By Steven Nelson. The Department of Defense is blocking online access to news reports about classified National Security Agency documents made public by Edward Snowden. The blackout affects all of the department’s computers and is part of a department-wide directive.

“Any website that runs information that the Department of Defense still considers classified” is affected, Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Damien Pickart told U.S. News in a phone interview.

According to Pickart, news websites that re-report information first published by The Guardian or other primary sources are also affected.

“If that particular website runs an article that our filters determine has classified information… the particular content on that website will remain inaccessible,” he said.

Pickart said the blackout affects “millions” of computers on “all Department of Defense networks and systems.” Read more from this story HERE.

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Snowden’s father attempts to broker deal for son with Justice Dept.

By Ralph Z. Hallow. The father of suspected National Security Agency leaker Edward J. Snowden is seeking a deal with the Justice Department that would allow his son to remain free prior to a trial in exchange for his surrender to face espionage charges.

It also requests that the younger Mr. Snowden would not be subject to a gag order and that he be allowed to pick the venue of his trial, and says that if any of the agreements were violated the case would be dropped.

Mr. Snowden’s father, Lon, made the proposal in a letter sent to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. The Justice Department said it has received the letter, written by well-known Washington attorney Bruce Fein, and is still considering its response.

“Mr. Snowden is reasonably confident that his son would voluntarily return to the United States if there were ironclad assurances that his constitutional rights would be honored, and he were provided a fair opportunity to explain his motivations and actions to an impartial judge and jury in the above-referenced prosecution,” according to the letter, obtained by The Washington Times. Read more from this story HERE.