NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden: "The U.S. Constitution Has Been Violated on a Massive Scale"
Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who last year leaked documents about classified government surveillance programs, told NBC News' Brian Williamsthat he considers himself a patriot in an interview that aired Wednesday night.
"I think patriot is a word that's thrown around so much that it can be devalued nowadays," Snowden said during the sit-down, which was his first on an American television network. "Being a patriot doesn't mean prioritizing service to government above all else. Being a patriot means knowing when to protect your country, knowing when to protect your Constitution, knowing when to protect your countrymen, from the violations of and encroachments of adversaries. And those adversaries don't have to be foreign countries."
Thu, May 29, 2014