Photos of Snowden, a contractor at the NSA, and U.S. President Obama are printed on the front pages of local English and Chinese newspapers in Hong Kong in this illustration photo. (Reuters / Bobby Yip)
Image: Reuters

Justice Department officials have reportedly begun the process of charging Edward Snowden with leaking classified National Security Agency documents that reveal how the government accesses the phone and online data belonging to millions of Americans.

Snowden, a former CIA computer technician who had been working for Booz Allen Hamilton, a private contractor hired by the NSA, admitted to illegally disclosing the documents during a video interview with The Guardian’s Glenn Greenwald. Snowden had been staying in a Hong Kong hotel in the weeks before the documents were published last week but was last seen checking out of the hotel. His current location is unknown.

The investigation into Snowden, 29, will be overseen by the FBI’s Washington field office. Agents have tried to interview Snowden’s family members in an attempt to learn more about him before filing charges, The New York Times reported. The NSA first began investigating the source of the leak when the documents were published last Wednesday, before Snowden publicized his identity.

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