In an on-camera interview with The Guardian last month, Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor, anticipated the reaction U.S. officials would have to his decision to leak top secret NSA documents.
“I think the government is going to launch an investigation,” Snowden said during a new portion of the interview, conducted on June 6, which The Guardian released on Monday. “I think they’re going to say I’ve committed grave crimes, I’ve violated the Espionage Act. They’re going to say I’ve aided our enemies in making them aware of these systems. But that argument can be made against anybody who reveals information that points out mass surveillance systems. Because fundamentally they apply equally to ourselves as they do to our enemies.”
