Edward Snowden Q and A: NSA whistleblower answers your questions
The
whistleblower behind the biggest intelligence leak in NSA history
answered your questions about the NSA surveillance revelations
Edward Snowden Q&A
It is the interview the world's media organisations have been chasing for more than a week, but instead
Edward Snowden is giving Guardian readers the exclusive.
The 29-year-old former NSA contractor and
source of the Guardian's NSA files coverage
will – with the help of Glenn Greenwald – take your questions today on
why he revealed the NSA's top-secret surveillance of US citizens, the
international storm that has ensued, and the uncertain future he now
faces. Ask him anything.
Snowden, who has fled the US, told the Guardian he "does not expect
to see home again", but where he'll end up has yet to be determined.
He will be online today from
11am ET/4pm BST today.
An important caveat: the live chat is subject to Snowden's security
concerns and also his access to a secure internet connection. It is
possible that he will appear and disappear intermittently, so if it
takes him a while to get through the questions, please be patient.
To participate, post your question below and recommend your
favorites. As he makes his way through the thread, we'll embed his
replies as posts in the live blog. You can also follow along on Twitter
using the hashtag #
AskSnowden.
We expect the site to experience high demand so we'll re-publish the Q&A in full after the live chat has finished.
Question:
Answer:
1) First, the US Government, just as they did with other
whistleblowers, immediately and predictably destroyed any possibility of
a fair trial at home, openly declaring me guilty of treason and that
the disclosure of secret, criminal, and even unconstitutional acts is an
unforgivable crime. That's not justice, and it would be foolish to
volunteer yourself to it if you can do more good outside of prison than
in it.
Second, let's be clear: I did not reveal any US operations against
legitimate military targets. I pointed out where the NSA has hacked
civilian infrastructure such as universities, hospitals, and private
businesses because it is dangerous. These nakedly, aggressively criminal
acts are wrong no matter the target. Not only that, when NSA makes a
technical mistake during an exploitation operation, critical systems
crash. Congress hasn't declared war on the countries - the majority of
them are our allies - but without asking for public permission, NSA is
running network operations against them that affect millions of innocent
people. And for what? So we can have secret access to a computer in a
country we're not even fighting? So we can potentially reveal a
potential terrorist with the potential to kill fewer Americans than our
own Police? No, the public needs to know the kinds of things a
government does in its name, or the "consent of the governed" is
meaningless.
2) All I can say right now is the US Government is not going to be
able to cover this up by jailing or murdering me. Truth is coming, and
it cannot be stopped.
Question:
Answer:
Leaving the US was an incredible risk, as NSA employees must declare
their foreign travel 30 days in advance and are monitored. There was a
distinct possibility I would be interdicted en route, so I had to travel
with no advance booking to a country with the cultural and legal
framework to allow me to work without being immediately detained. Hong
Kong provided that. Iceland could be pushed harder, quicker, before the
public could have a chance to make their feelings known, and I would not
put that past the current US administration.
Question:
Answer:
No, I'm not. Wikileaks is a legitimate journalistic outlet and they
carefully redacted all of their releases in accordance with a judgment
of public interest. The unredacted release of cables was due to the
failure of a partner journalist to control a passphrase. However, I
understand that many media outlets used the argument that "documents
were dumped" to smear Manning, and want to make it clear that it is not a
valid assertion here.
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