NEW YORK, October 28. /TASS/. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has identified a man who, according to the US authorities, turned over classified documents to reporters, Yahoo News website said.

According to law enforcement and intelligence sources, FBI agents recently carried out a search of the suspect's home, but his name was not revealed. The US authorities strongly believe that he passed information on the US government's terrorist watch list to reporters associated with Edward Snowden, former National Security Agency contractor. A criminal investigation has been launched in Northern Virginia into the matter, the sources said.

As noted, the leaked documents were published by the Intercept, an investigative website. It was Glenn Greenwald, journalist and one of editors of the Intercept, who reported the classified NSA documents, obtained from Snowden, which resulted in an international scandal.

The Intercept’s article stated that the US authorities failed to link almost half of the men, included in the list of terror suspects drawn up by the US, with extremist groups. The article is based on the documents dated August 2013, when Snowden was already in Russia.

The US accused Snowden of divulgence of classified documents. He faces a long term in jail. In June 2013, Snowden left the US for Hong Kong. When he left for Moscow, his American passport was revoked. On August 1, 2013, the Russian authorities granted him temporary asylum.