Edward Snowden's leaks of classified information from the National Security Agency's top secret surveillance program has compromised the ability of the United States to track down terrorists.
According to NSA Director Adm. Mike Rogers, the security of Americans and overseas allies has been undermined by the leaks, the
Washington Free Beacon reported.
"I would say that it has had a material impact on our ability to generate insights as to what terrorist groups around the world are doing," Rogers said at a conference hosted by the New America Foundation in Washington, according to the Beacon.
"I don't want them to have any doubt in their minds we are aggressively out hunting and looking for them," he said. "And they should be concerned about that, and I want them to be concerned, quite frankly, because I'm concerned about the security of our nation."
He did not get specific, but said that the leaks have had a material impact on security.
"So anyone who thinks this has not had an impact, I would say, doesn't know what they're talking about," he said, according to the Beacon.
Rogers added that there are now "blind spots" in the ability of the agency to track terrorist communications as a result of the disclosures.
"Have I lost capability that we had prior to the revelations? Yes," he said, according to the Beacon.
Other high-level officials in the administration have said recently that Snowden's leaks will reverberate for decades to come.
"Make no mistake: We are going to be dealing with the fallout from that for all of your careers, and the impact that that has had on our national security will reverberate for decades," said Michael Daniel, the White House's cybersecurity coordinator and a special assistant to the president, in an address to midshipmen at the Naval Academy, according to the Beacon.
Snowden continues to be in exile in Russia, having given thousands of classified documents to journalists. Recent disclosures revealed that that NSA intercepted key codes used in cellphone SIM cards to prevent communications from being intercepted, the Beacon reported.
On Monday, Snowden did an
online interview with Reddit. When asked whether he would have done anything differently, he said he would have gone public earlier.
"I would have come forward sooner," Snowden said, according to the Beacon. "Had I come forward a little sooner, these programs would have been a little less entrenched, and those abusing them would have felt a little less familiar with and accustomed to the exercise of those powers."
Rogers also commented on the cyberattack by North Korea, saying it was a positive sign that there has not been a subsequent attack.
But he warned that "It's only a matter of time before we see destructive offensive actions taken against critical U.S. infrastructure."
He also revealed that the U.S. government contacted the Chinese government for help in investigating the North Korean cyberattack, given it may have involved networks in China.
"We reached out to our Chinese counterparts to say, 'Hey, look, this is of concern to us and it should be of concern to you, that in the long run, this kind of destructive behavior directed against a private entity purely on the basis of freedom of expression is not in anyone's best interests, that this is not good,'" he said, according to the Beacon.
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