Rep. Peter King: Prosecute NSA Leaker 'To the Fullest Extent'

Edward Snowden should be prosecuted "to the fullest extent of the law" after admitting he leaked top-secret documents detailing the National Security Agency's phone and Internet surveillance programs, according to Rep. Peter King.

The New York Republican, who chairs the House Homeland Security subcommittee on Counterintelligence and Terrorism, said Snowden should be extradited to the United States as soon as possible, reports The Hill.

Latest: Is Benghazi a Cover Up? Is Obama at the Heart of It? Vote Here

King, in a statement on Sunday, called on other countries to deny asylum to the self-confessed NSA leaker. Snowden left the home he shared with his girlfriend in Hawaii and is currently staying in Hong Kong.

“The United States must make it clear that no country should be granting this individual asylum,” King said. “This is a matter of extraordinary consequence to American intelligence.”

Snowden, 29, a technical engineer with defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, went public Sunday in interviews with The Guardian of London and The Washington Post to acknowledge he had leaked the NSA's information.

The former CIA worker, in a video dated June 6, said he hopes to seek asylum in a country that shares his values concerning Internet freedom, and feels the nation that "most encompasses this is Iceland."

But Snowden admitted that he has no idea what his future will hold, and that "nothing good" will happen to him.

On Sunday morning, several lawmakers called for prosecuting the leaker of the NSA information, even before the newspapers made Snowden's identity public at his own request.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, a Michigan Republican, claimed the NSA leaks will endanger American lives and that the leaker had other ways to change policies.

"He could come to the committees if they had concerns," said Rogers. "We have [inspector generals] that they can go to in a classified way if they have concern."

Latest: Is Benghazi a Cover Up? Is Obama at the Heart of It? Vote Here