On Sunday afternoon, Edward Snowden’s name was everywhere. The 29-year-old, who worked for the CIA and the NSA, allowed the British newspaper The Guardian to publish his name. Snowden was revealed to be the man who leaked the secret NSA documents that revealed just how government surveillance works.
According to The Guardian, Snowden was a technical assistant to the CIA and is now working for defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton. He had been working at the National Security Agency for other contractors for the past four years.
“I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong,” Snowden told the publication.
Snowden is the source who first leaked secret documents showing that a secret court order had been issued to Verizon, requesting that it hand over the phone records of all its customers. A day later, documents he sent to the Washington Post and guardian were published, pulling the curtain on the very secretive PRISM program, which tracks Internet communication between Americans. Those documents claimed that the government was working with Yahoo, Google, Facebook, Microsoft and other tech giants. The companies denied that they had any knowledge of PRISM and President Obama defended the programs. “Nobody is listening to your telephone calls,” he said during an event Friday.
The Guardian reported that Snowden sent a note with the documents that read, “I understand that I will be made to suffer for my actions," but "I will be satisfied if the federation of secret law, unequal pardon and irresistible executive powers that rule the world that I love are revealed even for an instant.”
During an interview with the Guardian, he says that he doesn’t want media attention on himself. Instead, he hopes his actions bring to light what the government is doing.
“I really want the focus to be on these documents and the debate which I hope this will trigger among citizens around the globe about what kind of world we want to live in,” Snowden said. “My sole motive is to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them.”
Snowden says he had worked at the NSA’s Hawaii office and three weeks ago, he started making copies of the documents he planned to leak. On May 20, he flew to Hong Kong, where he is still living.
According to CNN, the Guardian noted that the only worries he appeared to have was the fate of his relatives who work for the government. He also fears for the country, noting, “the greatest fear that I have regarding the outcome for America of these disclosures is that nothing will change.”
Watch Snowden’s interview here.
image: Wikimedia Commons