Edward Snowden Says Russians and Chinese Cannot Get Access to Classified Files

Former National Security Agency contractor Edward J. Snowden said in an extensive interview that he did not take any classified N.S.A documents with him to Russia, where he took asylum in June. He asserted that Russian intelligence officials could not get access to any files, according to The New York Times. 

He said that there was a "zero percent chance" that the Russians or the Chinese had received any of the classified documents that he acquired. Snowden said that he gave all the secret documents to journalists in Hong Kong before flying to Moscow, and that he did not keep any copies. He said that he didn't take the files to Russia "because it wouldn't serve the public interest." 

"What would be the unique value of personally carrying another copy of the materials onward?" he said.

He also reassured that he was able to protect the documents from Chinese spies because he is familiar with China's intelligence abilities. As an N.S.A contractor, he targeted Chinese intelligence operations and taught a class on Chinese cyber counterintelligence. 

Snowden has made these reassurances due to the concern American intelligence officials have expressed that the files might have been obtained by foreign intelligence services. Snowden said that he believes the N.S.A knows that he did not cooperate with the Russians or the Chinese. He further said that he was publicly disclosing that he did not have any agency documents to explain why he was confident that Russia did not get access to them. 

During the interview, which took place through encrypted online communications, Snowden spoke about why he decided to reveal the N.S.A documents, and about the worldwide debate that has ensued since the disclosure. 

Snowden, 30, is a polarizing figure; he is lauded by privacy advocates and labeled an apostate by U.S. government officials. He is currently facing charges under the Espionage Act for leaking the documents to the media. 

In the interview, Snowden asserted that he believes he is a whistle-blower who acted in the nation's best interest by revealing information about the NSA's overreaching surveillance and collection of data, including that of American citizens. 

He said that he helped, not hurt, American national security by inciting a debate about the scope of government agencies' surveillance efforts. "The secret continuance of these programs represents a far greater danger than their disclosure," he told the Times. 

"So long as there's broad support amongst a people, it can be argued there's a level of legitimacy even to the most invasive and morally wrong program, as it was an informed and willing decision," he said. "However, programs that are implemented in secret, out of public oversight, lack that legitimacy, and that's a problem. It also represents a dangerous normalization of 'governing in the dark,' where decisions with enormous public impact occur without any public input."

Snowden said that he does not want to defect to Hong Kong or Russia, where he is permitted asylum for one year. 

He also said that while working for the N.S.A, he had "access to every target, every active operation" mounted by the N.S.A. against the Chinese. "Full lists of them," he said.

"If that was compromised," he went on, "N.S.A would have set the table on fire from slamming it so many times in denouncing the damage it had caused. Yet N.S.A has not offered a single example of damage from the leaks. They haven't said boo about it except 'we think,' 'maybe,' 'have to assume' from anonymous and former officials. Not 'China is going dark.' Not 'the Chinese military has shut us out.'"

Snowden said that his decision to leak N.S.A documents dated back at least to his time working as a technician in the Geneva station for the C.I.A. He said that his experiences while there increased his doubts about the intelligence community. 

He disputed the New York Times' report that a comment was placed in his personal evaluation while in Geneva regarding suspicions that he was trying to get access to classified files. He said the comment was actually regarding a warning from a senior official to not tell the higher ups about a flaw in the C.I.A's software. Snowden said that inside the agency, "there's a lot of dissent - palpable with some, even." But he said people are kept in line through a "fear and a false image of patriotism," which he described as "obedience to authority."

He said he finally decided to act when he discovered a copy of a classified 2009 inspector general's report on the N.S.A's wiretapping program during the Bush years. 

"It was too highly classified to be where it was," he said of the report. He opened the document, and after he saw what it revealed, "curiosity prevailed," he said.