Documents Show Snowden Tried To Raise Concerns About Spying With NSA

Several documents have been obtained by Vice News through the Freedom of Information Act which reveal that whistleblower Edward Snowden tried to take up his concerns against the government’s spying programs with the National Security Agency before ultimately deciding to hand over top-secret documents to journalists. These documents contradict earlier claims by federal agencies that Snowden never went through the proper channels to have his concerns addressed.

The NSA maintains that Edward Snowden never came to them with concerns about the constitutionality of some of their electronic spying programs. It only released an email from Snowden to the public which had a question about legal authority but as the NSA put it, the email “did not raise allegations or concerns about wrongdoing or abuse.”

On the other hand, Snowden maintains that he tried to take up the matter with officials multiple times before he decided to leak the documents. In his testimony before the European Parliament two years ago he said that he reported these spying programs to “ten distinct officials,” none of whom took any action.

Vice News obtained emails that were not released to the public. The emails show that multiple interactions took place between Snowden and the NSA Oversight Board, they also revealed that Snowden registered complaints about two NSA training programs.

Whether or not this changes anything with regards to the charges against Snowden remains to be seen. He still remains in Russia.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: General
Tags: Edward Snowden, nsa