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| Snowden Says He Was a Spy, Not Just an N.S.A. Analyst | |
| (34 minutes later) | |
| WASHINGTON — Edward J. Snowden said he was not merely a “low-level analyst” writing computer code for American spies, as President Obama and other administration officials have portrayed him. Instead, he said, he was a trained spy who worked under assumed names overseas for the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency. | WASHINGTON — Edward J. Snowden said he was not merely a “low-level analyst” writing computer code for American spies, as President Obama and other administration officials have portrayed him. Instead, he said, he was a trained spy who worked under assumed names overseas for the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency. |
| Mr. Snowden made his claims in a television interview to be broadcast Wednesday evening by NBC News. They added a new twist to the yearlong public relations battle between the administration and Mr. Snowden, who is living under asylum in Moscow to escape prosecution for leaking thousands of classified files detailing extensive American surveillance programs at home and abroad. | Mr. Snowden made his claims in a television interview to be broadcast Wednesday evening by NBC News. They added a new twist to the yearlong public relations battle between the administration and Mr. Snowden, who is living under asylum in Moscow to escape prosecution for leaking thousands of classified files detailing extensive American surveillance programs at home and abroad. |
| “I was trained as a spy in sort of the traditional sense of the word, in that I lived and worked undercover overseas — pretending to work in a job that I’m not, and even being assigned a name that was not mine,” Mr. Snowden told Brian Williams of NBC News, in an excerpt released in advance of the full interview. | “I was trained as a spy in sort of the traditional sense of the word, in that I lived and worked undercover overseas — pretending to work in a job that I’m not, and even being assigned a name that was not mine,” Mr. Snowden told Brian Williams of NBC News, in an excerpt released in advance of the full interview. |
| The N.S.A., which has described Mr. Snowden as an information technology contractor, has not commented on the new claims. But Secretary of State John Kerry, in a CBS News interview on Wednesday, suggested that Mr. Snowden’s refusal to return to the United States amounted to cowardice. | The N.S.A., which has described Mr. Snowden as an information technology contractor, has not commented on the new claims. But Secretary of State John Kerry, in a CBS News interview on Wednesday, suggested that Mr. Snowden’s refusal to return to the United States amounted to cowardice. |
| “The bottom line is this is a man who has betrayed his country, who is sitting in Russia, an authoritarian country, where he has taken refuge,” he said. “He should man up and come back to the United States if he has a complaint about what’s the matter with American surveillance, come back here and stand in our system of justice and make his case. But instead he is just sitting there taking potshots at his country, violating his oath that he took when he took on the job he took.” | “The bottom line is this is a man who has betrayed his country, who is sitting in Russia, an authoritarian country, where he has taken refuge,” he said. “He should man up and come back to the United States if he has a complaint about what’s the matter with American surveillance, come back here and stand in our system of justice and make his case. But instead he is just sitting there taking potshots at his country, violating his oath that he took when he took on the job he took.” |
| Mr. Snowden suggested that the government was deliberately playing down his role as a spy. | Mr. Snowden suggested that the government was deliberately playing down his role as a spy. |
| “They’re trying to use one position that I’ve had in a career here or there to distract from the totality of my experience,” he said. | “They’re trying to use one position that I’ve had in a career here or there to distract from the totality of my experience,” he said. |
| Mr. Snowden said, however, that he had not been the kind of spy depicted by Hollywood who embeds himself in glamorous overseas locations to extract information through interpersonal connections. | Mr. Snowden said, however, that he had not been the kind of spy depicted by Hollywood who embeds himself in glamorous overseas locations to extract information through interpersonal connections. |
| “I am a technical specialist,” he said. “I am a technical expert. I don’t work with people. I don’t recruit agents. What I do is I put systems to work for the United States. And I’ve done that at all levels from — from the bottom on the ground all the way to the top. Now, the government might deny these things, they might frame it in certain ways and say, ‘Oh, well, you know, he’s a low-level analyst.’ ” | “I am a technical specialist,” he said. “I am a technical expert. I don’t work with people. I don’t recruit agents. What I do is I put systems to work for the United States. And I’ve done that at all levels from — from the bottom on the ground all the way to the top. Now, the government might deny these things, they might frame it in certain ways and say, ‘Oh, well, you know, he’s a low-level analyst.’ ” |
| According to government officials and former colleagues, Mr. Snowden first went to work as a security guard at an N.S.A.-financed language research center at the University of Maryland. His computer skills evidently attracted attention, and he subsequently worked overseas for the C.I.A. in Geneva and for N.S.A. contractors in Japan, Maryland and Hawaii before flying to Hong Kong last year and handing secret N.S.A. documents to several journalists. | According to government officials and former colleagues, Mr. Snowden first went to work as a security guard at an N.S.A.-financed language research center at the University of Maryland. His computer skills evidently attracted attention, and he subsequently worked overseas for the C.I.A. in Geneva and for N.S.A. contractors in Japan, Maryland and Hawaii before flying to Hong Kong last year and handing secret N.S.A. documents to several journalists. |
| According to his résumé and interviews, he worked in cyber-counterintelligence, searching classified government computer systems looking for intrusions from hackers and foreign spies. In his last job in Hawaii, he was described as an “infrastructure analyst,” which former N.S.A. officials say probably means he was looking for vulnerabilities in foreign telephone and Internet systems that would allow the agency to tap in. | According to his résumé and interviews, he worked in cyber-counterintelligence, searching classified government computer systems looking for intrusions from hackers and foreign spies. In his last job in Hawaii, he was described as an “infrastructure analyst,” which former N.S.A. officials say probably means he was looking for vulnerabilities in foreign telephone and Internet systems that would allow the agency to tap in. |