Edward Snowden's Girlfriend 'Trying to Regroup,' Her Father Says

Jonathan Mills described Snowden as "very nice, pleasant, shy, reserved.

ByABC News
June 15, 2013, 12:58 PM

LAUREL, Md., June 15, 2013— -- The girlfriend of Edward Snowden, the man who says he's behind the National Security Agency leaks, has withdrawn and is "trying to regroup" from the shock, her father said

In an interview with ABC News outside his home here, Jonathan Mills said he's been intermittently in touch with his daughter.

He described Snowden as "very nice, pleasant, shy, reserved," and said that although he's "shocked" by Snowden's decision to leak the top secret information, the young man was always motivated by a sense of "justice."

"Most of the conversations usually led to his convictions about justice, right and wrong. I know he's very motivated by that," Mills said of Snowden, who dated his daughter Lindsay, a photographer and acrobatic pole performer, for about five years. "He'll talk about someone who's done something he thinks is wrong and he'll continue talking about it for a while."

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Mills said he was "very shocked" that Snowden "went this far with this information and this whole situation, but I kind of understand knowing how convicted he is towards I guess right, wrong, and the American way."

Snowden, 29, revealed himself last Sunday in an interview with the U.K. newspaper The Guardian and said he was the source for news stories in The Guardian and The Washington Post that detailed secret, far-reaching NSA Internet and phone surveillance programs.

Read More: U.S. Fears Edward Snowden May Defect to China: Sources

There is no evidence that Mills knew of Snowden's actions. Snowden told The Guardian that he had left Mills in Hawaii weeks before to hide out in Hong Kong and hadn't told her his plans.

Jonathan Mills says the response to the leak and the media attention has been overwhelming, but he's "just been worrying about my daughter and what it's done to her and trying to support her with what little I can."

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"Little text here or there and pretty much no responses. I think she's just closed in," Mills said, adding he believes she is staying with friends. "She's kind of withdrawn, trying to regroup and still has no real idea what's next".

Mills is clearly still a proud dad, noting with a smile how his daughter attended one of the best art schools in the country, Maryland Institute College of Art.

"She's very artistic, very health conscious, strong, as you can probably see from all the media pictures of her dancing on poles, and photographer by nature, fine arts photography and did very well with that," Mills said, adding that Lindsay "loved" her time in Hawaii.

Read more: Snowden's Dancer Girlfriend 'Lost at Sea'

His message to Snowden and his daughter was a simple one:

"I love you both and anything I can do to help, let me know," Mills said, noting that he "hope(s) everyone just heals and heals the best we can."

A blog believed to be written by Lindsay Mills was revealed earlier this week in which she wrote that "all [she] feels is alone."

"For those of you that know me without my super hero cape, you can probably understand why I'll be refraining from blog posts for a while," reads the post allegedly written by Lindsay Mills, dated June 10. "My world has opened and closed all at once. Leaving me lost at sea without a compass."

"Surely there will be villainous pirates, distracting mermaids, and tides of change in this new open water chapter of my journey. But at the moment all I can feel is alone," she writes on the blog that also contained photographs and videos of her performing. "And for the first time in my life I feel strong enough to be on my own. Though I never imagined my hand would be so forced."

ABC News' Megan Chuchmach contributed to this report.