NSA leaker Edward Snowden seeks return to U.S., on his terms [View all]

[Zorro]

Somewhere in the thousands of towering apartment blocks that ring the Russian capital, whistle-blower Edward Snowden remains in hiding two years after outraging U.S. intelligence agencies with revelations of their snooping into the private communications of millions of ordinary citizens.

Snowden's release of classified files he took from his National Security Agency contractor's job blew the lid off programs long said to be aimed at catching terrorists and keeping Americans safe. The leaks triggered a global debate on government trampling of personal liberties and led to last month's congressional action to end the mass collection of telephone records, the first major restrictions on spy agency powers in decades.

The journalists who were the conduits of Snowden's disclosures have been bestowed with their profession's highest honors, as has director Laura Poitras with an Academy Award for her documentary on the fugitive, "CitizenFour."

The film ends with a glimpse of Snowden in a high-rise window that could be anywhere in Moscow's populous suburbs, where one building is indistinguishable from the next.

http://www.latimes.com/world/europe/la-fg-snowden-future-20150722-story.html

Good luck with that. Eddie must be missing home, but he isn't going to be setting the terms for any return.