The US National Security Agency said on Thursday that it can find no record of US intelligence analyst Edward Snowden complaining internally about wrongdoing regarding US surveillance programmes.
The NSA found one email to the Office of General Counsel in which Snowden asked for an explanation of some material that was in a training course he had just completed, the NSA said in a news release.
The email did not raise allegations or concerns about wrongdoing or abuses, rather it posed a legal question that the Office of General Counsel addressed. The NSA released a copy of the email and the response from the office.
A search for “additional indications of outreach” from Snowden has not produced any “engagements related to his claims,” the statement said.
“There are numerous avenues that Mr Snowden could have used to raise other concerns or whistleblower allegations,” the NSA said.
In an interview with broadcaster NBC aired on Wednesday evening, Snowden said he had warned the NSA that he felt the agency was overstepping its bounds.
“I actually did go through channels, and that is documented,” he said. “The NSA has records, they have copies of emails right now to their Office of General Counsel, to their oversight and compliance folks from me, raising concerns about the NSA’s interpretations of its legal authorities.” Snowden said the response he received was “in bureaucratic language” and sent the message that he should stop asking questions.
Snowden is wanted in the United States on three charges of espionage, after leaking a vast trove of secret documents to journalists, revealing extensive spying by the NSA on the communications of US citizens and international leaders.
The interview was conducted in Moscow. Snowden has been granted temporary asylum by Russia, but told NBC he would like to return to the US.