Snowden did nothing illegal: Former NSA contractor
American surveillance whistleblower Edward Snowden has not done anything illegal by leaking the US National Security Agency’s surveillance activities, a former CIA and NSA contractor says.
Steven D Kelley made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Saturday while commenting on a statement by Hillary Clinton who said that Snowden should return to the US to answer for his actions.
The frontrunner Democratic presidential candidate said she was suspicious of Snowden’s motives “because he took valuable information and went first to China and then is now under the protection of [Russian President] Vladimir Putin.”
“I think that raises a lot of questions about everything else he did,” she added. “So I do not think he should escape having to return and answer for what he has done.”
The former secretary of state also said that Snowden could have come out publicly with his classified information and been protected under American whistleblower laws.
Kelley said that “it is very incredible for Hillary to be talking about anyone else’s activity as being criminal considering that she has been an incredible criminal herself, who is actually responsible for murder, and many many heinous acts.”
“As far as her assertion that Edward Snowden should have come out publically and would have been protected by American whistleblower laws, I think that’s incredibly foolish,” he stated.
“I think we have seen so many examples of people who have suffered as a result of trying to say the right thing on many many levels,” he added.
“Mr. Snowden, I do not believe did anything illegal. As a private contractor, as a civilian, he was not beholden to the military and he did not relinquish any of his constitutional rights when he took that job for that company,” Kelley pointed out.
“So I believe that his choice to leave the country was perfectly for his safety and knew that he would probably have an accident if he had stayed here [in the United States],” he concluded.
Snowden, a former NSA contractor, began leaking classified intelligence documents in June 2013, revealing the extent of the NSA's spying activity.
He revealed that the spy agency has been collecting the phone records of millions of Americans and foreign nationals as well as political leaders around the world.
Snowden fled his country to avoid espionage charges and was granted asylum in Russia, where he currently resides.
Many Americans regard Snowden as a whistleblower and a national hero for blowing the lid off the US government’s global surveillance operations.
The US Department of Justice has charged Snowden with espionage and stealing of government property.
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