In U.S. interview, Snowden speaks about NSA leaks

World Today

On Wednesday, former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden gave his first interview to an American television network.

Snowden, whose leaks have exposed some of the agency’s most sensitive spying operations, called himself a patriot in an interview this week with NBC. He said he felt he had no choice but to expose what he considered illegal NSA surveillance by leaking secret details to journalists.

NSA officials have said Snowden gained access to some 1.7 million classified documents, though it’s not clear how many he removed from the Hawaii facility where he worked as a contractor.

CCTV’s Jim Spellman reports.

Why did Snowden leak the secrets?

On Wednesday, former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden gave his first interview to an American television network. He gave more details of why he decided to leak the secrets in the first place. CCTV's Jim Spellman has the details on the motive behind Snowden's interview.

CCTV’s Elaine Reyes speaks to Cully Stimson of the Heritage Foundation on the controversy surrounding Snowden’s interview on U.S. television.

Cully Stimson on Snowden\'s latest interview

CCTV's Elaine Reyes speaks to Cully Stimson of the Heritage Foundation, on the controversy surrounding Snowden's latest interview.