According to the Sunday Times, Britain has been compelled to pull out agents from live operations in certain countries after Russia and China were able to crack top secret information within the files leaked by ex-U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.

Charged with espionage, the 31-year Snowden fled to Moscow to seek protection with help from Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2013.

According to the paper, MI6, the British Secret Intelligence Service that works overseas, has removed agents from certain “hostile” countries.

Snowden downloaded over 1.7 million secret files from security agencies in the United States and Britain in 2013 and leaked information concerning the mass surveillance of phone and Internet communications. And recently he penned a piece for The New York Times, where he delights in the relief that the public seems to be on his side.

“Privately, there were moments when I worried that we might have put our privileged lives at risk for nothing -- that the public would react with indifference, or practiced cynicism, to the revelations,” writes Snowden. “Never have I been so grateful to have been so wrong.”

The United States wants Snowden to stand trial for the leaked classified documents.

Reuters reports British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told Sky News that Snowden has effected a huge amount of damage to the West's ability to protect its people.

"As to the specific allegations this morning, we never comment on operational intelligence matters, so I'm not going to talk about what we have or haven't done in order to mitigate the effect of the Snowden revelations, but nobody should be in any doubt that Edward Snowden has caused immense damage," Hammond said. 

Obama stated Snowden should come home to face his charges in court, saying if Snowden wanted to avoid criminal charges, he should have just told his superiors.

"There were other avenues available for somebody whose conscience was stirred and thought that they needed to question government actions," Obama said, according to The New York Times.