"At this stage I can offer nothing more than my word. I am a senior
government employee in the intelligence community. I hope you understand
that contacting you is extremely high risk … This will not be a waste
of your time." This was one of the first messages Edward Snowden wrote
to filmmaker Laura Poitras beginning an exchange that helped expose the
massive surveillance apparatus set up by the National Security Agency.
Months later, Poitras would meet Snowden for the first time in a Hong
Kong hotel room. Poitras filmed more than 20 hours of footage as Snowden
debriefed reporters Glenn Greenwald and Ewen MacAskill. That footage —
most unseen until now — forms the backbone of Poitras’ new film,
"Citizenfour." She joins us to talk about the film and her own
experience with government surveillance. The film is the third
installment of her 9/11 trilogy that also includes "My Country, My
Country" about the Iraq War and "The Oath" about the U.S. military base
at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Poitras’ NSA
reporting contributed to a Pulitzer Prize for Public Service awarded to
The Guardian and The Washington Post. We also speak with Jeremy Scahill,
who appears in the film reporting on recent disclosures about NSA
surveillance from a new, anonymous government source. Scahill, along
with Poitras and Greenwald, founded The Intercept, a new media venture
to continue investigating whistleblower leaks.
