A protester wearing a U.S. flag over his mouth demonstrates with others in Sao Paulo, Brazil in July against their government鈥檚 rejection of the asylum application of U.S. citizen Edward Snowden who leaked top-secret documents about sweeping U.S. surveillance programs. AP
WASHINGTON鈥擜 National Security Agency official said in an interview released Friday that he would be open to cutting an amnesty deal with intelligence leaker Edward Snowden if he agreed to stop divulging secret documents.
Rick Ledgett, who heads the NSA鈥檚 task force investigating the damage from the Snowden leaks, told CBS television鈥檚 鈥�60 Minutes鈥� program that some but not all of his colleagues share his view.
鈥淢y personal view is, yes, it鈥檚 worth having a conversation about鈥� a possible deal, said Ledgett, according to excerpts of the interview due to air Sunday.
But Snowden would have to provide firm assurances that the remaining documents would be secured.
鈥淢y bar for those assurances would be very high鈥� more than just an assertion on his part,鈥� said Ledgett.
Snowden, a former intelligence contractor for the NSA, has been charged with espionage by US authorities for divulging reams of secret files.
He has secured asylum in Russia and insisted he spilled secrets to spark public debate and expose the NSA鈥檚 far-reaching surveillance.
But NSA chief General Keith Alexander rejects the idea of any amnesty for Snowden.
鈥淭his is analogous to a hostage-taker taking 50 people hostage, shooting 10 and then say 鈥榊ou give me full amnesty and I鈥檒l let the other 40 go,'鈥� Alexander told 鈥�60 Minutes.鈥�
Alexander said an amnesty deal would set a dangerous precedent for any future leakers.
The four-star general, who is due to retire next year, also said he offered his resignation after the leak but that it was not accepted by President Barack Obama鈥檚 administration.
Snowden reportedly stole 1.7 million classified documents and Ledgett said he 鈥渨ouldn鈥檛 dispute鈥� that figure.
About 58,000 of the documents taken by Snowden have been passed to news media outlets, according to the editor of Britain鈥檚 Guardian newspaper.
The CBS report also said an NSA analyst had discovered malware designed in China that could 鈥渄estroy鈥� infected computers.
NSA Information Assurance Director Debora Plunkett said the weapon was called the 鈥淏ios Plot,鈥� after the key component in computers that performs basic steps such as turning on the operating system.
The malware was supposed to be disguised as an update for software, and after the user clicked on it, a virus would turn their computer into 鈥渁 brick,鈥� Plunkett said.
If launched, 鈥淭hink about the impact of that across the entire globe,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t could literally take down the US economy.鈥�
The NSA spoke with computer manufacturers to preempt the possible effect of the malware.