Edward Snowden Says He Didn’t Take Secret Documents to Russia
Published at
AFPTV/AFP/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden is talking again — this time to the New York Times. And he tells the newspaper there’s no chance officials in Russia, where he has been granted temporary asylum, will get access to secret U.S. documents from him.
The Times says it communicated with Snowden through encrypted online communications and he told the paper he didn’t take any secret NSA documents with him to Moscow when he fled there. Instead, he gave all of the documents to journalists in Hong Kong before leaving.
His reasoning? Taking the files to Russia “wouldn’t serve the public interest,” he said.
Additionally, Snowden did not keep any copies for himself.
“What would be the unique value of personally carrying another copy of the materials onward?” he explained.
Snowden, 30, also told the newspaper he was able to protect the documents from the Chinese because his work at the NSA familiarized him with China’s intelligence abilities.
“There’s a zero percent chance the Russians or Chinese have received any documents,” he told the Times.
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio