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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jonathan Mills, the father of Lindsay Mills who dated the man who leaked details of a secret National Security Agency surveillance program, talks to reporters outside his home in Laurel, Md., on Tuesday, June 11, 2013. Mills says his daughter is doing ?as well as could be expected.? He described leaker Edward Snowden as shy and reserved who "always had strong convictions of right and wrong." (AP Photo/Brian Witte)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
This photo provided by The Guardian Newspaper in London shows Edward Snowden, who worked as a contract employee at the National Security Agency, on Sunday, June 9, 2013, in Hong Kong. The Guardian identified Snowden as a source for its reports on intelligence programs after he asked the newspaper to do so on Sunday. (AP Photo/The Guardian)
LAUREL, Md. » The father of the girlfriend of Edward Snowden described the leaker of national secrets as a shy and reserved man with convictions, but said today he’s “still shocked” by the news about him.
Jonathan Mills, speaking to reporters this evening outside his home in Laurel, Md., described 29-year-old Edward Snowden as “very nice. Shy, and reserved.”
“He’s always had strong convictions of right and wrong, and it kind of makes sense. But still shocked,” Mills said, describing his reaction to the news about Snowden.
Mills also said his daughter, Lindsay, who has been dating Snowden for four or five years, is holding on amid the national controversy. Jonathan Mills says he has texted his daughter, but that he did not know where she was.
Mills also said he last saw his daughter two months ago, when she came to visit for a week.
She is doing “as well as could be expected, and that’s all I have to say,” Mills said.
Jonathan Mills confirmed that an image accompanying Lindsay Mills’ blog was that of his daughter.
Lindsay Mills, a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art, wrote on her blog, "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," she added. "But at the moment all I can feel is alone."
She wrote of her hand being forced, typing on her "tear-streaked keyboard," and reflecting on "all the faces that have graced my path." She said that she didn’t get to "bid adieu" to some, then added, "But sometimes life doesn’t afford proper goodbyes."
Snowden, a 29-year-old former intelligence contractor, has identified himself as the person who leaked details of a secret National Security Agency surveillance program to two newspapers.
Asked if he had a message for Snowden, Jonathan Mills said, “Just wish him good luck and he’s got my love.”
Snowden attended middle and elementary school in Crofton, Anne Arundel County Public Schools spokesman Bob Mosier confirmed Monday. He also attended three semesters at Arundel High School, which also is in Gambrills.
Lindsay Mills and Snowden lived together in Hawaii until recently, renting a home in Waipahu.
Mills, 28, is a Baltimore-area native who practiced and performed with the local Waikiki Acrobatic Troupe for about one year, fellow troupe members told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser Monday.
Snowden ignited a national firestorm of debate last week when he divulged the existence of NSA intelligence programs, including that the federal agency gathers records of millions of U.S. phone calls and also has access to Internet usage data from the top U.S. Internet companies.
He was a technical assistant for the Central Intelligence Agency but more recently worked for the NSA as a contractor with Booz Allen Hamilton in Hawaii. Booz Allen said Snowden worked for a team at the firm for fewer than three months. The company announced today that he has been fired.
