Snowden 'a thief helped by Russia', says head of US House committee
Head of US intelligence committee says NSA leaker may have collaborated with Moscow before ending up in 'loving arms' of Putin
The chairman of the powerful US House Intelligence Committee has condemned former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden as a "thief" and claimed he may have had help from Russia.
"I believe there's a reason he ended up in the loving arms of an FSB agent in Moscow," said Republican Mike Rogers, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin, a former head of the Russian security service. "I don't think that's a coincidence."
He said some of the things Snowden did were "beyond his technical capabilities" and that it appeared "he had some help and he stole things that had nothing to do with privacy".
Rogers, appearing on NBC's , did not elaborate on when he thinks Russian officials and Snowden were first in contact. But he said his revelations may have done significant damage to the US military.
He said the majority of what Snowden took from government systems had nothing to do with Americans' privacy and was instead focused on military operations. That data may now have been obtained by other nations.
Meanwhile, in an interview on ABC's , fellow Republican Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said he also thought Snowden was "cultivated by a foreign power".
