WASHINGTON (AP) — Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency leaker, is defending his disclosure of top-secret U.S. spying programs in an online chat with The Guardian and attacking U.S. officials for calling him a traitor.
He adds the government will not silence him by jailing or, in his words, murdering him.
The Guardian said that its website hosted an online chat with Snowden, in hiding in Hong Kong, with reporter Glenn Greenwald receiving and posting his questions.
Snowden says he did not reveal any U.S. operations against what he called legitimate military targets, but instead showed the NSA is hacking civilian infrastructure like universities and private businesses.
U.S. officials say the data-gathering programs were legal and operated under court supervision.
An email to the NSA for comment was not immediately returned.