Former National Security Agency systems analyst Edward Snowden says that he did not take any secret NSA documents to Russia and that intelligence officials in China as well as Russia could not get access to the documents he had obtained before leaving the United States.
In an interview, Snowden said he handed over all the documents he had obtained to journalists during his stay in Hong Kong.
Snowden said he did not retain copies of the documents and did not take them to Russia ‘because it wouldn’t serve the public interest,’ the New York Times reported. He said his familiarity with China’s intelligence abilities allowed him to protect the documents from Chinese spies while he was in Hong Kong.
‘There’s a zero percent chance the Russians or Chinese have received any documents,’ he said.
Snowden’s leaks of highly classified material have resulted in numerous news stories about US surveillance activities at home and abroad and sparked debate about the legality of those activities and the privacy implications for average Americans.
It was reported that in the interview, which it said took place over several days in the last week and involved encrypted online communications, Snowden asserted that he believed he was a whistle-blower who was acting in the nation’s best interests by revealing information about the NSA’s surveillance dragnet and huge collections of communications data.
In an interview, Snowden said he handed over all the documents he had obtained to journalists during his stay in Hong Kong.
Snowden said he did not retain copies of the documents and did not take them to Russia ‘because it wouldn’t serve the public interest,’ the New York Times reported. He said his familiarity with China’s intelligence abilities allowed him to protect the documents from Chinese spies while he was in Hong Kong.
‘There’s a zero percent chance the Russians or Chinese have received any documents,’ he said.
Snowden’s leaks of highly classified material have resulted in numerous news stories about US surveillance activities at home and abroad and sparked debate about the legality of those activities and the privacy implications for average Americans.
It was reported that in the interview, which it said took place over several days in the last week and involved encrypted online communications, Snowden asserted that he believed he was a whistle-blower who was acting in the nation’s best interests by revealing information about the NSA’s surveillance dragnet and huge collections of communications data.