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Official urges guarding data

US President Barack Obama's intelligence czar sent a message this week to tens of thousands of US intelligence community workers, re-emphasizing the need to safeguard sensitive data following the leak of highly classified National Security Agency documents, a government source said. The message from Director of National Intelligence James Clapper also sought to reassure private contractors, whose major US intelligence operations have come under scrutiny since Edward Snowden identified himself as the source of the leaks.

Government weighs damage

The Obama administration launched an internal review of the potential damage to national security by the disclosures on Tuesday. A senior US intelligence official said the review will be separated from a criminal investigation by the Justice Department into Edward Snowden's disclosures of the NSA's broad monitoring of phone call and Internet data from big companies such as Google and Facebook.

EU seeks guarantees

The European Union said on Tuesday it will seek assurances from the United States that it will respect the rights of Europe's citizens, following revelations about a huge US Internet surveillance program. Viviane Reding, the EU's justice commissioner, said on Twitter that she will raise the matter with US Attorney General Eric Holder at an EU-US ministerial meeting in Dublin on Friday. "This case shows why a clear legal framework for the protection of personal data is not a luxury but a necessity," Reding wrote.

Snowden fired after leak

Edward Snowden, who admitted leaking details of secret US government surveillance programs, was fired by his employer on Tuesday. Booz Allen Hamilton said in a statement that it fired Snowden on Monday "for violations of the firm's code of ethics and firm policy". The firm called Snowden's actions "shocking" and said he had been a Booz Allen employee for less than three months.

Firms push for transparency

Three of the largest US Internet companies called on the US government to provide greater transparency on national security requests on Tuesday, as they sought to distance themselves from reports that portrayed the companies as willing partners in supplying mass user data to security agencies. Google was the first to release an open letter asking the US Department of Justisce for permission of disclose the number and scope of data requests each receives from security agencies. Microsoft and Facebook soon followed with similarly worded statements in support of Google.

Reuters-AFP-AP

(China Daily 06/13/2013 page11)