US to hold Snowden responsible for leaks

FBI Director Robert Mueller said on Thursday that authorities would move aggressively to track down Edward Snowden and hold him accountable for leaking the details of extensive and top-secret U.S. surveillance efforts.
Mueller confirmed that a criminal investigation had been launched into the leaks and said public reports about the National Security Agency's efforts to monitor Internet and phone data had hurt US national security.
"We are taking all necessary steps to hold the person responsible for these disclosures," Mueller told the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, without naming Snowden.
"These disclosures have caused significant harm to our nation and to our safety," he said.
Snowden, a former NSA contractor, has acknowledged he was the source of reports last week in Britain's Guardian newspaper and The Washington Post about the agency's monitoring of phone and Internet data at big companies such as Google Inc and Facebook Inc.
Snowden, who travelled to Hong Kong before the programs were made public, said in a newspaper interview published on Wednesday that he planned to stay in the China-ruled city to fight any effort to bring him back to the United States to face charges.
Mueller joined President Barack Obama and other administration members in defending the programs as a crucial tool in preventing possible attacks. He said making the details public could force a switch in tactics by potential terrorists.
"We're going to ... lose our ability to get their communications. We are going to be exceptionally vulnerable," Mueller said. "Let nobody be misled in this. This hurts national security."
General Keith Alexander, head of the NSA, told Congress on Wednesday the programs had helped disrupt dozens of possible terrorist attacks. US Senator Dianne Feinstein, the Democrat who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, said details would be made public on Monday.