Brian Williams’ exclusive
interview with whistleblower Edward Snowden aired on NBC last
night. The nearly 40-minute interview didn’t provide any new
information for those who have been closely following Snowden’s
situation, but offered Snowden a chance to debunk some of the
nonsense being said about him, particularly by politicians—such as
Secretary of State
John Kerry—who think he should just “man up” and come home to
face espionage charges for the crime of telling the public what
their government is doing.
Here are some highlights:
- Snowden says he did not bring any of his documents with him to
Russia and he doesn’t have access to any of them, even by computer,
to give to the Russians. His files are all in the hands of the
journalists he’s partnered with, such as Glenn Greenwald. Williams
also acknowledged that NBC News has partnered with Snowden and
Greenwald to report on some of the documents. - Snowden says he was working like a spy, lying about what his
job was and even using a fake name. He says his critics are using
his earlier position as a “low-level analyst” to detract from the
totality of his work. He says he has worked for the CIA and the
National Security Agency (NSA) and gave lectures on keeping
information secure. - He’s not a fan of using fears of terrorism to undermine civil
liberties: “I take the threat of terrorism seriously and I think we
all do. I think it’s really disingenuous for the government to
invoke, and sort of scandalize our memories, to sort of exploit the
national trauma that we all suffered together and worked so hard to
come through to justify programs that have never been shown to keep
us safe but cost us liberties and freedoms we don’t need to give up
and our constitution says we should not give up.” - Probably the only really new disclosure for those who have been
following Snowden’s leaks is his claim that any powerful
intelligence agency, not just America’s but Russia’s and China’s as
well, can access cellphones as soon as they’re turned on. They can
use the phones’ embedded microphones and cameras and turn phones on
when they’re off. But, he points out, such technology would likely
only be used against targeted people. Williams asked whether an
intelligence agency would be interested in knowing that he looked
up the score for a hockey game, prompting Snowden to explain how
this information could be used to establish Williams’ “pattern of
life”: “Are you engaging in any kinds of activities we disapprove
of, even if they’re technically not illegal?” The activities
Williams engaged in could increase his level of scrutiny, even if
he hasn’t done anything wrong. - NSA analysts can watch people’s Internet communications and see
them write messages in real time. - He reiterates (as this has already been reported) that he did
attempt to go through proper channels to blow the whistle on the
unconstitutional surveillance of the NSA. His concerns are
documented in writing, he says, and Congress should be able to get
them from the office of general counsel. NBC has confirmed that at
least one email from Snowden exists and has filed a Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA) request to look for other records. - The NSA’s auditing process was so negligent that any private
contractor could walk into the Agency, take anything they wanted,
and walk out, and the government would never know. He pointed out
that despite claims that all sorts of military secrets were at
risk, nothing about troops or weapons or non-surveillance issues
have appeared in the press. - Snowden entered into agreements with the media outlets he’s
provided documents to that they would actually check with the
government to make sure no specific harms could befall individuals
from their reporting. This played out
recently when Greenwald and other journalists declined to name
one of the countries in which America is reportedly recording and
temporarily storing all mobile calls. - He explains that he cannot return home to “face charges”
because of the intricacies of the Espionage Act and how they’re
stacked against the defendant. He would not be provided an open
court or “a fair trial.” - He is frustrated being in Russia where individuals’ rights are
“being challenged,” given that he sees himself as fighting for
Americans’ rights. He objects to Russia’s new law requiring the
registering of bloggers and says no government should be regulating
the operations of a free press. - Williams asked him to explain how he sees himself still serving
the government. Snowden points out that one court so far has ruled
the bulk metadata collection likely unconstitutional and members of
Congress are trying to end it (though their efforts have been
extremely watered
down). “How can it be said that I did not serve my country?” he
asked. “How can it be said I have harmed government when all three
branches of the government have made reforms as a result of
it?”
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