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Curated research library of TV news clips regarding the NSA, its oversight and privacy issues, 2009-2014

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Primary curation & research: Robin Chin, Internet Archive TV News Researcher; using Internet Archive TV News service.

Speakers

Edward Snowden
whistleblower
KNTV 05/28/2014
Snowden: I did it in Ft. Meade. I did it in Hawaii. And many, many of these individuals were shocked by these programs. They had never seen them themselves. And the ones who had went, you know, you're right. These are things that are really concerning. These aren't things we should be doing. Maybe we're going too far here, but if you say something about this, they're going to destroy you. Do you know what happens to people who stand up and talk about this?
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Edward Snowden
whistleblower
KNTV 05/28/2014
Snowden: So I reported that there were real problems with the way the NSA was interpreting its legal authorities. And the response more or less in bureaucratic language was you should stop asking questions. And these are recent records. This isn't ancient history. I would say one of my final official acts in government was continuing one of these communications with a legal office. And, in fact, I'm so sure that these communications exist that I've called on congress to write a letter to the NSA to verify that they do. Write to their office of general counsel and say, did Mr. Snowden ever communicate any concerns about the NSA's interpretation of its legal authorities?
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Brian Williams
Anchor and Managing Editor of NBC Nightly News
KNTV 05/28/2014
Williams: Now about that last point there about the paper trail that Snowden says exists within the NDS. So far, NBC news learned from multiple sources that Snowden did indeed send at least one e-mail to the general counsel's office raising policy and legal questions. We have filed a request under the freedom of information act to look for any other records.
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Edward Snowden
whistleblower
KNTV 05/28/2014
Williams: What is the closest you've come to estimating the number of documents? Snowden: I will say the 1.7 million documents, figure that the intelligence community has been bandying about, the director of NSA himself Keith Alexander said just a week ago in the Australian Financial Times, or Australian Financial Review, I believe, that they have no idea what documents were taken at all. Their auditing was so poor, so negligent that any private contractor, not even an employee of the government could walk into the NSA building, take whatever they wanted, and walk out with it and they would never know. Now, I think that's a problem. And I think that's something that needs to be resolved. People need to be held to account for. Has it happened before? Could it happen again?
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Edward Snowden
whistleblower
KNTV 05/28/2014
Snowden: I didn't want to take information that would basically be taken and thrown out in the press that would cause harm to individuals, that would cause people to die, that would put lives at risk. So a good gauge of what information was provided to the journalists is a representation of what you see in the press. Now, the NSA and the defense intelligence agency and some of these other organizations have claimed that lives are at risk, that all this military information was out there, that, you know, I took all this information about missiles and warheads and tanks, but we don't see any of that in the newspaper. (we haven't seen any stories on that)
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Edward Snowden
whistleblower
KNTV 05/28/2014
Williams: In his recently published book "No Place to Hide" Greenwald describes that moment he first met Snowden in Hong Kong. What did you make of him? Greenwald: The initial impression was one of extreme confusion. Because I was expecting to meet somebody in his 60s or 70s, someone very senior in the agency because I knew almost nothing about him prior to our arrival in Hong Kong. Snowden: It was a really intimidating moment. You know, it was the most real point of no return because the minute you start talking to a journalist as an intelligence officer, on camera, there's really no going back from that. That's where it all comes together.
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Edward Snowden
whistleblower
KNTV 05/28/2014
Williams: By handing over the documents to journalists, Snowden says he wanted to put some space between himself and what he himself stole from government computers. He wanted others to break the stories and do the reporting and check to see which stories might cause undue harm. Snowden: And that's the reason that the journalists have been required by their agreement with me as the source, although they could obviously break that or do whatever they want, but I demanded that they agree to consult with the government to make sure no individuals or specific harms could be caused by any of that reporting. Williams: That includes NBC News which has reported on its own batch of Snowden documents and has a reporting relationship with Glenn Greenwald Snowden: When it comes to specific stories about the specific collection programs, about specific targets, these aren't decided by me. These are decided by newspapers.
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Edward Snowden
whistleblower
KNTV 05/28/2014
Snowden: There is nothing that would be published that would harm the public interest. These are programs that need to be understood, that need to be known, that require deep background and context for research. They are difficult to report. but they are of critical public importance. Williams: Just for clarification here note that Snowden didn't deny turning over military secrets. He asserted instead they wouldn't be published.
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Edward Snowden
whistleblower
KNTV 05/28/2014
Snowden: I personally am surprised that I ended up here. The reality is I never intended to end up in Russia. I had a flight booked to Cuba onwards to Latin America. And I was stopped because the United States government decided to revoked my passport and trap me in the Moscow airport. So when people ask me why are you in Russia, I say please ask the state department.
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Edward Snowden
whistleblower
KNTV 05/28/2014
Snowden: It's a fair question. Why doesn't he face charges? But it's also uninformed. because what has been lain against me aren't normal charges. They are extraordinary charges. We’ve seen more charges under the espionage act in the last administration than we have in all other administrations in American history. The espionage act provides anyone accused of it of no chance to make a public defense. You are not allowed to argue based on all the evidence in your favor because that evidence may be classified, even if the it is exculpatory. When people say why don't you face the music, I say you have to understand the music is not an open court and a fair trial.
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