NSA whistleblower, Edward Snowden, has denounced the UK's emergency surveillance bill, criticizing its heightened powers of intrusion along with the distinct lack of public debate it encompassed.

During an exclusive interview in Moscow with the Guardian, the whistleblower suggested it was highly unusual for a state to process legislation so hastily other than at a time of acutely endangered national security.

"I mean we don't have bombs falling. We don't have U-boats in the harbour", he emphasised. Yet suddenly this legislation has become an absolute priority. "It defies belief", he stated.

Snowden found the duress with which the UK government processed the Data Retention and Investigation Powers Bill to be remarkable, comparing it to the Bush administration's introduction of the Protect America Act in 2007. The Protect America Act was issued after the New York Times exposed a "warrantless wire-tapping programme" that was both illegal and "unconstitutional", he said.