US secret surveillance program whistleblower identified

An ex-CIA employee has identified himself as the source of leaks about secret US surveillance programs. Britain's Guardian newspaper revealed that the US National Security Agency had monitored phone and internet records.

Edward Snowden, 29, admitted Sunday he was the source behind the Guardian's disclosures.

Snowden, who works as a contract employee at the National Security Agency (NSA), revealed his identity in a video posted on the newspaper's website. The Guardian said it had published the video at his own request.

"I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong," Snowden said.

"My sole motive is to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them," he added.

He said he was willing to lose everything "because I can't in good conscience allow the US government to destroy privacy, internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they're secretly building."

Snowden, a former technical assistant for the CIA, had been working for the NSA as an employee for various outside contractors including Booz Allen Hamilton. In a statement Booz Allen confirmed the 29-year-old had been an employee at the firm "for less than three months."

According to the Guardian newspaper, Snowden was working in an NSA office in Hawaii when he copied the last of the documents he planned to disclose. He is currently holed up in a hotel room in Hong Kong having fled the United States on May 20.

Snowden is quoted as saying he chose that city because "they have a spirited commitment to free speech and the right of political dissent."

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