Top NSA official says telephone surveillance should have been disclosed

FILE PHOTO - NSA Deputy Director Richard Ledgett answers questions during the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on the House-passed Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act reform bill while on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 5, 2014. REUTERS/Larry Downing/File Photo

FORT MEADE, Md. (Reuters) - The U.S. government should have publicised the existence of a programme that vacuumed up in bulk Americans' telephone call data before its existence was leaked by former contractor Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency's deputy director said on Tuesday.

Richard Ledgett, who is retiring next month, said in an interview with Reuters that disclosing the secret programme would have been difficult. But, he said, doing so might have mitigated the damage done by Snowden.