In response to a Freedom of Information request, the NSA denies that its former NSA contractor-turned whistleblower Edward Snowden ever raised concerns in emails to colleagues to his colleagues over the agency’s surveillance work.

Interest in Edward Snowden’s past email communications with his former NSA colleagues arose following an interview Snowden gave to NBC News in May, when he said he first raised “concerns” about the NSA’s widespread surveillance programs, but was “more or less” told by his superiors to “stop asking questions.”