NSA whistleblower to tech firms, Obama: 'Grow a pair!'

Technically, everything can be recorded, so restrictions on what analysts can access are based solely on IT policy. In practice that means data filters are set at "widest allowable aperture," and if data leaves US borders it's automatically scooped.

"If I target for example an email address, for example under FAA 702, and that email address sent something to you, Joe America, the analyst gets it. All of it. IPs, raw data, content, headers, attachments, everything. And it gets saved for a very long time – and can be extended further with waivers rather than warrants," he said.

"Being called a traitor by Dick Cheney is the highest honor you can give an American, and the more panicked talk we hear from people like him, Feinstein, and King, the better off we all are," he said.