Snowden didn’t raise concerns internally: NSA

The National Security Agency has been unable to find any evidence that Edward Snowden raised his concerns about its sweeping surveillance programmes internally before leaking the information. NSA Associate Director for Policy and Records David Sherman said the agency had launched a “comprehensive” investigation after media reports were published about classified NSA spy programmes based on information leaked by Snowden. As part of last year’s probe, the NSA collected and searched Snowden’s “sent, received and deleted email,” including that “obtained by restoring back-up tapes” Sherman said in a sworn declaration filed Friday.

The search did not identify any email written by Mr Snowden in which he contacted agency officials to raise concerns about NSA programmes.

NSA Associate Director for Policy and Records David Sherman

The findings contradict Snowden’s claim in an interview with NBC News in May that he did raise concerns through “internal channels” within the NSA and was told to “stop asking questions” before ultimately deciding to leak the secret files. Searches for the emails included the records from the agency’s Office of General Counsel, Office of the Inspector General and Office of the Director of Compliance. The NSA made its declaration in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by VICE News against the NSA earlier this year.

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