House report: Edward Snowden in contact with Russian agents

Former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, center speaks via video conference to people in the Johns Hopkins University auditorium. | AP Photo

By Eric Geller

12/22/16 10:47 AM EST

Updated 12/22/16 11:30 AM EST

Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden has been in contact with Russian intelligence agents since he stole troves of classified documents, a House committee alleged on Thursday.

Since Snowdens arrival in Moscow, he has had, and continues to have, contact with Russian intelligence services, the House Intelligence Committee said in a report on the Snowden leaks released Thursday.

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The declassified report, which is heavily redacted, did not offer proof of its serious accusation. It follows the committee's release in September of an executive summary of the then-classified document.

House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) said in a statement that the report offers a fuller account of Edward Snowdens crimes and the reckless disregard he has shown for U.S. national security, including the safety of American servicemen and women.

The document casts Snowden as a dishonest miscreant and attempts to refute the portrayal of him as a duty-minded whistleblower.

The House panels report says there is no evidence that Snowden took any official effort to express concerns about U.S. intelligence activities to any oversight officials within the U.S. government, despite numerous avenues for him to do so.

Snowden and his defenders claim that he feared reprisal and have pointed to numerous instances of the intelligence community retaliating against employees who complain about secret programs.

Ben Wizner, the American Civil Liberties Union lawyer representing Snowden, blasted the report. In a statement, he said it "wholly ignores Snowdens repeated and courageous criticism of Russian surveillance and censorship laws" and "combines demonstrable falsehoods with deceptive inferences to paint an entirely fictional portrait of an American whistleblower."

Snowden himself weighed in on Twitter, arguing that the report relied on weak evidence to allege Russian collusion.

"After three years of investigation and millions of dollars," he wrote, "they can present no evidence of harmful intent, foreign influence, or harm. Wow."

The famous government leaker is now living in Moscow under a 2013 asylum deal granted after Snowden gave the media troves of classified documents that revealed the extent of the U.S. surveillance state. The incident touched off a global debate about personal privacy and eventually led to Congress passing surveillance reform legislation in 2015.

But the report argues that Snowden's disclosures went far beyond documents related to potential invasions of Americans' privacy. Instead, many exposed "secrets that provide vital defenses against terrorists and nation-states."

Specifically, the panel said the Pentagon uncovered 13 "high-risk issues" caused by these leaks.

"If the Russian or Chinese governments have access to this information, American troops will be at greater risk in any future conflict," the committee wrote.

House Intelligence ranking member Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) in September joined his committee colleagues in writing a letter to President Barack Obama urging the outgoing commander in chief not to pardon Snowden.

"Most of the material he stole had nothing to do with Americans privacy," Schiff said on Thursday. "Its compromise has been of great value to America's adversaries and those who mean to do America harm."

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House report: Edward Snowden in contact with Russian agents