Edward Snowden talked about secrets a lot during a live video appearance at CU-Boulder Feb. 16, but he didnāt give up many of his own.
The former National Security Agency contractor ā who in 2013 leaked a vast collection ofĀ documents aboutĀ mass surveillance of U.S.Ā citizens by the federal government ā demurred Tuesday when asked which Presidential candidate he favors.
But Snowden declared heās at peace with the possibility his actionsĀ could lead him to prison and said he has achieved his primary goal.
āI set out to let the public have the information they should always have hadā¦,ā he said of millions of classified government documents he disclosed, revealing the nature and vast extent of federal surveillance of Americans. āOnce that was done, my mission was accomplished, my work was done.ā
He also said: āIf I end up in Guantanamoā¦I can live with that.ā
Snowden has been living in exile in Russia since August 2013, when the Russian government gave him asylum. The U.S. Justice Department has charged him with espionage.
From Russia, Snowden addressed the CU-Boulder audience live via Google Hangouts, appearing on a giant video screen suspended over the Macky Auditorium stage. The event was sponsored by CU-Boulderās student-run Distinguished Speakers Board and moderated by Ron Suskind, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who teaches at Harvard Law School.
Variously hailed as a civil liberties hero and condemned as a traitor, Snowdenās disclosures have embarrassed the U.S. and allied governments, spurred intense discussions about privacy and other civil liberties, and prompted changes to federal conduct.
He found a friendly reception at Macky, where the capacity crowd cheered him repeatedly, sometimes at length.
The audience, dense with students, was so eager to hear directly from Snowden that some heckled Suskind for interrupting with his own long-winded questions.
āLet him speak,ā one young woman shouted out to applause.
Snowden, 32, sat before a dark backdrop with nothing more visible behind him. He wore a dark shirt and sport coat, eyeglasses and ear buds.
Over the course of nearly 90 minutes, he touched on a wide range of topics, including his motives for exposing government secrets, his thoughts about the ramifications for society and for himself and technology as an āamplifier of power.ā
He also addressed his close collaboration with journalists, the long history of rebellion in America and the proliferation of government secrets, whichĀ can sometimesĀ be necessary, he allowed, but only in a ātransientā way.
Besides allowing himself a few broad, shy smiles in response to heavy applause, Snowden maintained a serious attitude, even when the moderator tried to set him up for a joke.
Suskind at one point asked Snowden about HBO comedian John Oliverās suggestion, in a previous interview with Snowden, that the mainĀ reason most people care about government monitoring of private communications is the fearĀ their ānaked selfiesā might be exposed. Ā But Snowden didnāt take the bait, and simplyĀ addressed the matter of why people should care.
When Suskind tried again, saying that 330 million Americans represented āa lot of naked selfies,ā Snowden again opted for a soberĀ response.
āPeople goā¦ āI donāt have anything to hideā¦āā he said. āThatās like saying you donāt care about freedom of speech because you have nothing to say.ā
In the eventās closing moments, Suskind prompted a final burst of applause. Saying the event had āstruck a blow for the First Amendment,ā he encouraged the crowd to cheer so loud that āEd could hear it in Moscow.ā
The cheer went up.Ā Then the screen went dark and Edward Snowden was gone.
Photo by Patrick Campbell/ĄÖ²„“«Ć½