Edward Snowden a 29 year old ex-CIA employee working as a contractor at the U.S. National Security Agency -- says he is the man who had leaked details of a top secret U.S. surveillance program, telling Britain's Guardian Newspaper that he was acting out of conscience.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) EX-CIA EMPLOYEE, EDWARD SNOWDEN, SAYING:
"When you see everything, you see them on a more frequent basis, and you recognize that some of these things are actually abuses. And when you talk to people about them, in a place like this where this is the normal state of business, people tend not to take them very seriously and you know, move on from them. But over time, that awareness of wrongdoing sort of builds up and you feel compelled to talk about it. And the more you talk about it, the more you're ignored, the more you're told it's not a problem, until eventually you realize that these things need to be determined by the public, not by somebody who's simply hired by the government."
