NSA Experts: ‘National Security Has Become a State Religion’

In a SPIEGEL interview, Edward Snowden’s lawyer, Jesselyn Radack, and former NSA contractor Thomas Drake discuss the reasons behind the American spying agency’s obssession with collecting data.

For more than a year now, the world has closely followed revelationsdisclosed by former American intelligence worker Edward Snowden. The documents from the whistleblower’s archive have fueled an at times fierce debate over the sense and legality of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) sheer greed for data.

In its current issue, SPIEGEL conducted two interviews it hopes will contribute to the debate. The first is with two major critics of the NSA’s work — human rights activist and lawyer Jesselyn Radack, who represents Snowden, and former spy Thomas Drake. The second interview is with John Podesta, a special advisor to United States President Barack Obama.

Read the interview…