#Snowden Says He Took No Secret Files to Russia - NYTimes.com
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/18/world/snowden-says-he-took-no-secret-files-to-russia.html?pagewanted=all
He argued that he had helped American national security by prompting a badly needed public debate about the scope of the intelligence effort. “The #secret continuance of these programs represents a far greater danger than their disclosure,” Mr. Snowden said. He added that he had been more concerned that Americans had not been told about the N.S.A.’s reach than he was about any specific #surveillance operation.
“So long as there’s broad support amongst a people, it can be argued there’s a level of legitimacy even to the most invasive and morally wrong program, as it was an informed and willing decision,” he said. “However, programs that are implemented in secret, out of public oversight, lack that legitimacy, and that’s a problem. It also represents a dangerous normalization of ‘governing in the dark,’ where decisions with enormous public impact occur without any public input.”
Mr. Snowden said that in 2008 and 2009, he was working in Geneva as a telecommunications information systems officer, handling everything from information technology and computer networks to maintenance of the heating and air-conditioning systems. He began pushing for a promotion, but got into what he termed a “petty e-mail spat” in which he questioned a senior manager’s judgment.
