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Ex-CIA worker: I exposed U.S. spy scheme to protect ‘basic liberties’
Edward Snowden: Ex-CIA worker comes forward as leaker, says he was protecting 'basic liberties'
Video Gallery - chicagotribune.com
Tribune staff and wire reports
1:41 p.m. CDT, June 10, 2013
WASHINGTON -- An ex-CIA worker employed as a contractor at the U.S. National Security Agency said he leaked documents and details of a top secret U.S. surveillance program in order to protect the "basic liberties for people around the world."
Holed up in a hotel room in Hong Kong, Edward Snowden, 29, said he had thought long and hard before publicizing details of an NSA program code-named PRISM, saying he had done so because he felt the United States was building an unaccountable and secret espionage machine that spied on every American.
His whereabouts were not immediately known today. Staff at a luxury hotel in Hong Kong told Reuters that Snowden had checked out.
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The White House will not discuss the investigation into leaks of details of a top secret U.S. surveillance program nor Snowden, spokesman Jay Carney said on Monday.
Carney also said he did not expect the debate over the surveillance program to overshadow President Barack Obama's trip to Europe next week to the G8 summit and to Berlin.
Snowden, a former technical assistant at the CIA, said he had been working at the super-secret NSA as an employee of contractor Booz Allen. He said he decided to leak information after becoming disenchanted with President Barack Obama, who he said had continued the policies of predecessor George W. Bush.
"I don't want to live in a society that does these sort of things ... I do not want to live in a world where everything I do and say is recorded. That is not something I am willing to support or live under," he told the Guardian newspaper, which published a video interview with him on its website. The interview was dated June 6.
Both the Guardian and the Washington Post said last week that U.S. security services had monitored data about phone calls from Verizon and Internet data from large companies such as Google and Facebook
James R. Clapper, the director of national intelligence, said Saturday that the Justice Department had launched an investigation of what he called "reckless disclosures of intelligence community measures used to keep Americans safe.
"For me, it is literally — not figuratively — literally gut-wrenching to see this happen because of the huge, grave danger it does to our intelligence capabilities," Clapper said in an interview with NBC.
'I have no intention of hiding'
In naming Snowden on Sunday, the newspapers said he had sought to be identified.
"The NSA has built an infrastructure that allows it to intercept almost everything," Snowden said in explaining his actions.
"With this capability, the vast majority of human communications are automatically ingested without targeting. If I wanted to see your emails or your wife's phone, all I have to do is use intercepts. I can get your emails, passwords, phone records, credit cards," he said.
"I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong," he was quoted as saying. He said he expected U.S. authorities to "demonize" him and said he planned to "ask for asylum from any countries that believe in free speech and oppose the victimization of global privacy.
In a 12-minute video interview posted on the Guardian website, Snowden wears rimless glasses, short-cropped brown hair and a thin beard.
Snowden identifies himself in the video as an infrastructure analyst at an NSA facility in Hawaii for Booz Allen Hamilton, a major defense contractor. He said he previously worked for the CIA as a systems administrator and telecommunications systems officer.
"I, sitting at my desk, certainly had the authorities to wiretap anyone, from you, or your accountant, to a federal judge, to even the president if I had a personal email," he said.
Snowden said he decided to expose the NSA secrets because "I do not want to live in a society that does these sort of things." He said the agency "collects more digital communications from America than we do from the Russians.
He said he fears authorities "will come after my family, my friends, my partner" because of his actions. The Guardian said he was born in Elizabeth City, N.C., and later he and his family moved to Maryland, near Ft. Meade.
Worked at NSA
The Guardian said Snowden had been working at the NSA for four years as a contractor for outside companies.
Three weeks ago, he copied the secret documents at the NSA office in Hawaii and told his supervisor he needed "a couple of weeks" off for treatment for epilepsy, the paper said. On May 20 he flew to Hong Kong.
The CIA declined to comment, while a spokesman for the Director of National Intelligence would not comment directly about Snowden himself but said the intelligence community was reviewing damage done by the recent leaks.
Related
Report: Contract Worker Is Surveillance Source Video: Contract worker speaks about leak
Lawmakers urge review of domestic spying, Patriot Act Lawmakers urge review of domestic spying
Intelligence chief acknowledges surveillance program Intelligence chief acknowledges surveillance program
In Hong Kong, ex-CIA man may not escape U.S. reach
Obama staunchly defends surveillance programs
See more stories »
"Any person who has a security clearance knows that he or she has an obligation to protect classified information and abide by the law," said the spokesman, Shawn Turner.
The NSA has requested a criminal probe into the leaked information. On Sunday, the U.S. Justice Department said it was in the initial stages of a criminal investigation following the leaks.
Booz Allen, a U.S. management and technology consultancy, said reports of the leaked information were "shocking and if accurate this action represents a grave violation of the code of conduct and core values of our firm."
In a statement, Booz Allen confirmed Snowden's employment, saying he had worked for the company less than three months and was assigned to Hawaii. It called the alleged leaks "shocking" and "a grave violation of the code of conduct and core values of our firm."
A spokesman for Dell Inc declined to comment on reports that Snowden had been employed at that company. In 2009, Dell acquired Perot Systems, a U.S. government contractor that did work for U.S. intelligence agencies.
Snowden's decision to reveal his identity and whereabouts lifts the lid on one of the biggest security leaks in U.S. history and escalates a story that has placed a bright light on Obama's extensive use of secret surveillance.
The exposure of the secret programs has triggered widespread debate within the United States and abroad about the vast reach of the NSA, which has expanded its surveillance dramatically in since the September 11 attacks on Washington and New York in 2001.
U.S. officials say the agency operates within the law. Some members of Congress have indicated support for the NSA activities, while others pushed for tougher oversight and possible changes to the law authorizing the surveillance.
Why Hong Kong?
One legal expert was puzzled as to why Snowden fled to Hong Kong, because it has an extradition treaty with the United States while mainland China does not.
In routine criminal cases, unlike this one, Hong Kong had shown a willingness in recent years to extradite people to face charges in the United States, he said.
In the video, Snowden said that "Hong Kong has a strong tradition of free speech."
Hong Kong returned from British to Chinese rule in 1997, but still enjoys some autonomy in business and governmental functions.
However, under Hong Kong's Fugitives Offenders Ordinance, Beijing can issue an "instruction" to the city's leader to take or not take action on extraditions where the interests of China "in matters of defense or foreign affairs would be significantly affected."
Typically, U.S. visitors in Hong Kong are granted a 90-day visa. According to the Guardian, Snowden left Hawaii for Hong Kong on May 20.
Hong Kong's Security Bureau, which is charged with law enforcement and immigration matters, had no immediate response when asked about the case.
Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian newspaper journalist who broke the story and interviewed Snowden last week, told the local South China Morning Post newspaper he was not aware of the former CIA man's current whereabouts.
The U.S. Consulate declined to comment on the case.
Snowden also said he hopes to find shelter in Iceland, but he may be disappointed by the reception from a new government seen as less keen than predecessors to attract exiles and Internet renegades.
The country of 320,000 people has served as the home base for the fundraising efforts of anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks and earlier earned a reputation as a safe haven by taking in American fugitive former chess champion Bobby Fischer in 2005.
Snowden said he hoped to go to a country which encompassed his values of Internet freedom, naming Iceland.
But the government of newly-elected conservative Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, while still untested, is widely seen as closer to Washington than past administrations and less keen to foster the island country's cyber-haven image.
"I would be very surprised if they (the government) would be eager to engage in any international disputes with the U.S. And it is pretty difficult to be granted asylum here," said Stefania Oskarsdottir, lecturer in political science at the University of Iceland.
"I think what this guy is saying is based on something he is imagining or hoping for rather than actual facts."
As a U.S. citizen, Snowden would not need a visa to enter Iceland and could immediately apply for asylum. He would be free to live in Iceland while immigration authorities decide his case, which could take more than a year, according to Helga Vala Helgadottir, a lawyer specializing in asylum cases.
Snowden, who said he had left his girlfriend in Hawaii without telling her where he was going, said he knew the risk he was taking, but thought the publicity his revelations had garnered in the past few days had made it worth it.
"My primary fear is that they will come after my family, my friends, my partner. Anyone I have a relationship with," he said. "I will have to live with that for the rest of my life. I am not going to be able to communicate with them. They (the authorities) will act aggressively against anyone who has known me. That keeps me up at night."
In the video interview, the bespectacled, lightly bearded Snowden looked relaxed. He said he was ultimately hoping that Iceland, which values internet freedom, might grant him asylum.
Reuters and Bob Drogin and Katherine Skiba, Washington Bureau
Copyright © 2013, Reuters
Edward Snowden: Ex-CIA worker comes forward as leaker, says he was protecting 'basic liberties'
Video Gallery - chicagotribune.com
Tribune staff and wire reports
1:41 p.m. CDT, June 10, 2013
WASHINGTON -- An ex-CIA worker employed as a contractor at the U.S. National Security Agency said he leaked documents and details of a top secret U.S. surveillance program in order to protect the "basic liberties for people around the world."
Holed up in a hotel room in Hong Kong, Edward Snowden, 29, said he had thought long and hard before publicizing details of an NSA program code-named PRISM, saying he had done so because he felt the United States was building an unaccountable and secret espionage machine that spied on every American.
His whereabouts were not immediately known today. Staff at a luxury hotel in Hong Kong told Reuters that Snowden had checked out.
Related
Report: Contract Worker Is Surveillance Source Video: Contract worker speaks about leak
Lawmakers urge review of domestic spying, Patriot Act Lawmakers urge review of domestic spying
Intelligence chief acknowledges surveillance program Intelligence chief acknowledges surveillance program
In Hong Kong, ex-CIA man may not escape U.S. reach
Obama staunchly defends surveillance programs
See more stories »
The White House will not discuss the investigation into leaks of details of a top secret U.S. surveillance program nor Snowden, spokesman Jay Carney said on Monday.
Carney also said he did not expect the debate over the surveillance program to overshadow President Barack Obama's trip to Europe next week to the G8 summit and to Berlin.
Snowden, a former technical assistant at the CIA, said he had been working at the super-secret NSA as an employee of contractor Booz Allen. He said he decided to leak information after becoming disenchanted with President Barack Obama, who he said had continued the policies of predecessor George W. Bush.
"I don't want to live in a society that does these sort of things ... I do not want to live in a world where everything I do and say is recorded. That is not something I am willing to support or live under," he told the Guardian newspaper, which published a video interview with him on its website. The interview was dated June 6.
Both the Guardian and the Washington Post said last week that U.S. security services had monitored data about phone calls from Verizon and Internet data from large companies such as Google and Facebook
James R. Clapper, the director of national intelligence, said Saturday that the Justice Department had launched an investigation of what he called "reckless disclosures of intelligence community measures used to keep Americans safe.
"For me, it is literally — not figuratively — literally gut-wrenching to see this happen because of the huge, grave danger it does to our intelligence capabilities," Clapper said in an interview with NBC.
'I have no intention of hiding'
In naming Snowden on Sunday, the newspapers said he had sought to be identified.
"The NSA has built an infrastructure that allows it to intercept almost everything," Snowden said in explaining his actions.
"With this capability, the vast majority of human communications are automatically ingested without targeting. If I wanted to see your emails or your wife's phone, all I have to do is use intercepts. I can get your emails, passwords, phone records, credit cards," he said.
"I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong," he was quoted as saying. He said he expected U.S. authorities to "demonize" him and said he planned to "ask for asylum from any countries that believe in free speech and oppose the victimization of global privacy.
In a 12-minute video interview posted on the Guardian website, Snowden wears rimless glasses, short-cropped brown hair and a thin beard.
Snowden identifies himself in the video as an infrastructure analyst at an NSA facility in Hawaii for Booz Allen Hamilton, a major defense contractor. He said he previously worked for the CIA as a systems administrator and telecommunications systems officer.
"I, sitting at my desk, certainly had the authorities to wiretap anyone, from you, or your accountant, to a federal judge, to even the president if I had a personal email," he said.
Snowden said he decided to expose the NSA secrets because "I do not want to live in a society that does these sort of things." He said the agency "collects more digital communications from America than we do from the Russians.
He said he fears authorities "will come after my family, my friends, my partner" because of his actions. The Guardian said he was born in Elizabeth City, N.C., and later he and his family moved to Maryland, near Ft. Meade.
Worked at NSA
The Guardian said Snowden had been working at the NSA for four years as a contractor for outside companies.
Three weeks ago, he copied the secret documents at the NSA office in Hawaii and told his supervisor he needed "a couple of weeks" off for treatment for epilepsy, the paper said. On May 20 he flew to Hong Kong.
The CIA declined to comment, while a spokesman for the Director of National Intelligence would not comment directly about Snowden himself but said the intelligence community was reviewing damage done by the recent leaks.
Related
Report: Contract Worker Is Surveillance Source Video: Contract worker speaks about leak
Lawmakers urge review of domestic spying, Patriot Act Lawmakers urge review of domestic spying
Intelligence chief acknowledges surveillance program Intelligence chief acknowledges surveillance program
In Hong Kong, ex-CIA man may not escape U.S. reach
Obama staunchly defends surveillance programs
See more stories »
"Any person who has a security clearance knows that he or she has an obligation to protect classified information and abide by the law," said the spokesman, Shawn Turner.
The NSA has requested a criminal probe into the leaked information. On Sunday, the U.S. Justice Department said it was in the initial stages of a criminal investigation following the leaks.
Booz Allen, a U.S. management and technology consultancy, said reports of the leaked information were "shocking and if accurate this action represents a grave violation of the code of conduct and core values of our firm."
In a statement, Booz Allen confirmed Snowden's employment, saying he had worked for the company less than three months and was assigned to Hawaii. It called the alleged leaks "shocking" and "a grave violation of the code of conduct and core values of our firm."
A spokesman for Dell Inc declined to comment on reports that Snowden had been employed at that company. In 2009, Dell acquired Perot Systems, a U.S. government contractor that did work for U.S. intelligence agencies.
Snowden's decision to reveal his identity and whereabouts lifts the lid on one of the biggest security leaks in U.S. history and escalates a story that has placed a bright light on Obama's extensive use of secret surveillance.
The exposure of the secret programs has triggered widespread debate within the United States and abroad about the vast reach of the NSA, which has expanded its surveillance dramatically in since the September 11 attacks on Washington and New York in 2001.
U.S. officials say the agency operates within the law. Some members of Congress have indicated support for the NSA activities, while others pushed for tougher oversight and possible changes to the law authorizing the surveillance.
Why Hong Kong?
One legal expert was puzzled as to why Snowden fled to Hong Kong, because it has an extradition treaty with the United States while mainland China does not.
In routine criminal cases, unlike this one, Hong Kong had shown a willingness in recent years to extradite people to face charges in the United States, he said.
In the video, Snowden said that "Hong Kong has a strong tradition of free speech."
Hong Kong returned from British to Chinese rule in 1997, but still enjoys some autonomy in business and governmental functions.
However, under Hong Kong's Fugitives Offenders Ordinance, Beijing can issue an "instruction" to the city's leader to take or not take action on extraditions where the interests of China "in matters of defense or foreign affairs would be significantly affected."
Typically, U.S. visitors in Hong Kong are granted a 90-day visa. According to the Guardian, Snowden left Hawaii for Hong Kong on May 20.
Hong Kong's Security Bureau, which is charged with law enforcement and immigration matters, had no immediate response when asked about the case.
Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian newspaper journalist who broke the story and interviewed Snowden last week, told the local South China Morning Post newspaper he was not aware of the former CIA man's current whereabouts.
The U.S. Consulate declined to comment on the case.
Snowden also said he hopes to find shelter in Iceland, but he may be disappointed by the reception from a new government seen as less keen than predecessors to attract exiles and Internet renegades.
The country of 320,000 people has served as the home base for the fundraising efforts of anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks and earlier earned a reputation as a safe haven by taking in American fugitive former chess champion Bobby Fischer in 2005.
Snowden said he hoped to go to a country which encompassed his values of Internet freedom, naming Iceland.
But the government of newly-elected conservative Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, while still untested, is widely seen as closer to Washington than past administrations and less keen to foster the island country's cyber-haven image.
"I would be very surprised if they (the government) would be eager to engage in any international disputes with the U.S. And it is pretty difficult to be granted asylum here," said Stefania Oskarsdottir, lecturer in political science at the University of Iceland.
"I think what this guy is saying is based on something he is imagining or hoping for rather than actual facts."
As a U.S. citizen, Snowden would not need a visa to enter Iceland and could immediately apply for asylum. He would be free to live in Iceland while immigration authorities decide his case, which could take more than a year, according to Helga Vala Helgadottir, a lawyer specializing in asylum cases.
Snowden, who said he had left his girlfriend in Hawaii without telling her where he was going, said he knew the risk he was taking, but thought the publicity his revelations had garnered in the past few days had made it worth it.
"My primary fear is that they will come after my family, my friends, my partner. Anyone I have a relationship with," he said. "I will have to live with that for the rest of my life. I am not going to be able to communicate with them. They (the authorities) will act aggressively against anyone who has known me. That keeps me up at night."
In the video interview, the bespectacled, lightly bearded Snowden looked relaxed. He said he was ultimately hoping that Iceland, which values internet freedom, might grant him asylum.
Reuters and Bob Drogin and Katherine Skiba, Washington Bureau
Copyright © 2013, Reuters
