--- title: Jimmy Carter: NSA Reads My Email description: Former President Carter says the National Security Agency has abused its authority and recommends snail mail as a method of communication canonical: https://time.com/34848/video-jimmy-carter-believes-nsa-is-reading-his-e-mails/ author: TIME Video article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-23T18:18:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T06:54:57.684Z article:section: Politics og:title: Jimmy Carter: NSA Reads My Email og:description: Former President Carter says the National Security Agency has abused its authority and recommends snail mail as a method of communication og:url: https://time.com/34848/video-jimmy-carter-believes-nsa-is-reading-his-e-mails/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt95a140435d602912/698686d655a8598190a7fddf/jimmy-carter.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Jimmy Carter Meets With NY Mayor Bloomberg og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Jimmy Carter: NSA Reads My Email twitter:description: Former President Carter says the National Security Agency has abused its authority and recommends snail mail as a method of communication twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt95a140435d602912/698686d655a8598190a7fddf/jimmy-carter.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # VIDEO: Jimmy Carter Believes NSA Is Reading His Emails by [TIME Video](https://time.com/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Mar 23, 2014 6:18 PM UTC  Jimmy Carter on April 10, 2013 in New York City. Jimmy Carter on April 10, 2013 in New York City.Mario Tama—Getty Images by [TIME Video](https://time.com/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Mar 23, 2014 6:18 PM UTC Former President Jimmy Carter told NBC’s _Meet the Press_ on Sunday that he has his own system to avoiding being monitored by the National Security Agency, which is under scrutiny following leaks from its former contractor Edward Snowden: “When I want to communicate with a foreign leader privately, I would type or write the letter myself, put it in the post office and mail it.” He added that the spy agency had abused its authority. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/34848/video-jimmy-carter-believes-nsa-is-reading-his-e-mails/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/34848/video-jimmy-carter-believes-nsa-is-reading-his-e-mails/"},"headline":"VIDEO: Jimmy Carter Believes NSA Is Reading His Emails","datePublished":"2014-03-23T18:18:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T06:54:57.684Z","description":"The former President tells NBC's \"Meet the Press\" he now communicates with foreign leaders by snail mail","url":"https://time.com/34848/video-jimmy-carter-believes-nsa-is-reading-his-e-mails/","keywords":["Surveillance","NSA","Jimmy Carter"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt95a140435d602912/698686d655a8598190a7fddf/jimmy-carter.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Video","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-video/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt95a140435d602912/698686d655a8598190a7fddf/jimmy-carter.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Jimmy Carter Meets With NY Mayor Bloomberg","caption":"Jimmy Carter Meets With NY Mayor Bloomberg","creditText":"Mario Tama—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/surveillance/","name":"Surveillance"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/34848/video-jimmy-carter-believes-nsa-is-reading-his-e-mails/","name":"VIDEO: Jimmy Carter Believes NSA Is Reading His Emails"}}]}] ```