Snowden joins Twitter, follows NSA

Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who has been living in asylum in Russia after blowing the lid on the U.S. spy agency’s controversial domestic surveillance program, has joined Twitter.

The 32-year-old fugitive published his first tweet from his verified Twitter account Tuesday afternoon.

“I used to work for the government,” his Twitter bio reads. “Now I work for the public.”

Snowden — who has appeared in online interviews conducted using video links since fleeing the United States in 2013 — was encouraged to join Twitter during a recent interview with astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.

“You kind of need a Twitter handle,” Tyson told Snowden during the interview, which was posted Friday. “So like @Snowden, maybe? Is this something you might do?”

“That sounds good; I think we’ve got to make it happen,” Snowden replied. “You and I will be Twitter buddies. Your followers will be the Internet, me and the NSA.”

On Tuesday, Snowden engaged in a Twitter interview with Tyson.

According to Snowden’s lawyer, Ben Wizner, the exiled ex-spy is tweeting from the account himself.

Within an hour of joining Twitter, Snowden had already accumulated more than 100,000 Twitter followers. Snowden, though, is only following one Twitter account: @NSAGov.

The NSA doesn’t appear to be following Snowden yet — at not least on Twitter. The agency is, however, encouraging its followers to send NSA-branded “love notes.” Seriously.

Something tells me Snowden won’t be sharing one anytime soon.