Snowden Declares 'Mission Accomplished'

Radio Free Europe, December 24, 2013

Edward Snowden in Moscow in October

Former U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) consultant Edward Snowden says his "mission's already accomplished" because he has forced a reassessment of U.S. spying policies.

In an exclusive interview posted online by "The Washington Post" on December 23, Snowden said that he leaked NSA secrets so that the American people would "have a say in how they are governed."

Snowden spoke to the daily in Moscow, where he was granted temporary asylum in August. Snowden said that he has been living as an "ascetic" in Moscow.

He said he lives off of noodles and chips and spends most of his time on the Internet. "I have no relationship with the Russian government," Snowden said. "I have not entered into any agreements with them."

Barack Obama will read the report over the holidays before

deciding which recommendations he will choose to accept. 

Photograph: Zhang Jun/Xinhua/Corbis

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