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"During his first ever American TV interview, Edward Snowden told NBC's Brian Williams that he had tried to go through internal channels to raise concerns about the NSA surveillance programs before he leaked stolen documents.\nOn Thursday, the NSA released the email, confirming the claim months after it said that there was no evidence Snowden ever raised concerns with anyone at the spy agency.\nSee also: 7 Key Moments From Edward Snowden's First-Ever U.S. TV Interview\nIn a statement sent to reporters before the email was posted to its tumblr, an agency spokesperson told Mashable that the NSA has found \"one e-mail inquiry [...] asking for an explanation of some material that was in a training course he had just completed.\"\n\"The e-mail did not raise allegations or concerns about wrongdoing or abuse, but posed a legal question that the Office of General Counsel addressed,\" the statement read. \"There was not additional follow-up noted.\"\nIn the email, dated April 5, 2013, Snowden asked a legal question as to whether  Executive Orders have precedence over laws, referencing a passage in what appears to be training material. In its response, an unnamed official in the Office of the General Counsel (whose name has been redacted) responded that Executive Orders \"cannot override a statute.\"\nSnowden Email to the NSA\n\nMany U.S. officials have long claimed that Snowden should have gone through internal channels to complain about potential abuses and illegal activity instead of fleeing to Hong Kong and spilling tens of thousands of top secret documents to reporters. But Snowden has always said he did try to raise questions internally, even though other whistleblowers in the past, like Thomas Drake, saw their attempts ignored and ended up being prosecuted when he leaked information to The Baltimore Sun.\nIn December, the NSA stated that they had found no evidence of any attempt by Snowden to go through legal channels within the NSA.\n\"After extensive investigation, including interviews with his former NSA supervisors and co-workers, we have not found any evidence to support Mr. Snowden\u2019s contention that he brought these matters to anyone\u2019s attention,\" NSA spokesperson  Vanee Vines told The Washington Post.\nWhen asked about that statement, Vines told Mashable that it \"was provided to the Washington Post in response to the writer\u2019s questions.\"\nPressed for more, Vines simply cited parts of today's statement, without answering whether the email released today contradicts the NSA's statement in December.\nHere's the full statement by the NSA.\n\nNSA has now explained that they have found one e-mail inquiry by Edward Snowden to the Office of General Counsel asking for an explanation of some material that was in a training course he had just completed. The e-mail did not raise allegations or concerns about wrongdoing or abuse, but posed a legal question that the Office of General Counsel addressed. There was not additional follow-up noted. The e-mail will be released later today.\nThere are numerous avenues that Mr. Snowden could have used to raise other concerns or whistleblower allegations.  We have searched for additional indications of outreach from him in those areas and to date have not discovered any engagements related to his claims. \n\nSnowden's lawyer responded to the release of the email saying that it was \"a red herring.\"\n\"The problem was not some unknown and isolated instance of misconduct. The problem was that an entire system of mass surveillance had been deployed \u2013 and deemed legal \u2013 without the knowledge or consent of the public,\" Ben Wizner,  Snowden\u2019s legal advisor and director of the ACLU Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project told Mashable in an emailed statement. \"Snowden raised many complaints over many channels. The NSA is releasing a single part of a single exchange after previously claiming that no evidence existed.\"\nWas Snowden's email proof that he did in fact raise concerns internally? Elizabeth Goitein, the co-director of the Brennan Center for Justice\u2019s liberty and national security program told Mashable that Snowden's email \"does not appear to be an attempt to blow the whistle.\" \nBut Goitein also said that we probably don't know the whole story, and that we shouldn't take the NSA's claim that they don't have any other email or correspondence with Snowden at face value. And furthermore, even if Snowden did raise concerns about NSA's surveillance through internal channels, it wouldn't have mattered much.\n\"I think in a situation like this a whistleblower has no chance of getting redress,\" she said. \"Because the abuse that he's complaining about it's official abuse. And that means that it has been signed off by the very people that he's supposed to be reporting it to.\"\nThis story has been updated to include the NSA's response regarding their December statement, as well quotes from Snowden's lawyer and Elizabeth Goitein.\nHave something to add to this story? Share it in the comments."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2014/05/29/nsa-snowden-email-nbc/>