The NSA Is Firing Back At Edward Snowden Over One Of His Key Claims

The NSA tried to poke a huge hole in one of the claims self-described whistleblower Edward Snowden made in a lengthy interview this week by releasing one of his old emails from his time at the intelligence agency.

On Thursday, the NSA posted a message on its website that it described as Snowden's only correspondence with its Office of General Counsel. In his interview, Snowden said he sent multiple emails to the NSA's Office of General Counsel raising concerns about the agency's practices.

"The NSA has records. They have copies of emails right now to their Office of General Counsel, to their oversight and compliance folks, from me raising concerns about the NSA's interpretations of its legal authorities," Snowden said.

In addition to claiming Snowden actually sent only one email, the NSA suggested it did not actually reference any "concerns" about the agency's surveillance programs.

"NSA 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," an NSA spokeswoman said. "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 email is below: