What Exactly Was Edward Snowden's Job?

The New York Times the other day ran this story about an interview Edward Snowden gave to the Guardian in Moscow. The Guardian interview made a few waves because of Snowden's claim that NSA analysts passed around racy photos they had intercepted. I was struck by a different aspect of it. The New York Times characterized it as follows:

For at least the second time in an interview, Mr. Snowden cast himself as someone who had far more responsibility than a low-level contractor, as some American officials have described him.

“I began to move from merely overseeing these systems to actively directing their use,” he said. “Many people don’t understand that I was actually an analyst and I designated individuals and groups for targeting.”

NSA has consistently described Snowden as a systems administrator. I have noted the disparity before between his self-portrait and the agency's portrayal of him. It shows up in Glenn Greenwald's book, for one thing. But it seems to me to be growing more acute. Snowden portrays himself himself as a spy and an operative. The agency portrays him as a IT guy. The difference is important because it goes to what he reasonably could be expected to know about agency procedures, rules, and analytical approach, procedures, and culture. It seems to me at this stage to warrant clarification.