The US government files charges against Snowden and asks Hong Kong to arrest him

Here is a follow-up on the last story I posted concerning Ed Snowden.

The article:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/06/21/charges-reportedly-filed-against-nsa-secrets-leaker/

Vocabulary to help you understand the article:

to file charges - the verb 'file' is often used in regard to legal matters.  A person can 'file' a law suit if he/she wants to sue someone.  To sue someone means to bring a person to court in order to obtain money from that person.  The state can file criminal charges against a person.  To 'file' these charges means the accusations against a person are now official and the person must appear in court.  So basically 'charges' means the claim that a person has committed a crime.

espionage - spying; obtaining secret information and providing it to those who are not supposed to have it.

a leaker - someone who reveals secret information.  If you have a cup and it leaks, water comes out when it is not supposed to.

prosecutors - these are lawyers for the state who try to prove that people accused of crimes are guilty.

a sealed criminal complaint - this means that the people cannot read the complaint; it is a secret complaint.  a 'complaint' is the list of things a person supposedly did which supposedly broke the law.

classified - secret.  Classified information is only supposed to be seen by certain people in government.

an unauthorized person - someone who wasn't supposed to see classified information.

to detain - to stop a person from leaving; to keep a person in custody

provisional - it can be changed later

an arrest warrant - an official document that gives the police the right and ability to take a person into custody (to detain him).

a contractor for the NSA - he worked for a company which worked for the government.

a three-count complaint - supposedly he committed three crimes.

willful communication - he deliberately communicated secrets - he didn't accidentally co0mmunicate secrets.

to be outspoken - to have a strong opinion and to express it forcefully.

treason, treasonous - to do something to harm your country.

take him into custody - this is when the police arrest a person and take him to the police station.

to extradite him - to force him to leave Hong Kong and to come back to the United States to face justice.

disclosures - stuff he revealed, stuff he told the newspapers about.

to ignite - to start something.  When you start a fire you ignite a fire.

to disrupt - to mess up; to stop something from happening.
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