I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Thanks for joining us. Identity revealed that young man admits to publicizing the NSA's secret surveillance program. And he says he's voluntarily coming forward because quote, "I have done nothing wrong.
We go live to Sanford, Florida in a moment for a preview what have to expect. And fifth victim has died after a terrifying shooting spree that spread onto a college campus in Santa Monica. She was going to buy textbooks. We have the latest next. All right, we begin with the breaking news about the man who says did he it, gave away the NSA's secrets to a British newspaper.
So, he is hiding out in Hong Kong. Why would he come out publicly today? He says, Fredricka, he is coming out today because he felt that freedom itself was being threatened by the scope of these government programs and that he thought they were getting bigger from his desk at the NSA. Let's look at first of all how "the Guardian" ousted him, of course with his cooperation. They did it online, fitting for this young man who was able to get so much information as a computer technician himself.
Now, Edward Snowden told "the Guardian" that he had worked most recently for four years at the NSA and it was from post that he had access to these documents. He also said that he was very specific in which documents he leaked, not mass quantities but specific programs that he thought affected large groups of people -- millions, in fact. Now, where as for him being in Hong Kong, he has left his life behind, he tells "the Guardian.
But even though, he says he was willing to take those risks. You simply have to eventually fall under suspicion from somebody, even by a wrong call. Now, this raises so many questions but right off the top, one question for this young man of course is if he was a contractor for working outside of government, how was it that he had access to such highly classified documents?
