I wanted to fight in the Iraq war because I felt like I had an obligation as a human being to help free people from oppression.

— Edward Snowden

I was right outside the NSA [on 9/11], so I remember the tension on that day. I remember hearing on the radio, 'the plane's hitting,' and I remember thinking my grandfather, who worked for the FBI at the time, was in the Pentagon when the plane hit it... I take the threat of terrorism seriously, and I think we all do. And I think it's really disingenuous for the government to invoke and sort-of scandalize our memories to sort-of exploit the national trauma that we all suffered together and worked so hard to come through -- and to justify programs that have never been shown to keep us safe, but cost us liberties and freedoms that we don't need to give up, and that our Constitution says we should not give up.

— Edward Snowden

No one would argue that it's in the United States' interest to have independent knowledge of the plans and intentions of foreign countries. But we need to think about where to draw the line on this kind of operations so we're not always attacking our allies, the people we trust, the people we need to rely on, and to have them in turn rely on us.

— Edward Snowden

No system of mass surveillance has existed in any society that we know of to this point that has not been abused.

— Edward Snowden

Study after study has shown that human behavior changes when we know we’re being watched. Under observation, we act less free, which means we effectively *are* less free.

— Edward Snowden

That's the beauty of the Internet is that we're no longer tied to our communities by physical connections.

— Edward Snowden

There can be no faith in government if our highest offices are excused from scrutiny - they should be setting the example of transparency.

— Edward Snowden

These programs were never about terrorism: they're about economic spying, social control, and diplomatic manipulation. They're about power.

— Edward Snowden

They still have negligent auditing, they still have things going for a walk, and they have no idea where they're coming from, and they have no idea where they're going. And if that's the case, how can we, as the public, trust the NSA with all of our information, with all of our private records, the permanent record of our lives?

— Edward Snowden

Ultimately, if people lose their willingness to recognize that there are times in our history when legality becomes distinct from morality, we aren't just ceding control of our rights to government, but our agency in determining our futures.

— Edward Snowden