NSA director says Snowden shouldn't get amnesty

WASHINGTON, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- Edward Snowden, who has revealed hundreds of thousands of U.S. secrets, should "come back and face justice," says President Obama's national security adviser.

He doesn't deserve amnesty, National Security Adviser Susan Rice said in an interview aired Sunday on CBS' "60 Minutes."

"We don't think that Snowden deserves amnesty. We believe he should come back, he should be sent back, and he should have his day in court," Rice said.

"The position of the United States is that he ought to come back and face justice," she added.

Rice said Snowden has not proposed any arrangement that would allow him to return to the United States.

Among other claims, Snowden's documents revealed the NSA's bulk collection of the phone records of U.S. citizens, a practice a federal judge ruled last week was "almost certainly" unconstitutional.

Rice defended the activities of her agency and other intelligence services, staying they were "designed to protect Americans and our allies."

She said the criticism of her agency that has surfaced since Snowden's leaks has "been worth what we've done to protect the United States."

"And the fact that we have not had a successful attack on our homeland since 9/11 should not be diminished," Rice said. "But that does not mean that everything we're doing as of the present ought to be done the same way in the future."