In a recent media appearance Noam Chomsky said that whistleblower Edward Snowden, who remains in Russia after releasing a trove of documents about secret NSA surveillance, should be honored.

“He was doing what every citizen ought to do,” Chomsky says in the video below. “He was telling Americans what the government is doing.”

Chomsky goes on to explain that governments always claim security as their justification for civil liberties abuses, but that overwhelmingly the security in question is that of the state … from its own population. To smatterings of applause, Chomsky goes on to explain how America’s drone campaign abroad is a far bigger threat to our security than leaked information about surveillance.

Watch Chomsky discuss the relationship between the state, the people, and “security” below.