Edward Snowden says mass surveillance program are making people less safe

MOSCOW – Edward Snowden says the mass surveillance methods used by the United States are making people less safe.

In six videos released by WikiLeaks on Friday, the former National Security Agency analyst says NSA's mass surveillance of phone and internet traffic "puts us at risk of coming into conflict with our own government."

Snowden, who is charged by a U.S. court with violating the Espionage Act for disclosing the classified NSA programs, has been granted asylum in Russia.

WikiLeaks says Snowden spoke on Wednesday in Moscow as he accepted the Sam Adams Award, named for a CIA analyst during the Vietnam War who accused the U.S. military of deliberately underestimating the enemy's strength for political purposes, and given annually by a group of retired U.S. national security officers.