welcome to cross talk where all things are considered i'm peter lavelle and it's a whistleblower edward snowden has always maintained his motivation was to force a serious conversation about the all encompassing surveillance state well he certainly has achieved this so with mission accomplished is it time to cut a deal with them for even grant him a pardon. to cross-talk edward snowden i'm joined by my guest mary fan in seattle she is a professor at the university of washington and a former federal prosecutor in washington we have ray mcgovern he is the co-founder of veteran intelligence professionals for sanity and in new york we cross to timothy car he is a senior director of strategy at free press all right folks cross talk rolls in fact that means you can jump in anytime you want and i very much encourage it if i go to you first in washington isn't it time to cut a deal with mr snowden i mean he's made his point everybody knows his name if you can if you're literate you know who he is anywhere in the world we certainly know a whole lot more about the n.s.a. i mean isn't it time to move forw

to cross edward snowden i'm joined by my guest mary fan in seattle she is a professor at the university of washington and a former federal prosecutor in washington we have ray mcgovern he is the co-founder of veteran intelligence professionals for sanity and in new york we cross to timothy car he is a senior director of strategy at free press all right folks cross talk rolls in fact that means you can jump in anytime you want and i very much encourage it if i go to you first in washington isn't it time to cut a deal with mr snowden i mean he's made his point everybody knows his name if you can if you're literate you know who he is anywhere in the world we certainly know a whole lot more about the n.s.a. i mean isn't it time to move forward in reform the n.s.a. in the intelligence community and let this guy off the hook he did everyone a huge favor peter i guess i would have problems with your freeze here elegy here cutting a deal. snowden has lived up to a solemn oath to protect and defend the constitution the united states against all the enemies foreign and domestic u.s. district judg

gee here cutting a deal edward snowden has lived up to its solemn oath to protect and defend the constitution the united states against all enemies foreign and domestic a u.s. district judge now has reiterated the fact that. the n.s.a. as he put it has indiscriminately and charlie invaded our privacy in direct violation of the fourth amendment it's not that we should cut a deal with edward snowden we should praise him welcome him home for exposing what what i call incipient fascism is like when the government has all kinds of information on all kinds of people and can use it for all kinds of purposes ok timothy it well there are voices in the n.s.a. that think that they the government should talk to mr snowden i in principle i agree with ray don't get me wrong here but cutting a deal is what's being talked about meaning no more leaks and you will clear your name ok this is the kind of deal and i'm not saying it's the best deal but it is a deal that's being talked about timothy go ahead well i would say that they don't need to strike a deal at all the the whole premise of the charges against e

snowden saying, my work is done. does that mean all the stories based upon the information he's given to the press will stop? he says he's accomplished his objective. i've already won. yet will the stories stop? i don't think so. >> what are you most afraid of if the stories continue? >> what i'm most afraid of we'll reveal our sources our methods, tactics, techniques, procedures, to people around the world that will bring the american people harm. >> is it your attention that these techniques, these tactics, these surveillance mechanisms are legitimately legally but also more important because of the atomized nature of the terrorist threat and affiliated groups with al qaeda? >> actually that's a great point, major. because the 215 program, the metadata program that we're talking about that is more ideally suited against that granular, one individualized attack. it's probably a little less useful than traditional al qaeda attack that slow moving, ponder russ plot with multiple threads designed for mass casualties ag

snowden had to say? republicans, (202) 585-3881. .emocrats, (202) 585-3880 independence and all others, (202) 585-3882. ord us a tweet @cspanwj e-mail us. the front page of "the washington post" has the conducted by a reporter who went to moscow for the interview. edward snowden says i already won. mission is accomplished. sitting down with edward snowden for 14 hours over two days, nonstop interviewing. edward snowden called himself a russian house cat. never leaving his place in asylum from seeks the u.s. and stays in russia. tweetedhington post" several quotes. snowden saying i wanted to give society a chance to determine if it should change itself. he tweeted -- "the washington post" tweeted this. i wanted the public to have a say. post," i defected from the government to the public. also, edward snowden saying this. he is working to improve bnsf. -- the nsa. i am still working for the nsa right now. they are the ones who do not realize it. "theront page of washington post. we want to get your though

spying on world leaders as revealed by edward snowden. be interested to know the stream and we would be have got to make it down to the committee and spend a couple of hours going through mounds of product that would allow a member to be as informed as a member we should is to be on sources and methods and all activities of the intelligence community under the national intelligence framework i would just say and i just think we need to be careful when i talk about it but i we need to assume you don't you wish to use the classification and i think would be disingenuous mr chairman if you suggesting we have information if we don't have it so after that after what you saw there can we really buy the argument that these committees had enough knowledge all along to perform proper oversight of american spy agencies i don't think so snowden also had a message from the n.s.a. he said i'm not trying to bring down the n.s.a. i'm working to improve the n.s.a. i'm still working for the n.s.a. right now just they are the only ones who don't realize it

you wrote a piece, "who broke the law, snowden or the nsa?" was edward snowden protected as an nsa contractor? >> no i'm a not at all. not at all. >> we seem to have just lost kirk wiebe on satellite. --ime then go to ben wizner think we have him back. are you there? did he have another option? >> no, he did not. it is important to realize first there are no formal whistleblower protections for members of the united states notlligence community -- just the nsa, but the cia, all of the components of intelligence and the government structure. none of those employees have formal whistleblower rights. now, are there any logical paths one could take? yes. the inspector general. there is one that the nsa. but if you believe the director of the nsa is at least in part a call. works wrongdoing, that ig for him. if you really want to put the director of the nsa on report, it has to be high-level decision and you must go above the director of the nsa, which is the ig resident with the u.s. department of defense. did.is what we we did the 2002 complaint

snowden says in the interview that he has no regrets. they met somewhere in moscow, the story doesn't reveal the location in a room where edward snowden kept the curtains closed. according to today's "washington post," snowden said, "i already won." in terms of personal s satisfacti satisfaction, the mission is already splished. snowden spoke for hours to the reporter for the washington post. >> he is very much at peace with his choices. he wanted to provoke and inspire and galvanize a public debate. he has succeeded in that beyond any reasonable ambition. >> reporter: snowden claimed that he first raised his concerns about the reach of government surveillance to nsa co-workers and supervisors more than a year ago. >> almost recklessly, if you don't want to get caught, he was asking them about what he called the front page test. what do you think the american people would think if they knew about this? >> reporter: but the nsa says the investigation turned up no evidence that he brought his concerns to anyone's attention. in the intervie

contractor edward snowden which exposed america's mass surveillance. the old media organizations are simply a branch of the establishment. we also talk to we could leaks founder julian assange about the state of journalism today and his new media standard road movie where he and others offer up secret documents to various media outlets. and broadcasting a lot of direct from our studios in moscow this is our team sean thomas let's get right to our top story in investigators say they are looking at a number of possibilities of who carried out a suicide bomb attack in the southern russian city of volgograd that killed fifteen people ninety's correspondent margaret how will be joining us later with more information we'll bring you her report a little bit later but anti-war activist don de bar now he believes that the international community should have bring to account the state actors that enable such terrorist attacks. people on the ground who did this perhaps may be you know anonymous players just individuals who are incited one way or another but you d

no sir while most americans think edward snowden the u.s. government tectum is a spy and a traitor united states government classified its evidence of its own criminal misconduct its its violations of the bill of rights what we're doing is said to catering to tell a tarion procedures which is gathering information about all the individuals in the world. the former intelligence contractor is now in exile knowing for certain that he'd go to jail should he return to the u.s. like bradley and now chelsea manning who was sentenced to thirty five years in jail this august so we kill leaks manning released many thousands of diplomatic cables and video proof of u.s. involvement in wartime just another man who found himself in jail this year was john key the first u.s. official to confirm the government's use of waterboarding to interrogate carries suspects i caught up with him shortly before he went to serve his two and a half year sentence i have never believed that my case was about a leak i have always believed that my case is about torture in th

again, snowden a terrible messenger for this. i'm very uncomfortable knowing what i know and even knowing what i don't know about what snowden has leaked. it's scary to think about who has the information and the damage it's going to do. to me that's a very difficult piece of this puzzle. >> ben, in terms of the president, sort of who he is, he's a constitutional law professor. i'm sure none of these decisions were made lightly. i'm sure he's at his best, these are tough choices. he brings transparency to the issue. given how his hands are tied legislatively in terms of passing any laws in the second term, it seems like this is one area where he can really dig in and sort of substantively try and change things in a way that comports with who he is morally with a man. >> he wants to ensure a national security apparatus consistent with our values. there will be an odd coalition in congress that comes together to support some level of reform. i anticipate he will embrace that level of reform. on its face looks like collecting all of

snowden told the "washington post": snowden, a former n.s.a. computer specialist, has leaked top secret files detailing how the u.s. collects massive amounts of phone and internet data. the government argues bulk collections helped detect terrorist plots, but in defending his leaks in june, snowden told britain's the "guardian" newspaper innocent americans need to know their privacy rights are being violated. >> the public needs to decide whether these programs and policies are right or wrong. >> reporter: snowden made the same point to the "post," insisting he's a whistle-blower and not a defector. >> reporter: but the u.s. justice department has charged him under the espionage act with divulging classified information. snowden's supporters say he might return to the u.s. if prosecutors back off. in an interview last month, attorney general eric holder said that won't happen. would you entertain any kind of immunity deal for snowden? >> i don't think there's a basis for that, at this point. what he did harmed our national security in a great m

they charged snowden with spying and theft charges. he has so far escaped by getting asylum in russia. in this new interview snowden seems to say it has been worth it. he says, quote, i already won. as soon as the journalists were able to work, everything that i have been trying to do was validated because, remember, dwant to change society. i wanted to give sosa chance to determine if it should change itself, end quote. if edward snowden says he already won, does that mean that he's ready to come home? >> if snowden is ready to come home he isn't saying so. right now snowden is looking back at the last six months and saying his mission has been accomplished because, as you heard, the american public is having an open debate now about whether or not both data collection is a good thing or a bad thing. it is interesting, snowden also told "the washington post" this. quote, i'm not trying to bring down the nsa. i am working to improve the nsa. i am still working for the nsa right now. they are the only ones who don't realize it. now, the

coming up on r t edward snowden speaks again this time it's to the people of brazil the n.s.a. whistleblower has offered to help the nation investigate u.s. surveillance but this time he wants something in return details on that just ahead and in texas the fracking industry is on fire literally homeowners fear the controversial practice is lighting up their drinking water and in depth look at the boom that's leaving locals busted coming up. and in pennsylvania a bar of soap can land you in handcuffs two people spent a month in jail after police mistook homemade soap for cocaine we talked to the lawyer scrubbing their records clean later in the show. it's tuesday december seventeenth in washington d.c. i'm here at david and you're watching our team we begin tonight with breaking news at least two people a gunman and another person have been killed in a shooting today at a hospital in reno nevada that's all according to the reno police department the gunfire occurred this afternoon at the renown medical center and according to the city's communications center the shooter went to

was snowden is reviewing -- revealing is the limit. he is revealing how we acquired this information. it will take years, if not decades, for us to return to the position that we had prior to his disclosure. >> glenn greenwald, i want you to respond to that and also the snowdenequest by edward to get asylum in the country where you now live, in brazil, and the significance of the debate -- police reported by "the new york times" that is going on within the intelligence community and the white house about whether edward snowden should possibly be granted amnesty. >> first of all, michael hayden in that clip just told outright lies, as he so often does. anyone who has any doubts should read the letter that edward snowden wrote to the people of brazil as well as the people of germany, and compared to what michael hayden lied and said he actually did. he never offered to give documents in exchange for asylum or anything like that. he did the opposite. he has repeatedly been pursued by officials of both countries asking him to participate i

s most prized spy programs on the verge of dismemberment and with edward snowden nearing vindication in the united states but if he's ever going to return home and what happens in our courts and in congress over the next few months are critically important in washington d.c. same sex party. now in the midst of this report calling into question the n.s.a.'s surveillance tactics the spy agency is also conducting a blitz of its own the n.s.a. has launched its own twitter p.r. page so far it has sent out a total of three tweets its first tweet encourage viewers to turn into that controversial sixty minutes report that media clip critics claim amounted to a p.r. job for the agency the other two tweets linked to podcasts on lawfare where our reporter interviewed the n.s.a. director of come of compliance john de long and n.s.a. general counsel d. so is the twitter account going to change the beleaguered agency's perception here to talk all things n.s.a. i'm joined now by justin wright act she is the national security and human rights director for the government accountability project and al

edward snowden says george orwell's fictitious big brother is no match for the u.s. national security agency the types of collection the book microphones and video cameras t.v.'s that watches are nothing compared to what we have today snowden revealed that a secret court rubber stamps warrants for telecommunication companies to hand out the data of millions of their customers he also leaked the programs that the government uses to track virtually anything anybody does on the internet and also store that information and he showed how the u.s. government had lie about mass surveillance does the n.s.a. collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of americans no sir while most americans think to edward snowden the u.s. government tectum as a spy and a traitor the united states government classified its evidence of its own criminal misconduct its its violations of the bill of rights what we're doing is advocating to tell a tarion procedures which is gathering information about all the individuals in the world. the former intelligence contractor is

allies went to work on snowden's associates in london the partner of n.s.a. leaks journalist glenn greenwald was detained at london's heathrow airport and questioned for nine hours because he had some of snowden's documents in his possession then the guardian newspaper in august revealed the men in black suits that entered their offices telling them to destroy hard drives containing classified files or else that g c h q raid took place in july according to the newspaper but by then it was too little too late the publications outed her and chief said there are many copies of these documents in other parts of the world or syria for correspondence but on top of this story let's cross to her she's in london she's been following it closely so either a happy new year to you very shortly thank you for being with us tonight to see you as always snowden certainly put his name on them are a lot of other information too putting it mildly. absolutely well for worse or for better twenty thirteen certainly been a year that demanded our attention and the snowden revelations

it doesn't unvindicate snowden. in other words, his vindication doesn't lie in the hands of a particular hands or court. his vindication lies in the hands of the american public. that is both a legal and practical matter. the legal analysis on this metadata and whether or not it's constitutional. the usage of it is constitutional is dependent upon the reasonable expectation of privacy. that's the phrase. should the american people feel like they should have an expectation of privacy in their phone records? that's the ultimate vindication of edward snowden. by the way, his relationship with foreign governments undercuts that potential vindication. >> what's interesting is there's much more to come. he stoeld 1.7 million bits of data that he's leaking very slowly. in fact, the guy that heads up the nsa's task force, you know, wants the amnesty put on the table. he think they should grant amnesty. should that be so, john avlon? >> no. we have snowden's word that he's got documents that the other shoe will drop if any l

contractor edward snowden which exposed america's massive surveillance. the old media organizations are we a branch of the establishment. we also talk to wiki leaks founder julian assange about the state of journalism today and his new media road movie where he and others offer up secret documents to various media outlets. and broadcasting live from our studios in moscow this is our team shawn thomas glad to have you with us now investigators say they are looking at a number of possibilities of who carried out a suicide bomb attack in southern russian city of volgograd some evidence now suggests a man that may have been involved in the first reports of those said it was a lone female suicide bomber it has been confirmed fifteen people were killed in the attack which targeted the city's central railway station. has details. the bomb went off just before one pm on the cross busy train station it did to nation ripped through an area around a security checkpoint as in suspecting passengers waited for their luggage to be inspected before leaving i bent down to

coming up on r t edward snowden speaks again this time it's to the people of brazil the n.s.a. whistleblower has offered to help the nation investigate u.s. surveillance but this time he wants something in return details on that just ahead and in texas the fracking industry is on fire literally homeowners fear the controversial practice is lighting up their drinking water an in-depth look at the boom that we leaving locals busted coming up and in pennsylvania a bar of soap can land you in handcuffs two people spent a month in jail after police mistook homemade so for cocaine we talked to the lawyer scrubbing their records clean later in the show. it's tuesday december seventeenth four pm in washington d.c. i'm lynn neary david and you're watching. and we begin today with an open letter that edward snowden has written to the people of brazil now in the letter which was published today in brazil's full han newspaper snowden said he'd be willing to help brazil investigate and i say spying on its soil but could not fully participate in doing so without being granted political asylu

no sir while most americans think to edward snowden the u.s. government tectum as a spy and a traitor the united states government classified its evidence of its own criminal misconduct its its violations of the bill of rights what we're doing is said to catering to tele tarion procedures which is gathering information about all the individuals in the world. the former intelligence contractor is now in exile knowing for certain that he'd go to jail should he return to the us like bradley and now chelsea manning who was sentenced to thirty five years in jail this august so we could leaks manning released many thousands of diplomatic cables and video proof of us involved thinking and want to find. another man who found himself in jail this year was john king the first u.s. official to confirm the government's use of waterboarding to interrogate carol suspects i caught up with him shortly before he went to have served his two and a half years sentence i have never believed that my case was about a leak i have always believed that my case is about

the week started with edward snowden reaching out to brazil and the n.s.a. making a p.r. push with the help of sixty minutes but the week is ending very very differently on monday the federal courthouse behind me delivered the first legal blow to the n.s.a. signature bulk phone records collection program a program that the world just learned about back in june as a result of edward snowden's disclosures in the case judge richard leon said i cannot imagine a more indiscriminate an arbitrary invasion than the systematic and high tech collection and retention of personal data on virtually every citizen for purposes of querying it and analyzing it without prior judicial approval surely such a program infringes on the degree of privacy of the founders in shrines in the fourth amendment the program will be shut down in six months pending a government appeal after the ruling journalist glenn greenwald was quick to explain the significance of what just happened it's an extraordinary ruling ari and it's an absolute in the case and somewhere to stay safe a attributes one as a some

the ability to go around those security measures, and that's what snowden did. >> miller: edward snowden worked for the n.s.a. in hawaii. part of his job was to help maintain the n.s.a.'s computers, and also to move large sets of data between different systems. did he take everything he had access to, or was he a careful shopper? >> ledgett: he did something that we call "scraping," where he went out and just went... used tools to scrape information from web sites, and put it into a place where... where he could download it. >> miller: at some point, you then understood the breadth of what was missing and what could be missing? >> ledgett: yes. >> miller: of all the things he took, is there anything in there that worries you or concerns you more than anything else? >> ledgett: it's an exhaustive list of the requirements that have been levied against... against the national security agency. and what that... what that gives is what topics we're interested in, where our gaps are. but additional information about u.s. capabilities and u.s. gaps is provided as part of that. >> miller: so, i'm

edward snowden the former n.s.a. whistleblower he's going to be the hot topic for debate in crosstalk coming your way in a. the parliament of yemen has put forward a motion to ban drone attacks in the country the motion is now awaiting approval by the president and it's probably impossible to enforce unless they could build a really big net or something isn't it strange that now after years of drone strikes in their country the parliament just wakes up to the fact their systems are getting blown up from the sky to be fair yemen doesn't have a ton of cash and i could see how having the well equipped and funded us military take care of the al qaeda problem for them for free could be really entice and i mean it must be scary to be a politician with lots of power hungry terrorists about this would be the first time in history that a stronger foreign power fought a weaker states battles for them but the problem is that according to the huffington post a former u.s. state department official in yemen says that every year d

snowden get indictments. that's the real injustice that needs to be resolved before he can return. >> thank you. you can twitter us if you want to talk about it. >>> coming up next, you might not want to book a crews cruise after you see this investigation, not just went wrong with the carnival last winter, but also the cruise line where it was hard for the 17-year-old badly wounded outside that hospital in denver. ♪ [ car beeps ] ♪ ♪ we're gonna need a bigger bucket. ♪ [ male announcer ] more people are leaving bmw, mercedes and lexus for audi than ever before. the holidays won't last and neither will the season of audi. visit audioffers.com today. ♪ impact wool exports from new zealand, textile production in spain, and the use of medical technology in the u.s.? at t. rowe price, we understand the connections of a complex, global economy. it's just one reason over 70% of our mutual funds beat their 10-year lipper average. t. rowe price. invest with confidence. request a prospectus or summary prospe

did see it as a problem and decided to go public. >> edward snowden has done us a very great service. we must be grateful to him. the issue is the right to privacy and the individual's right to control the dissemination of personal information. >> a german green party lawmaker may be grateful. many other politicians are not. in october, he visited snowden in moscow, where he has been given asylum by the russian government. >> he indicated that he knows a lot more about the documents that have been in his possession, though he no longer has them, and that he could say a lot about them. he has an endless supply of knowledge that should be available to us as we shed light on these matters, because we cannot expect any help from the nsa. >> the bugging of german chancellor angela merkel's cell phone, the existence of a secret listening post at the u.s. embassy in berlin, the collecting of metadata on billions of calls, and the extensive mining of the internet for data -- snowden was behind those revelations and more. >> people all over the world are realizing that these programs do not m

espionage at the assembly meeting. >> edward snowden has political support. legislators has asked for support in hearings. the only person to grant him asylum is the president. >> and the brazilian government sis it has not received initial request from edward snowden for asylum. the white house appears to send a message to russia, with the official u.s. delegation to the 2014 olympics in socchi. president obama will not travel to russia. the delegation includes no other high-ranking officials. he is sending two highly gay athletes, billy jean king, and hockey player caitlin cahol. the delegation represents the diversity that is the united states. russia is taking heat over its inacted laws against gay proppa glandsa. ondeuce billy jean king sent out this tweet: >> the u.s. says russia's massive bailout of ukraine will not address the concerns of ukrainian protesters. demonstrators opposed to the deal gathered in the capital kiev, and want ukraine to have closer ties with the european union. russia is providing a financial live line for a country that is trap

your group is working with snowden. this was not expressly a request for asylum from snowden but presumably, he would need that before he would go anywhere, is that a fair reading into this letter? >> maybe so. i think people got a little bit carried away with this letter. mr. snowden has gotten requests from brazilian senators and indeed, from politicians in other countries as well to cooperate with their investigations of nsa spying and of their own country spying. what he's saying here is he supports reform efforts around the world, he applauds the brazilian people for standing up to mass surveillance both by the u.s. and in their own government, and he would like to support that but remember, he is now living under a one year grant of asylum from russia. when his humanitarian situation is resolved, he will be able to provide different kinds of support like perhaps testimony. for the time being, i wouldn't read too much into this letter. >> months ago, he talked about brazil being one of the countries that he was pos

collects data from internet companies like google and yahoo one of the snowden leaks involved. the concept that n.s.a. had tunneled into the far end data centers of major us internet providers the belief describe it the right way no that's not correct we do target terrorist communications and terrorists use communications from google from yahoo and from other service providers so our objective is to collect those communications no matter where they are but we're not going into a facility or targeting google as an entity or yahoo was an entity but as the washington post reported back in october the n.s.a. is hacking into data links between google and yahoo servers and scooping out data which raises a bunch of questions in itself they can legally get terrorist communications from google and yahoo it's not clear they can legally get for example financial intelligence from google and yahoo one of the reasons they would have to go overseas to have to sue to break into google and yahoo communication cables is is that they're doing stuff beyond what the face a court would approve but

snowden? >> i think you will see additional snowdens. but he has ignited a worldwide debate and government discussion that we never had. there was a bit of a blip after 2005. about the wiretapping program. this is far beyond that and has sustained itself over six months. and if the pending bills and legislation introduced in the u.s. congress is any indication, upwards of a dozen plus bills, the leading one is probably the freedom act co-sponsored by sensenbrenner and wyden, there is going to be some sort of legislation even during election year. >> well, it has sparked a conversation and many debates around dinner tables this holiday see john. thomas drake, thank you for your tom and joining us from baltimore. >> thanks for having me. >>> time to see what is trending on al jazeera's web site and check back in with hermela. >> two years after occupy wall street ended, the topic of income and equality is gaining traction. the google searches topped. the top turned search wa inequilt in income, inequilt of income and income distribution. t

it's a good question and before the snowden revelations. i would have said the term you need you need parliamentary committees to look at them and you need sound . care for oversight from ministers. but the intelligence and security committee has made itself look like a lapdog here you know we recently had a big to do about intelligence service chiefs appearing before the intelligence and security committee and all they did was come up with our answers to predetermine questions so they'd been told what questions they were going to cost and they they arts of them and they used they grandstand you basically they use the opportunity to say all this information being published in the guardian is disgraceful and it's causing a major threat to national security over time these committees tend. they tend to go native they ted to start feeling of being part of the system as being predictive of the intelligence and security services rather them forever asking questions i mean i'm a journalist you're a journalist i in my belief is as a journalist the

edward snowden, edith windsor, who was a plaintiff in the case. i had the absolute pleasure of meeting her, an incredible human being. her story is incredible. there is an incredible interview we don't have time to play right now, but we'll put up later. and bashar assad is interesting, it brought up the point that this is a moral designation, stalin won it twice, hitler has won it. but as time has gone on, "time magazine," the pr, in general, the hysterical controversy, is not going to name bashar assad. >> i think the last of the evil picks was the ayatollah after the iranian revolution in the late '70s. so i'm interested to see how did they actually frame these issues back in the day, how did they get the joseph stalin -- >> that is the difference. >> ultimately, when time magazine shows activist of the year, if we're talking about nelson mandela, see, that is what he was about. he said it is about the movements, not about the man, and that is really what makes it -- >> there was a protester in 2011, which is of course the year of the occupied

but is he ready to cut the fugitive snowden any slack? snowden was granted asylum by russia. he's charged with stealing and spreading classified information. major garrett asked the president about all this at the news conference today. major? >> reporter: scott, the idea of the obama administration granting amnesty or negotiating a plea agreement with edward snowden was first raised by rick leggett, he's the head of the government task force on the snowden leaks. under what circumstances would you consider either a plea agreement or amnesty for edward snowden? and what do you say to americans, sir, who believe edward snowden set in motion something that is proper and just in this country about the scope of surveillance and should not be considered by this government a criminal? >> the fact of the matter is that the united states is a country that abides by rule of law, that cares deeply about privacy, that cares about civil liberties, that cares about our constitution. so i think that as important and as necessary as this debate has been, it is also important to keep in mind

tell us about this alternative address from snowden, phil. >> richelle edward snowden apparently taped this in moscow and it will be airing shortly on britain's channel 4. we expect -- we do have an early release transcript of what he will say, and the bulk of it is about privacy issues, and in particular edward snowden says that children born today may grow up in a world where they have no idea what personal privacy is. he -- he pointed out several issues about technology and how easy it is to eavesdrop on all of us now a days with our smartphones and internet access. he also in particular points out the british author george orewell's 1984 novel in which of course famously there is the presence of big brother in everyone's lives. so it this a tradition in britain, and many will be looking to see exactly what edward snowden says. as you say his first televised appearance. >> you say that this is a tradition in britain. give us a little bit more of the history of this channel 4 alternative address. who else has done this? >> well, notably then iranian president did it one year. channel

snowden. this is one hour and 20 minutes. >> chemical to me to order and welcome our witness for today session. you are giving evidence as part intoe committee's inquiry counterterrorism. thank you very much for coming here this afternoon. can i refer all those present to interestser where the of the defenders of this committee are omitted. can ask other members to declare any special interests? for've written two articles "the guardian" on this issue. i should say we are all "guardian" readers. some of us more avidly than others. we all declare our interest. i did read it this morning. can we just be clear at the start that there was reference to some newspapers are your been compelled to come here against your wishes? we wrote you an invite you to come here and you are part of that inquiry. you don't feel under any compulsion to you? >> i wasn't aware it was optional. >> when you said yes there's no need to pursue that further. informationect to that you've got for mr. snowden, you only publ

does that vindicate edward snowden? >> i don't think. but what snowden exposed has not been shown to be illegal. today, a judge said, it was illegal. so there's no question that today is a big victory for glen greenwald and snowden. >> why doesn't it justify what he did? >> he took classified information and disclosed it in an illegal way that is costing 10s of millions of dollars of work by the american government to redo and potentially exposed it to the chinese and russians. i don't think this vindicates him but it comes closer than any previous development has. >> should this vindicate ed snowden? >> how could it not? let use common sense for a minute. this is an american citizen who discovers that the united states government is doing things without the knowledge of the american people that is so illegal and against the core constitutional guarantees of the constitution that the judge says it's not even a close call. james madison would be aghast if he knew that the government is gathering the data doubt suspicion or probable cause.

let's now take a closer look at snowden exposed about n.s.a. surveillance its collection millions of phone records in america every day and it also has access to internet giants like google facebook and microsoft and is harvesting online data around the globe under on top of that the security agency telling its european citizens and even top say you need is but at the same time germany and the u.k. along with australia and canada actually closely collaborating with american intelligence lashed american governments and companies are a major target for u.s. spies plus the n.s.a. is collecting data from fiber optic cables that carry most of the world's internet and phone traffic and a former cia officer ray mcgovern believes those violating privacy should face justice not that any. i am delighted to hear that ed snowden on his desk in honolulu had a copy of the constitution of the united states all dog eared because he used it to argue with his his come patriots there it is say as to whether what they were doing was legal whether it was constituti