美國政府調查愛德華.斯諾頓泄密案

The U.S. government is investigating whether the disclosure of a highly classified U.S. surveillance program by Edward Snowden was criminal.

Snowden said Sunday he is the source for news reports of the U.S. National Security Agency's Monitoring of phone calls and Internet data for threats of terrorism, a program the Obama administration says keeps America safe from terrorists.

Meanwhile, European officials are examining the spy programs and whether they violated local privacy protections. European governments have been trying to explain whether they let Washington spy on their citizens or benefited from snooping that would be illegal at home

EU officials in Brussels pledged to seek answers from U.S. diplomats at a ministerial meeting later this week in Dublin.

In Washington, lawmakers say they are looking at potential ways to keep the United States safe from terror attacks without giving up privacy protections.

Snowden's whereabouts are unknown since he checked out of a Hong Kong hotel on Monday. He said he will seek asylum in any country that believes in free speech and global privacy.美國政府調查愛德華.斯諾頓泄密案是否屬於刑事犯罪。斯諾登星期天說，是他把國家安全局監查電話和網絡數據的消息透露給媒體的。奧巴馬政府說，這個項目保護美國人的安全，使他們免受恐怖主義襲擊。

與此同時， 歐洲官員也在審查本國的情報項目，看其是否侵犯了當地的隱私保護。歐洲政府還要解釋他們是否允許美國情報部門對歐洲國家的公民進行偵察，並從歐洲國家認爲是非法的偵探中獲益。

布魯塞爾的歐盟官員表示要在本星期晚些時候在都柏林召開的會議上向美國外交官提問。

在華盛頓，美國議員說，他們在研究有哪些辦法可以避免美國免受恐怖主義襲擊同時又能保護公民的隱私權。

斯諾登星期一結帳離開香港一家旅館後下落不明。 他曾表示要到堅信言論自由和全球隱私權的國家尋求庇護。