President Barack Obama needs to flex more muscle and pressure Russia to keep leaker Edward Snowden from leaving Moscow, says Rep. Michael McCaul.
"We absolutely should be [putting pressure on Russia], and a president that can talk more about diplomacy and maybe flex some muscles should. This is one of the most important espionage cases we've had in the history of the United States," the Texas Republican and former counterterrorism prosecutor told Fox & Friends Monday morning.
Snowden, a former government contract employee, has been hailed by some as a hero and by some as a traitor for leaking information about the National Security Agency's phone and Internet data-collection programs.
He now is on the run, charged with espionage.
McCaul said he's concerned that contractors and their employees aren't being screened well enough and that they may have too much authority over sensitive information.
"This guy is with the enemy and with the enemy camp and we're just letting him go," he said.
Meanwhile, former CIA Director and Ambassador James Woolsey said the U.S. has been too complacent in dealing with Russia on a number of issues, which is why things are more difficult now in trying to seek Moscow's help in returning Snowden to the United States before he win asylum in Ecuador or elsewhere.
"Hong Kong and Ecuador are learning from Russia, which is that if you insult the United States and don’t follow international norms with respect to it, nothing happens. So they’re behaving appropriately. Nothing’s happening," Woolsey said Monday morning on
MSNBC's "Morning Joe.”
Woosley said Obama should be making "a strong statement or two" concerning Snowden's worldwide search for political asylum and the Kremlin's refusal so far to help return him to the U.S.
At the same time, he observed that Russian leader Vladimir Putin can be "almost impossible to work with."
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