The Guardian newspaper reports that a 29-year-old former technical assistant for the CIA, currently working on contract for the National Security Agency, is the source behind its reports on the U.S. government’s surveillance programs.
Edward Snowden, a Hawaii-based employee of a defence contractor that has been working for the National Security Agency, revealed his identity -- at his request -- in an article published Sunday on the Guardian’s website.
Snowden tells the newspaper he is responsible for the disclosure of top-secret NSA documents that revealed widespread U.S. government surveillance of citizens’ phone and email records.
“I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong,” he told the newspaper.
The NSA filed a criminal report with the Justice Department after the leaks were released last week in The Guardian and The Washington Post.
The Guardian reported Sunday that Snowden, who worked for private consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton at an NSA office in Hawaii, copied the documents and told a supervisor he was taking time off for medical treatment. He then travelled to Hong Kong, where he remains in hiding in a hotel.
He said he is aware via television reports of the media storm surrounding the leaks.
Snowden said he does not fear the consequences of going public, and is willing to sacrifice a “comfortable life” in Hawaii for the sake of transparency.
“I understand that I will be made to suffer for my actions,” he wrote in a note accompanying the disclosed documents.
“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."
He told the newspaper: “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.”
He expects the U.S. government will launch a probe and accuse him of breaking the Espionage Act, he said.
Booz Allen Hamilton released a statement on their website Sunday afternoon confirming that Snowden has been an employee for the firm for less than three months. They called the news reports “shocking.”
“If accurate, this action represents a grave violation of the code of conduct and core values of our firm,” it said. “We will work closely with our clients and authorities in their investigation of this matter.”
Snowden’s career in intelligence spans more than a decade. In 2007, the CIA stationed him in Geneva, Switzerland as an information technology employee with access to classified documents.
"Much of what I saw in Geneva really disillusioned me about how my government functions and what its impact is in the world," he said. "I realized that I was part of something that was doing far more harm than good."
Snowden said he considered going public with classified documents during his time in Geneva, but changed his mind because he didn’t want to endanger anyone. He said he had hoped that the then-incoming Obama administration would put a stop to such surveillance programs.
He left the CIA in 2009 to take a job working for a private contractor.
The leaks revealed that the NSA has been collecting phone records from millions of Americans to create a database that could determine whether terror suspects are communicating with people in the U.S.
Another surveillance program called PRISM, allows the NSA and FBI to gather all internet usage -- including audio, video and emails -- from nine U.S. Internet companies.
The leaks have re-ignited a debate over privacy concerns and the protection of citizens via counter-terrorism measures.
Intelligence officials have lambasted the documents’ disclosure as reckless and irresponsible.
U.S. President Barack Obama has said the programs are authorized by Congress and closely monitored by a secret court.
"It's important to recognize that you can't have 100 percent security and also then have 100 percent privacy and zero inconvenience," Obama said Friday.
"We're going to have to make some choices as a society. And what I can say is that in evaluating these programs, they make a difference in our capacity to anticipate and prevent possible terrorist activity."
