Edward Snowden (born: June 21, 1983) is a former American NSA intelligence contractor and a whistleblower who leaked classified documents revealing the existence of global surveillance programs May 20, 2013. Mr. Snowden became a naturalized Russian citizen in 2022. "Even if you're not doing anything wrong, you are being watched and recorded." "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." "The NSA has built an infrastructure that allows it to intercept almost everything. 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." "If I target for example an email address, for example under FAA 702, and that email address sent something to you, Joe America, the analyst gets it. All of it. IPs, raw data, content, headers, attachments, everything. And it gets saved for a very long time - and can be extended further with waivers rather than warrants." "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." "The NSA and Israel wrote Stuxnet together." "I have been a systems engineer, systems administrator, a senior adviser for the Central Intelligence Agency, a solutions consultant and a telecommunications information systems officer." "No one would argue that it's in the United States' interest to have independent knowledge of the plans and intentions of foreign countries. But we need to think about where to draw the line on these kind of operations so we're not always attacking our allies, the people we trust, the people we need to rely on, and to have them in turn rely on us." "Sometimes the scandal is not what law was broken, but what the law allows." "I think the most important idea is to remember that there have been times throughout American history where what is right is not the same as what is legal." "I am not trying to bring down the NSA, I am working to improve the NSA. I am still working for the NSA right now. They are the only ones who don't realize it." "My sole motive is to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them." "Most of the secrets the CIA has are about people, not machines and systems, so I didn't feel comfortable with disclosures that I thought could endanger anyone." "Ask yourself: if I were a Chinese spy, why wouldn't I have flown directly into Beijing? I could be living in a palace petting a phoenix by now. Edward Snowden I've been a spy for almost all of my adult life - I don't like being in the spotlight."
