(16 Dec 2013) The Obama administration says there will be no amnesty for Edward Snowden, the former NSA contractor accused of leaking thousands of classified surveillance documents.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney says Snowden, "faces felony charges here in the United States. He should be returned to the United States as soon as possible, where he will be accorded full due process and protections in our system. So that's our position, and it has not changed."
There had been reports that the NSA was considering amnesty for Snowden in exchange for the return of the thousands of documents he took from the agency.
Regarding foreign surveillance, Carney said the White House is reviewing the entire intelligence architecture and, "evaluating it through the lens of whether we are doing everything that we can and should in order to protect Americans and protect the United States and our allies. Or are we doing more than that. Are we doing things just because we can?"
Carney said the evaluation remains underway, and the White House would issue new policy protocols soon.
On Iran, Carney downplayed criticism that the recent implementation of sanctions against Tehran had derailed the technical talks underway in Vienna on Iran's nuclear program.
Carney said the implementation was for pre-existing sanctions, and had nothing to do with the recent initial agreement reached last month.
He said nothing in the initial agreement or the technical talks mentioned anything about cancelling the implementation of sanctions.
Carney said he's optimistic the technical talks will resume shortly.
"We certainly looking forward to the resumption of technical talks. It was always going to be the case that these highly complex, detailed, technical conversations and negotiations would require the teams to return to their capitals, which is what happened. And we look forward to the resumption of those talks."
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