligence files, the single largest theft of secrets in the history of the United States;

•Though press reporting to date has focused on NSA’s foreign intelligence collection, much of the information stolen by Snowden is related to current U.S. military operations.  The compromise of this information significantly impacts capabilities of each of the U.S. Armed Services – meaning Snowden’s theft and leaking of US classified material has the potential to jeopardize the lives of real American military men and women working overseas, and risks the failure of current US military operations.

•Snowden’s disclosures have already tipped off our adversaries to the sources and methods of our defense, and hurt U.S. allies helping us with counter terrorism, cyber crime, human and narcotics trafficking, and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

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