A June 9, 2013 photo provided by The Guardian newspaper in London shows Edward Snowden, who worked as a contract employee at the U.S. National Security Agency, in Hong Kong. <\/p>\n
THE GUARDIAN AP <\/p>\n
Advocates for Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor-turned-whistleblower pressed for the return of his U.S. passport and his freedom to seek political asylum. <\/p>\n
Snowden, whose revelations about a National Security Agency program to collect Americans phone data rocked the intelligence community, is currently in Russia. <\/p>\n
Supporters, including Coleen Rowley, a former FBI special agent who became a whistleblower herself about the agencys pre-9\/11 knowledge, and former CIA analyst Ray McGovern, attempted to deliver thousands of public petitions to the Departments of State and Justice Wednesday. <\/p>\n
Rowley and McGovern were among the first Americans to visit Snowden in Moscow. They were joined at the petition effort by Norman Solomon, co-founder of RootsAction.org, an online civil liberties group whose website hosted the petition drive. <\/p>\n
The petitions urge Secretary of State John Kerry to immediately reinstate his passport and call on Attorney General Eric Holder to respect Snowdens right to political asylum. <\/p>\n
Previously, Solomon says they had sent emails and letters to Kerry and Holder requesting a time to deliver the petitions, but had received no response. They were largely rebuffed again Wednesday at State and initially at Justice when they appeared in person with the petitions. <\/p>\n
Rowley, one of Time magazines 2002 Persons of the Year for her whistleblower activities, said that 105,000 people took the time to write comments on these petitions. And we think its important that officials in these positions, that have the ability to make decisions, should be aware of public sentiment. <\/p>\n
The three individuals, known for their strong anti-NSA policies, said they were not surprised with their reception. <\/p>\n
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