"A lot of people in 2008 voted for Obama. I did not vote for him. I voted for a third party. But I be..." — Edward Snowden

I do not want to live in a world where everything I do and say is recorded. That is not something I am willing to support or live under.

You can't come forward against the world's most powerful intelligence agencies and be completely free from risk.

I have been a systems engineer, systems administrator, a senior adviser for the Central Intelligence Agency, a solutions consultant and a telecommunications information systems officer.

Ask yourself: if I were a Chinese spy, why wouldn't I have flown directly into Beijing? I could be living in a palace petting a phoenix by now.