Snowden Calls NSA Email Release 'Incomplete'

More back-and-forth between the National Security Agency and its least favorite former contractor: Edward Snowden says the single email from him that the NSA has released is an "incomplete" record and he voiced his concern about the agency's "indefensible collection activities" on multiple occasions. If the White House wants the truth instead of the NSA's "clearly tailored and incomplete leak," it should "ask my former colleagues, management, and the senior leadership team about whether I, at any time, raised concerns about the NSA’s improper and at times unconstitutional surveillance activities," Snowden tells the Washington Post.

The NSA and White House said yesterday that Snowden had "numerous avenues" in which to raise his concerns—although as a contractor, he would not have enjoyed whistleblower protection, the Post notes. "I did raise such concerns both verbally and in writing, and on multiple, continuing occasions—as I have always said, and as NSA has always denied," Snowden says. In the email, which can be seen in full here, Snowden seeks clarification on whether executive orders can override laws. Officials suspect that Snowden wanted to know whether some surveillance activities were conducted under executive orders instead of laws, the New York Times reports. "But we don't know for sure," one official says. "We do know we can't find other complaints." (More Edward Snowden stories.)