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Edward Snowden doesn't think the government is hiding aliens

If there is evidence, "it's hidden really damn well," says the whistleblower.

Oscar Gonzalez Former staff reporter
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2 min read
Edward Snowden

Edward Snowden apparently tried to find aliens when he was at the NSA. 

Joe Rogan Experience

Before revealing how the National Security Agency was spying on Americans, Edward Snowden  apparently searched for evidence of aliens in the government systems he had access to. He says didn't find any, which might have been good to know before the Storm Area 51 event in September. 

The former NSA contractor and whistleblower appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast on Wednesday morning. In the more than two hour interview, Snowden touched on many subjects including one that's a favorite of Rogan. 

"I know, Joe, I know you want there to be aliens," Snowden told Rogan via a video feed. "If we are hiding them -- I had ridiculous access to the networks of the NSA, CIA, military, all these groups -- I couldn't find anything. If it's hidden, and it could be hidden, it's hidden really damn well especially for people on the inside."

Later in the podcast, Snowden spoke in-depth about how cellphones track their owners

"The central problem with smartphone use today is that you have no idea what the hell it's doing at any given time," he told Rogan. "The phone has the screen off, you don't know what it's connecting to, you don't know how frequently it's doing it." 

He goes on to say that the ideal way to prevent a phone from doing any tracking is taking out the battery, however, many phones today don't have that option. 

Snowden, who faces charges of espionage and theft of government property in the US, has been living in Russia since 2013.  

In September, Snowden released his memoir called "Permanent Record." On the book's release, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against him and his publisher for not submitting the book to government agencies for pre-publication review.  

Originally published on Oct. 23.
Update, Oct. 24: Adds more details from podcast.