FOXNews.com: Hong Kong Official Says NSA Leaker Edward Snowden Has Left Territory

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Hong Kong Official Says NSA Leaker Edward Snowden Has Left Territory Jun 23rd 2013, 09:40 Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who exposed secrets about the federal government's surveillance programs, has reportedly has left for a "third country," the Hong Kong government said Sunday. A statement from the government did not identify the country, but the South China Morning Post, which has been in contact with Edward Snowden, reported that he was on a plane for Moscow, but that Russia was not his final destination. Snowden, who has been in hiding in Hong Kong for several weeks since he revealed information on the highly classified spy programs, has talked of seeking asylum in Iceland. His departure came a day after the United States made a formal request for his extradition and warned Hong Kong against delaying the process of returning him to face trial in the U.S. Fox News confirmed Saturday that the U.S. was talking with Hong Kong officials about seeking extradition for Snowden. The talks were reported first by CBS News. "If Hong Kong doesn't act soon, it will complicate our bilateral relations and raise questions about Hong Kong's commitment to the rule of law," a senior administration official told Fox News late Saturday. Hong Kong acknowledged the U.S. extradition request, but said U.S. documentation did "fully comply with the legal requirements under Hong Kong law." It said additional information was requested from Washington, but since the Hong Kong government "has yet to have sufficient information to process the request for provisional warrant of arrest, there is no legal basis to restrict Mr. Snowden from leaving Hong Kong." National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said Saturday the U.S. contacting Hong Kong authorities is based on the complaint filed June 14 and in accordance with the countries' Agreement for the Surrender of Fugitive Offenders. Based on Snowden's information, The Guardian and The Washington Post earlier this month published blockbuster stories about the federal government's far-reaching efforts to gather data on phone calls, emails and other electronic communications to thwart terrorism. The complaint, filed under the Espionage Act, charges Snowden with the theft and communication of classified intelligence, then giving the information to an unauthorized person. Snowden's departure came as the South China Morning Post released new allegations from Snowden that U.S. hacking targets in China included the nation's cellphone companies and two universities hosting extensive Internet traffic hubs. He told the newspaper that "the NSA does all kinds of things like hack Chinese cellphone companies to steal all of your SMS data." It added that Snowden said he had documents to support the hacking allegations, but the report did not identify the documents. It said he spoke to the newspaper in a June 12 interview. Snowden said Tsinghua University in Beijing and Chinese University in Hong Kong, home of some of the country's major Internet traffic hubs, were targets of extensive hacking by U.S. spies this year. He said the NSA was focusing on so-called "network backbones" in China, through which enormous amounts of Internet data passes. The Chinese government has not commented on the extradition request and Snowden's departure, but its state-run media have used Snowden's allegations to poke back at Washington after the U.S. had spent the past several months pressuring China on its international spying operations. A commentary published Sunday by the official Xinhua News Agency said Snowden's disclosures of U.S. spying activities in China have "put Washington in a really awkward situation." "Washington should come clean about its record first. It owes ... an explanation to China and other countries it has allegedly spied on," it said. "It has to share with the world the range, extent and intent of its clandestine hacking programs." Fox News' Kelly Chernenkoff and The Associated Press contributed to this report.  Click here for more from The Wall Street Journal.

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