In an exclusive interview for NBC News, National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower Edward Snowden blamed the State Department for stranding him in Russia and said he would apply for an extension of his asylum, as it expires on August 1.

      Snowden said his desire to return to his homeland is foremost in his mind. “I don’t think there’s ever been any question that I’d like to go home,” he said.

      However, he is considering returning to the US only under certain conditions. Wolfgang Kaleck, the leaker’s German lawyer, said they were working on a friendly settlement with US authorities.

      Snowden is currently facing a long-term imprisonment as he has been accused by the US authorities of espionage after leaking documents about a secret NSA surveillance program, Der Speigel reported.

      During the interview for American media, Edward Snowden also revealed some of the details of his work for the US government. "I was trained as a spy in sort of the traditional sense of the word in that I lived and worked undercover overseas – pretending to work in a job that I'm not – and even being assigned a name that was not mine," he said.

      Snowden said he had worked as a “technical expert” at all levels of the US government, lectured at the Joint Counterintelligence Training Academy and operated undercover for the CIA and NSA.

      “So when they say I'm a low-level systems administrator, that I don't know what I'm talking about, I'd say it's somewhat misleading,” the whistleblower said.

      Secretary of State John Kerry, in a live interview on TODAY, said that the government would be “delighted” for Snowden to return to the United States and face the justice system. Kerry said that a true patriot would “stand up in the United States and make his case to the American people.” He also called Snowden’s claims “pretty dumb.” In a later interview on MSNBC, Kerry described Snowden as a coward and traitor.