EDWARD SNOWDEN
NSA leaker Edward Snowden says he knows he was taking risks by exposing secret U.S. programs.
(AP Photo | The Guardian)
Edward Snowden's father, a Lehigh County resident, is telling ABC News he's concerned for his son since Edward revealed himself to be the source of a series of top secret leaks from the National Security Agency.
ABC News spoke briefly with Lonnie Snowden. He told the network he's still digesting and processing the news reports about his son, whom he last saw months ago for dinner. Lonnie Snowden said the two parted that meal with a hug, ABC news reports.
A public records search traces Edward Snowden, 29, to an Ellicott City, Md., address, which he shared at one point with his mother, Elizabeth Snowden, 52. Records also pair Elizabeth Snowden with former husband Lonnie Snowden, 52, who now resides in Upper Macungie Township with Karen Haberbosch, 48.
This afternoon, a neighbor confirmed that Karen Haberbosch and Lonnie Snowden were married and lived at the township address. A call placed to Lonnie Snowden was not immediately returned for comment. No one answered the door at their Seneca Street home.
Edward Snowden gave classified documents to reporters, making public two sweeping U.S. surveillance programs and touching off a national debate on privacy versus security. On Sunday, he revealed his identity, risking decades in jail for the disclosures — if the U.S. can extradite him from Hong Kong where he has taken refuge.
Edward Snowden says he worked as a contractor at the National Security Agency and the CIA, and he allowed The Guardian and The Washington Post newspapers to reveal his identity Sunday.
Both papers have published a series of top-secret documents outlining two NSA surveillance programs. One gathers hundreds of millions of U.S. phone records while searching for possible links to known terrorist targets abroad, and the second allows the government to tap into nine U.S. Internet companies to gather all Internet usage to detect suspicious behavior that begins overseas.