We have to be able to ask questions in order to answer them.

Most of the secrets the CIA has are about people, not machines and systems, so I didn't feel comfortable with disclosures that I thought could endanger anyone.

The charges [government] brought against me, for example, explicitly denied my ability to make a public-interest defense.

It's critical how we want to use these spy programs, these electronic capabilities, where we want to draw the line, and who should approve these programs, these decisions, and at what level, for engaging in operations that could lead us as a nation into a war.

We don't have to ask for our privacy, we can take it back.

Terrorism kills far fewer people than cigarettes, or alcohol, or car accidents. But we don't see ourselves restructuring society and lives in order to make those threats go away.

I understand that I will be made to suffer for my actions, and that the return of this information to the public marks my end.