But Richard Ledgett, in charge of getting to the bottom of damage that Snowden’s leaks caused, underscored that making a deal with Snowden isn’t a unanimous feeling among his associates and that much would need to happen first.
“My personal view is, yes, it’s worth having a conversation about,” Ledgett said on camera regarding a Snowden deal. “I would need assurances that the remainder of the data could be secured, and my bar for those assurances would be very high. It would be more than just an assertion on his part.”
State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told The Guardian that Ledgett was stating a “personal view” and that her agency’s position “has not changed.”
“Mr. Snowden is facing very serious charges and should return to the United States to face them,” she added.
More from The Guardian:
Any amnesty would have to come through the Justice Department, which did not respond to a request for comment.
The NSA’s director, General Keith Alexander, told CBS that granting Snowden amnesty would reward the leaks and potentially incentivize future ones. But Alexander is retiring in the spring, joining his civilian deputy John C Inglis, and Ledgett is rumored to be a top candidate to replace Inglis.