WASHINGTON: The National Security Agency was unable to find evidence that leaker Edward Snowden ever raised concerns internally about its sweeping surveillance programs, after an exhaustive search that included deleted emails, court documents showed.
NSA Associate Director for Policy and Records David Sherman said that the agency had launched a "comprehensive" investigation after media reports were published about classified NSA spy programs based on information leaked by Snowden.
As part of last year's probe, the NSA collected and searched Snowden's "sent, received and deleted email," including that "obtained by restoring back-up tapes" Sherman said in a sworn declaration filed yesterday.
"The search did not identify any email written by Mr Snowden in which he contacted agency officials to raise concerns about NSA programs."
Searches for the emails included the records from the agency's Office of General Counsel, Office of the Inspector General and Office of the Director of Compliance.
The findings contradict Snowden's claim in an interview with NBC News in May that he did raise concerns through "internal channels" within the NSA and was told to "stop asking questions" before ultimately deciding to leak the secret files.
Sherman, who has worked with the NSA since 1985, has the authority to classify information as "top secret."
The NSA made its declaration in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by VICE News against the NSA earlier this year.
The only relevant communication uncovered was a previously released email between Snowden and the Office of General Counsel inquiring about material in a training course he had completed.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, said at the time that the exchange "poses a question about the relative authority of laws and executive orders -- it does not register concerns about NSA's intelligence activities."
More here:
Edward Snowden didn't raise concerns internally: National Security Agency
- WikiLeaks' Julian Assange: NSA critics got lucky because agency had no PR strategy - April 26th, 2014 [April 26th, 2014]
- National Speakers Association New Jersey Chapter NSA - April 26th, 2014 [April 26th, 2014]
- National Security Agency - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - April 26th, 2014 [April 26th, 2014]
- NSA - Satu Hari Di Bulan Juni (TULUS) (COVER) - Video - April 26th, 2014 [April 26th, 2014]
- Hong Kong: Protesters blow whistles for NSA whistle blower - Video - April 26th, 2014 [April 26th, 2014]
- An Inside Look at the NSA With Whistleblower William Binney (Part 2 of 2) - Video - April 26th, 2014 [April 26th, 2014]
- UK: China will offer fig leaves to US exposed by NSA leaker - Assange - Video - April 26th, 2014 [April 26th, 2014]
- NSA ~ (Autodidactism) Whistleblowing - Video - April 27th, 2014 [April 27th, 2014]
- Dropping #NSA Knowledge Like a Clumsy Librarian - Video - April 27th, 2014 [April 27th, 2014]
- Full Show: Disband The NSA or; Corruption in the Capitol FO SHIZZLE {aTV002} - Video - April 27th, 2014 [April 27th, 2014]
- NSA DOCUMENTARY SIX YEARS BEFORE SNOWDEN - Video - April 27th, 2014 [April 27th, 2014]
- ShmooCon 2014: The NSA: Capabilities and Countermeasures - Video - April 27th, 2014 [April 27th, 2014]
- NSA Knew Of Heartbleed Bug, Refused To Protect Americans - Video - April 27th, 2014 [April 27th, 2014]
- Former NSA Head To Become Columnist For Conservative Paper To Discuss Intelligence - Video - April 27th, 2014 [April 27th, 2014]
- An Inside Look at the NSA With Whistleblower William Binney (Part 1 of 2) - Video - April 27th, 2014 [April 27th, 2014]
- Keynote Address by Shri Shivshankar Menon, NSA at International Seminar on Kautilya - Video - April 27th, 2014 [April 27th, 2014]
- NSA Wiretapping: A 4th Amendment Violation?: Blake Norvell at TEDxSMU - Video - April 27th, 2014 [April 27th, 2014]
- Hang with Rand: Email Privacy, NSA Spying, and Defending Our Civil Liberties - Video - April 27th, 2014 [April 27th, 2014]
- NSA Surveillance and What To Do About It - Bruce Schneier - Video - April 27th, 2014 [April 27th, 2014]
- READER SUBMITTED: NSA CT April 2014 Meeting - April 28th, 2014 [April 28th, 2014]
- MVI 1847 Obama's NSA Denies FOIA About MH 370! - Video - April 28th, 2014 [April 28th, 2014]
- George Galloway's Sputnik: Ewen MacAskill on Guardian / Edward Snowden NSA leaks (26Apr14) - Video - April 28th, 2014 [April 28th, 2014]
- CIA & NSA DIRECTED ENERGY WEAPON ATTACK ON WHISTLE BLOWER - Video - April 28th, 2014 [April 28th, 2014]
- Book TV - 2014 San Antonio Book Festival: Panel on the NSA, Big Brother, and Democracy - Video - April 28th, 2014 [April 28th, 2014]
- NSA Throwdown: John Oliver v. 60 Minutes - April 29th, 2014 [April 29th, 2014]
- NSA will sit on security vulnerabilities because of terrorism - April 29th, 2014 [April 29th, 2014]
- New water records show NSA Utah Data Center likely behind schedule - April 29th, 2014 [April 29th, 2014]
- MVI 1871 NSA Might Be OnTo Me! - Video - April 29th, 2014 [April 29th, 2014]
- ZyXEL NSA 325 v2 Hands On - Deutsch / German notebooksbilliger.de - Video - April 29th, 2014 [April 29th, 2014]
- German opposition says US should destroy Merkel's NSA file - Video - April 29th, 2014 [April 29th, 2014]
- Germany: NSA spying "unacceptable" says SPD - Video - April 29th, 2014 [April 29th, 2014]
- NSA Surveillance 2 - Video - April 29th, 2014 [April 29th, 2014]
- NSA Surveillance Panel 1 - Video - April 29th, 2014 [April 29th, 2014]
- Chalk Talk How Snowden Breached NSA Security - Video - April 29th, 2014 [April 29th, 2014]
- NSA reveals some cyber security flaws are left secret - April 30th, 2014 [April 30th, 2014]
- NSA data center uses less water than expected - April 30th, 2014 [April 30th, 2014]
- April 2014 Breaking News Do you use Google or Yahoo? NSA Intercepts Google And Yahoo Traffic - Video - April 30th, 2014 [April 30th, 2014]
- Supreme Court could weigh in on NSA case, justice says - May 1st, 2014 [May 1st, 2014]
- New NSA chief: Agency has lost trust - May 1st, 2014 [May 1st, 2014]
- NSA on Heartbleed: 'We're not legally allowed to lie to you' - May 1st, 2014 [May 1st, 2014]
- What's The NSA Doing Now? Training More Cyberwarriors - May 1st, 2014 [May 1st, 2014]
- Anonymous NSA - Video - May 1st, 2014 [May 1st, 2014]
- Cutting off H2O to the NSA - Video - May 1st, 2014 [May 1st, 2014]
- Brazil: Greenwald slams US media, shares tips to avoid NSA - Video - May 1st, 2014 [May 1st, 2014]
- NSA IS TRYINGG 2 KILL ME FAMS - Video - May 1st, 2014 [May 1st, 2014]
- What was more popular on Twitter, NSA, NRA or NBA..today? - Video - May 1st, 2014 [May 1st, 2014]
- CIS111: NSA Uncovered - Video - May 1st, 2014 [May 1st, 2014]
- Views from the Street on NSA Activities and Liberty (6/6) - Video - May 1st, 2014 [May 1st, 2014]
- Views from the Street on NSA Activities and Liberty (4/6) - Video - May 1st, 2014 [May 1st, 2014]
- Views from the Street on NSA Activities and Liberty (3/6) - Video - May 1st, 2014 [May 1st, 2014]
- Views from the Street on NSA Activities and Liberty (2/6) - Video - May 1st, 2014 [May 1st, 2014]
- Views from the Street on NSA Activities and Liberty (1/6) - Video - May 1st, 2014 [May 1st, 2014]
- Germany: NSA may have accidentally outed secret base - Video - May 1st, 2014 [May 1st, 2014]
- ZyXEL NSA 325 v2 Installations-Wizard - Deutsch / German notebooksbilliger.de - Video - May 1st, 2014 [May 1st, 2014]
- Tech firms to increase alerts about police requests for data -- report - May 2nd, 2014 [May 2nd, 2014]
- German Chancellor Angela Merkel visits US, after the NSA eavesdropping scandal - Video - May 2nd, 2014 [May 2nd, 2014]
- NSA spies on more US citizens than Russians Snowden - May 3rd, 2014 [May 3rd, 2014]
- THE NEXT NSA?Police under scrutiny for using spying technology - May 3rd, 2014 [May 3rd, 2014]
- Ukraine and NSA will test Merkel - Video - May 3rd, 2014 [May 3rd, 2014]
- The Latest Attacks On NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden - Kevin Gosztola Discusses - Video - May 3rd, 2014 [May 3rd, 2014]
- Still Report #246 - NSA Classifies MH370 Material - Video - May 4th, 2014 [May 4th, 2014]
- Code Talker Induction into NSA Hall of Honor - Video - May 4th, 2014 [May 4th, 2014]
- NSA ( National Security Agency ) refusal to release documents on UFO's - Video - May 4th, 2014 [May 4th, 2014]
- Obama & NSA Refuse FOIA Request on Malaysia Flight deemed classified - Video - May 4th, 2014 [May 4th, 2014]
- Kafkawinstons World`s Channel Terminated NSA is replacing Channel`s with Sockpuppet Channel`s - Video - May 4th, 2014 [May 4th, 2014]
- NSA Volunteer Justin Hall at the NSA Comedy Tour February 2014 - Video - May 4th, 2014 [May 4th, 2014]
- Barack Obama on NSA Surveillance I'd Be Concerned Too If I Wasn't in Government - Video - May 4th, 2014 [May 4th, 2014]
- GBPPR Vision #26: Overview of the NSA's TAWDRYYARD Radar Retro-Reflector - Video - May 4th, 2014 [May 4th, 2014]
- NSA proof phone Case - Video - May 5th, 2014 [May 5th, 2014]
- 2014 NSA 2014 Million Dollar Publisher's Lab - Video - May 5th, 2014 [May 5th, 2014]
- Gen. Michael Hayden - the Former Director of NSA and the CIA - Video - May 5th, 2014 [May 5th, 2014]
- REVEALED: Here's The Solution To That Encoded NSA Puzzle Tweet - May 5th, 2014 [May 5th, 2014]
- Michael Hayden's Unwitting Case Against Secret Surveillance - May 5th, 2014 [May 5th, 2014]
- NSA's Encrypted Tweet: We're Hiring Code Breakers - May 5th, 2014 [May 5th, 2014]
- Russ Tice: Life as a NSA Whistleblower - Video - May 5th, 2014 [May 5th, 2014]
- What Is Going on at NSA These Days - Video - May 5th, 2014 [May 5th, 2014]
- What is the Role of the NSA? AFF Dallas Debates - Video - May 5th, 2014 [May 5th, 2014]
- Edward Snowden said CIA , and NSA had 52. 6 Billion for black budget - Video - May 5th, 2014 [May 5th, 2014]
- NSA looks to appeal to young cryptographers through coded ads - May 6th, 2014 [May 6th, 2014]
- Code Cracked: Mysterious NSA Tweet Is Decrypted in Seconds - May 6th, 2014 [May 6th, 2014]