If an adversary didn't target our power plants but they did target the core routers, the backbones that tie our internet connections together, entire parts of the United States could be cut off. That would have a tremendous impact on us as a society and it would have a policy backlash.

They are intent on making every conversation and every form of behaviour in the world known to them.

This whole pre-criminal investigation, where we watch everybody, all the time, just in case, is really an extraordinary departure from the Western liberal tradition.

I think it's reasonable that the government, when it has a warrant from a court, when it's exposed to scrutiny by a legal process that would be upheld, not just nationally, but internationally as a reliable and robust standard rights protection, they can enjoy certain powers. This is no different from having the police able to get a warrant to go and search your house, to kick at your door because they think you're an arms dealer or something like that. There needs to be a process involved, it needs to be public, and it needs to be challengeable in court at all times.

Since the revelations, we have seen a massive sea change in the technological basis and makeup of the Internet.

There are cyber threats out there, this is a dangerous world, and we have to be safe, we have to be secure no matter the cost.

I took what I knew to the public, so what affects all of us can be discussed by all of us in the light of day, and I asked the world for justice.