ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y — National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden and one of the top lawyers for the U.S. Intelligence Community, Robert Litt, gave back-to-back speeches at an academic gathering on Friday that addressed major controversies over government surveillance, basic privacy protections and the freedom of information.

But the most revealing exchanges during their talks centered on new leaks about the U.S. drone program, made possible by an unknown whistleblower.

The comments by Snowden and Litt were part of a conference on privacy and surveillance organized by Bard College’s Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities.

The statements by Snowden and Litt seemed to reflect the two highly polarized camps in the debate over national security and the freedom of information.

“Why can we not have these issues heard in an open court, until an individual, an ordinary citizen, risks their freedom or their life to share this information with the press, in a situation where we know they will be punished?” Snowden asked rhetorically, addressing the auditorium over a video link from Russia.