Ex-CIA man says exposed U.S. spy scheme for better world

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A former CIA employee working as a contractor at the U.S. National Security Agency revealed in an interview published on Sunday it was he who leaked details of a top secret U.S. surveillance program, acting out of conscience to protect "basic liberties for people around the world."

Holed up in a hotel room in Hong Kong, Edward Snowden, 29, said he had thought long and hard before publicizing details of an NSA program code-named PRISM, saying he had done so because he felt the United States was building an unaccountable and secret espionage machine that spied on every American.