The NSA’s ability to collect mass amounts of phone data might be coming to end as a bill on the topic moves through Congress. A former CIA head says it’s a necessary check against abuse, but one journalist thinks the agency has moved beyond the program altogether.
Washington Post contributor Barton Gellman sat down with Edward Snowden in Moscow for a 14 hour interview, recently. It was the former NSA contractor’s first major interview since he was granted asylum in Russia. Gellman describes Snowden as something of a shut-in who doesn’t mind living alone in his Moscow residence, now that he’s sparked an international debate on surveillance.
Edward Snowden is looking to leave Russia, where he has temporary asylum. So he offered to help Brazil investigate the NSA’s spying on that country. But if Brazil takes up the offer and gives Snowden asylum, it can expect serious consequences from a displeased US.
A British parliamentary panel questioned Alan Rusbridger, the editor of the newspaper that first published many of the documents leaked by Edward Snowden. He was asked about his love of his country, and he defended his newspaper as acting to help the public understand what its government was doing.