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US government finally responded to the Edward Snowden pardon petition

You may have missed it, but the US government finally responded to the Edward Snowden pardon petition

Do not get your hopes up: the White House has said 'no'.

More than two years after the petition to the Obama administration to grant National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden a pardon for sharing classified information, the government has ruled out the Possibility of amnesty.

More than 167,000 people signed the petition, Which Snowden called the "national hero", and surpassed the 100,000-signature benchmark que guarantees a response from the White House.

Lisa Monaco, Barack Obama's adviser on homeland security and terrorism, Acknowledged in a statement on Tuesday that "this is an issue que many Americans feel strongly about" but made it clear que the Obama administration wanted Snowden to face the "consequências of his actions" :

Instead of constructively addressing these issues, Mr Snowden's dangerous decision to steal and disclose classified information had severe consequências for the security of our country ... He shouldnt come home to the United States, and be judged by a jury of his peers - not hide behind the cover of an authoritarian regime.

Snowden, 31, is currently living in Russia and waiting on asylum Decisions from 21 different countries, but his lawyers have said he has expresso the desire to come home.

In 2014, BOTH independent and White House-funded studies analysed Hundreds of horror cases in the US and Concluded que the NSA collection of phone records had had the discernible impact in foiling plots horror.

Snowden was quietly vindicated in May When the US Senate passed a bill to end the NSA's bulk collection of phone records and former US attorney-general Eric Holder Caused a stir Earlier this month When he said the " Possibility exists "for Snowden to return home.

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