WikiLeaks released five videos of Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee who worked as a consultant for the U.S. National Security Agency, on its website on Saturday. The videos were recorded at a dinner in Moscow last week and are the first footage of him since he was granted asylum in Russia.
Five clips were released, all shorter than one minute, with two having no sound. The videos show Snowden receiving the Sam Adams Associates award from Ray McGovern (a former CIA analyst) and criticizing the reach of U.S. electronic surveillance programs.
- We have an executive branch, a Department of Justice, that is unwilling to prosecute high-ranking officials who lied to Congress and the country… but nothing will stop them from prosecuting someone who told them the truth – Snowden said in one of the clips.
Snowden, who has been granted temporary asylum in Russia, is wanted in the U.S. on charges of espionage after revealing details about government surveillance operations.
The dinner took place on October 9 at a secret location in Moscow and was attended by former officials from the CIA, the National Security Agency (NSA), the FBI, and the U.S. Department of Justice, who are now campaigning against what they describe as the abuse of state secrets, as well as WikiLeaks journalist Sarah Harrison and Snowden’s lawyer Anatoly Kucherena.
