Obama: No Wheeling or Dealing to Extradite Snowden

 

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The White House has said Hong Kong's refusal to detain Snowden has "unquestionably" hurt U.S. relations with China. After Hong Kong's government claimed it had to allow Snowden to flee because the U.S. got Snowden's middle name wrong in documents requesting his arrest, Obama's Justice Department said the U.S. didn't buy that excuse, calling it "a pretext for not acting."

The Hong Kong government had also previously mentioned that it asked the U.S. for more information on NSA's hacking of targets in Hong Kong, suggesting the issue played some role in its decision.

Obama said the fact Snowden walked off with so many secret documents shows significant vulnerabilities at the NSA that must be solved. But Obama said he's also focused on fostering a "healthy effective debate" about the balance between security and privacy in America.

"In terms of U.S. interests, the damage was done with respect to the initial leaks," Obama said.

Obama's comment came on the first full day of a weeklong, three-country trip to Africa, his first major tour of sub-Saharan Africa since he took office in 2009.

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Associated Press writer Josh Lederman in Washington contributed to this report.