> despite the fact that I could not legally go to the official channels that direct NSA employees have available to them, I still made tremendous efforts to report these programs to co-workers, supervisors, and anyone with the proper clearance who would listen. The reactions of those I told about the scale of the constitutional violations ranged from deeply concerned to appalled, but no one was willing to risk their jobs, families, and possibly even freedom

The fleeing to a foreign adversary part would have been completely avoidable if the US had stronger whistleblower protections. It's perfectly reasonable to see what happened to Chelsey Manning and Julian Assange and not want to suffer a similar fate.

There is no record that he attempted to use internal channels. He would have been afforded whistleblower protection had he went to Congress with his findings.

From the beginning of the Snowden quote:

> I could not legally go to the official channels that direct NSA employees have available to them

In addition, I find it difficult to take any congressional report on this matter, including the one you cited, seriously given that their primary source is a group of people who have repeatedly lied to Congress without consequence.