The defense official said it is possible Snowden may already have contact with MSS officials in Hong Kong. The MSS, China’s top intelligence agency, is believed to have hundreds or even thousands of operatives working in Hong Kong, a former British colony that is slowly coming under Beijing’s political control.

Pentagon intelligence officials are concerned Snowden will barter with Chinese authorities using his access to top-secret intelligence data to avoid being sent back to the United States, said the defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the case is the subject of a federal criminal investigation.

“The worst case scenario is that in order to avoid extradition efforts by the U.S., Snowden will offer secrets to the Chinese,” said the official. “It is a potential catastrophe.”

The official said in this worst-case scenario the Chinese would “squeeze” Snowden and extract as much classified information about NSA spying programs against China as possible over the next year and then later likely return him to the United States.