Edward Snowden said the very people who are supposed to be protecting the United States from cyberattacks are the ones making the country more vulnerable.
Snowden called out Gen. Keith Alexander and Michael Hayden, respectively the current and former directors of the National Security Agency (NSA), naming them as two individuals that have done significant damage to national security during a talk he gave via satellite video at South by Southwest on Monday.
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The accusation came as a response to a question posed to Snowden about Alexander's recent comments that Snowden's leaks have caused "grave, significant and irreversible damage to our nation and to our allies."
He argued that, through federal law enfacement agencies like the FBI and NSA, the U.S. government has prioritized offense over defense when it comes to cyber security. These agencies have done so by exploiting security gaps in technology companies, and even asking the companies to install gaps at times, for the purposes of surveillance.
"America has more to lose than anyone else," Snowden said, which is why he said the government should be working to make these companies more secure rather than less.
"What should be clear is that this government is not really doing anything to keep us safe, said Christopher Soghoian, principal technologist for the American Civil Liberties Union, who participated in the conversation with Snowden. "A system that has been designed to be surveilled is a target waiting to be attacked."
Snowden, who worked for the NSA as a contractor, passed a trove of secret documents to journalists last year. Reports on documents beginning last June have sparked a global debate on government mass surveillance.
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