"[68][69] Booz Allen terminated Snowden's employment on June 10, 2013, the day after he went public with his story, and 3 weeks after he had left Hawaii on a leave of absence. [183], In an August 2014 interview, Snowden for the first time disclosed a cyberwarfare program in the works, codenamed MonsterMind, that would automate the detection of a foreign cyberattack as it began and automatically fire back. "[242][243], Snowden applied for political asylum to 21 countries. In the course of their daily work, they stumble across something that is completely unrelated in any sort of necessary sensefor example, an intimate nude photo of someone in a sexually compromising situation. [176], An NSA mission statement titled "SIGINT Strategy 2012-2016" affirmed that the NSA had plans for the continued expansion of surveillance activities. Snowden said 18 to 22-year-old analysts were suddenly, "thrust into a position of extraordinary responsibility, where they now have access to all your private records. "[181], In March 2014, documents disclosed by Glenn Greenwald writing for The Intercept showed the NSA, in cooperation with the GCHQ, has plans to infect millions of computers with malware using a program called TURBINE. [157][158] The NSA was shown to be tracking the online sexual activity of people they termed "radicalizers" in order to discredit them. Edward Snowden (born June 21, 1983) is a computer programmer who worked as a subcontractor for the National Security Agency (NSA). [400], Later that month, Snowden appeared by teleconference at the TED conference in Vancouver, British Columbia. Edward Snowden, the most famous US whistleblower, met with T he Guardian's Ewen MacAskill for an interview ahead of the publication of the former US intel worker's new book, Permanent Record. ", "NSA Hacked Email Account of Mexican President", "British spy agency taps cables, shares with NSA Guardian", "Snowden's Leaks on China Could Affect Its Role in His Fate", "Privacy Scandal: NSA Can Spy on Smart Phone Data", "Report: US spied on millions of phone calls in Spain over one month", "NSA monitored calls of 35 world leaders after US official handed over contacts", "Merkel frosty on the U.S. over 'unacceptable' spying allegations", "Merkel compared NSA to Stasi in heated encounter with Obama", "N.S.A. "[350] The report was denounced by Washington Post reporter Barton Gellman, who, in an opinion piece for The Century Foundation, called it "aggressively dishonest" and "contemptuous of fact. Yes, Really", "Secret Sources: Whistleblowers, National Security, and Free Expression", "In exile, Edward Snowden rakes in speaking fees while hoping for a pardon", "Libreplanet 2016: The Last Lighthouse: Free Software In Dark Times", "LibrePlanet begins with Snowden, ends with DRM protest", "Edward Snowden: Privacy can't depend on corporations standing up to the government", "Snowden Used Free Software Because He Was Afraid of Backdoors in Microsoft Apps", "Against the Law: Countering Lawful Abuses of Digital Surveillance", "Edward Snowden's New Research Aims to Keep Smartphones From Betraying Their Owners", "Snowden Designs a Device to Warn if Your iPhone's Radios Are Snitching", "Edward Snowden designs phone case to show when data is being monitored", "Edward Snowden co-designs an iPhone case that alerts user to surveillance activity", "Edward Snowden has taken $1.2m in speaking fees in exile, US filing says", "Canadian whom Edward Snowden called out for past involvement in a multi-million dollar scheme says he's 'worked hard to move on', "This "quasi-criminally" charged investor invited Edward Snowden to speak at conference, and Snowden exposed him", "The Snowden Effect: definition and examples", "What the Press Should Learn From the 'Snowden Effect', "The Snowden Effect Hits Congress: Will Effective Crowdsourced Lobbying Follow? [289] A year later, his temporary refugee status having expired, Snowden received a three-year temporary residency permit allowing him to travel freely within Russia and to go abroad for up to three months. [140] The initial reports included details about NSA call database, Boundless Informant, and of a secret court order requiring Verizon to hand the NSA millions of Americans' phone records daily,[141] the surveillance of French citizens' phone and Internet records, and those of "high-profile individuals from the world of business or politics. On Sept. 29, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia entered a final judgment and permanent injunction against Edward Snowden, a former employee of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and contractor for the National Security Agency (NSA). [218], On June 23, 2013, Snowden landed at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport. ", "Transcript: ARD interview with Edward Snowden", "Edward Snowden Q&A: Dick Cheney traitor charge is 'the highest honor', "Snowden sought Booz Allen job to gather evidence on NSA surveillance", "NSA Implementing 'Two-Person' Rule To Stop The Next Edward Snowden", "Job Title Key to Inner Access Held by Snowden", "Snowden persuaded other NSA workers to give up passwords sources", "Exclusive: Snowden Swiped Password From NSA Coworker", "NSA Memo Says Snowden Tricked Colleague to Get Password", "An NSA Coworker Remembers The Real Edward Snowden: 'A Genius Among Geniuses', "Snowden denies stealing passwords to access secret files", "Contractor fires Snowden from $122,000 per-year job", "Edward Snowden interview the edited transcript", "Edward Snowden in His Own Words: Why I became a Whistle-Blower", "Edward Snowden says "the most powerful institutions in society have become the least accountable", "Edward Snowden and the Rise of Whistle-Blower Culture", "Whistleblower Snowden:I'd love to be granted asylum in France", "Is It a Crime to Expose Crimes Already Committed? [111] Snowden later made contact with Glenn Greenwald, a journalist working at The Guardian. [196][197], The Russian newspaper Kommersant nevertheless reported that Snowden was living at the Russian consulate shortly before his departure from Hong Kong to Moscow. In that capacity, he was consulted by the chiefs of the CIA's technical branches, including the agency's chief information officer and its chief technology officer. We can't tolerate that. Yet despite the fact that he broke the law, Snowden argued that he had a moral obligation to act. [427][428][429], Snowden's impact as a public figure has been felt in cinema,[432] television,[433] advertising,[434] video games,[435][436] literature,[437][438] music,[439][440][441] statuary,[442][443] and social media. On September 16, 2019, it was reported that Snowden had said he "would love" to get political asylum in France. Swiss media said that the Swiss Attorney General had determined that Switzerland would not extradite Snowden if the US request were considered "politically motivated". Although he is "probably three steps from death" considering his way of living, former NSA contractor Edward Snowden is quite happy and leading a "pretty open life" and not feeling any "oppressive surveillance" in Russia, he told The Guardian. [35] He was interested in Japanese popular culture, had studied the Japanese language,[36] and worked for an anime company that had a resident office in the U.S.[37][38] He also said he had a basic understanding of Mandarin Chinese and was deeply interested in martial arts. [426], On November 2, 2018, Snowden provided a court declaration in Jewel v. National Security Agency. "You could have someone sitting in China, for example, making it appear that one of these attacks is originating in Russia. [1] On December 1, Snowden swore an oath of allegiance to Russia and received a Russian passport, according to his lawyer. Snowden was asked in a January 2014 interview about returning to the U.S. to face the charges in court, as Obama had suggested a few days prior. Edward Snowden speaks 4 languages to varying levels. The discussion also covers gaps in the legal framework used to prosecute such cases. "[99] A U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency report declassified in June 2015 said that Snowden took 900,000 Department of Defense files, more than he downloaded from the NSA.[98]. By mid-2013, Snowden had applied for asylum in 21 countries, including countries in Europe and South America,[244][245] obtaining negative responses in most cases. "[312] Snowden was also offended by a possible ban on assault weapons, writing "Me and all my lunatic, gun-toting NRA compatriots would be on the steps of Congress before the C-Span feed finished. [365][366] Snowden gave written testimony in which he said that he was seeking asylum in the EU, but that he was told by European Parliamentarians that the U.S. would not allow EU partners to make such an offer. According to Finnish foreign ministry spokeswoman Tytti Pylkk, Snowden made an asylum request to Finland by sending an application to the Finnish embassy in Moscow while he was confined to the transit area of the Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow, but was told that Finnish law required him to be on Finnish soil. Snowden was granted a freedom of speech award by the Oslo branch of the writer's group PEN International. So it's, I would say, illustrative that the president would choose to say someone should face the music when he knows the music is a show trial. They did not care whether I went away to prison. [62] While intelligence officials have described his position there as a system administrator, Snowden has said he was an infrastructure analyst, which meant that his job was to look for new ways to break into Internet and telephone traffic around the world. [85], In May 2013, Snowden quit his job, telling his supervisors he required epilepsy treatment, but instead fled the United States for Hong Kong on May 10. Snowden didnt tell her of his plans to be a whistleblower as it would have made her an accessory. " ", "Putin says Snowden at Russian airport, signals no extradition", "N.S.A. In December 2013, ten days after Judge Leon's ruling, Judge William H. Pauley III came to the opposite conclusion. He has revealed many global surveillance programs which have been run by the NSA and the Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance. "[351], In August 2013, President Obama said that he had called for a review of U.S. surveillance activities before Snowden had begun revealing details of the NSA's operations,[343] and announced that he was directing DNI James Clapper "to establish a review group on intelligence and communications technologies. ", "Details about Edward Snowden's life in Maryland emerge", "What we know about NSA leaker Edward Snowden", "Former neighbor remembers Snowden as 'nice kid', "Edward Snowden: The untold story of the most wanted man in the world", "Edward Snowden's father, a Lehigh County resident, tells network he's concerned for son's well-being", "Who Is Edward Snowden, the Man Who Spilled the NSA's Secrets? ; Publ. "[39], In September 2019, as part of interviews relating to the release of his memoir Permanent Record, Snowden revealed to The Guardian that he married Lindsay Mills in a courthouse in Moscow. Discuss Edward Snowden's motives and actions regarding the release of government secrets. [63] An anonymous source told Reuters that, while in Hawaii, Snowden may have persuaded 2025 co-workers to give him their login credentials by telling them he needed them to do his job. [376][377] Snowden rejected this insinuation,[378] speculating on Twitter in German that "it cannot be proven if Maaen is an agent of the SVR or FSB. [53], In 2009, Snowden began work as a contractee for Dell,[54] which manages computer systems for multiple government agencies. Ilyushina, Mary. That's when The Guardian and The Washington Post. According to Greenwald, Snowden's passport was valid when he departed Hong Kong but was revoked during the hours he was in transit to Moscow, preventing him from obtaining a ticket to leave Russia. Argue their belief that Edward Snowden is either a traitor or whistleblower. Extracts of Lindsays diary were published in Snowdens memoir, Permanent Record. "[73] Snowden subsequently told Wired that while at Dell in 2011, "I would sit down with the CIO of the CIA, the CTO of the CIA, the chiefs of all the technical branches. [293], Snowden's memoir Permanent Record was released internationally on September 17, 2019, and while U.S. royalties were expected to be seized, he was able to receive an advance[293] of $4.2million. Report Outlined Goals for More Power", "Snowden: NSA conducts industrial espionage too", "Snowden Says 'Many Other' Spy Programs Remain Secret, For Now", "How the NSA Plans to Infect 'Millions' of Computers with Malware", "Vast majority of NSA spy targets are mistakenly monitored", "Edward Snowden: US would have buried NSA warnings forever", "Federal Judge Rules Against N.S.A. In October 2020,Reutersconfirmed that Russia had granted Edward permanent residence. Snowden said that having the document gave him "the confidence, the courage to get on that plane to begin the journey". "[119], In May 2013, Snowden was permitted temporary leave from his position at the NSA in Hawaii, on the pretext of receiving treatment for his epilepsy. "[306] In an online discussion about racism in 2009, Snowden said: ''I went to London just last year it's where all of your Muslims live I didn't want to get out of the car. The meeting was organized by the Right Livelihood Award Foundation, which awarded Snowden the Right Livelihood Honorary Award,[385] often called Sweden's "Alternative Nobel Prize." [4], In March 2012, Dell reassigned Snowden to Hawaii as lead technologist for the NSA's information-sharing office. Is Snowden on Netflix? The Guardian's chief editor, Alan Rusbridger, credited Snowden for having performed a public service. His actions harmed our relationships around the world,. ", Global Opposition to U.S. Surveillance and Drones, but Limited Harm to America's Image, "Snowden Files Declaration in NSA Spying Case Confirming Authenticity of Draft Inspector General Report Discussing Unprecedented Surveillance of Americans, Which He Helped Expose", "Edward Snowden Shares His Story in New Memoir That Hits Shelves in September", "Edward Snowden announces memoir 'Permanent Record' for fall release", "Yes, already: Two video games about Edward Snowden and stealthy data", "Edward Snowden cast as hero in smartphone game", "Edward Snowden gets his own graphic biography", "Rivers Cuomo guests on new Big Data track, "Snowed In", "Edward Snowden hooked up with a French electronica artist to cut a track about cybersecurity", "New York City Takes Down Edward Snowden Statue Erected By Guerilla Artists", "Statues Of Whistleblowers Edward Snowden, Julian Assange, Bradley Manning Unveiled in Berlin, Germany", "Ed Snowden joins Twitter, follows only the NSA", "Edward Snowden just joined Twitter. [199], Four months after Snowden received asylum in Russia, Julian Assange commented: "While Venezuela and Ecuador could protect him in the short term, over the long term there could be a change in government. [160] The NSA and the GCHQ were also shown to be surveilling charities including UNICEF and Mdecins du Monde, as well as allies such as European Commissioner Joaqun Almunia and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He spoke to journalists in 2013 and then received asylum from Russia. [124] Greenwald later said Snowden disclosed 9,000 to 10,000 documents. [64] The NSA sent a memo to Congress saying that Snowden had tricked a fellow employee into sharing his personal private key to gain greater access to the NSA's computer system. [448] The documentary Citizenfour directed by Laura Poitras won Best Documentary Feature at the 87th Academy Awards. [13], In early 2016, Snowden became the president of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, a San Franciscobased nonprofit organization that aims to protect journalists from hacking and government surveillance. He said he'd worked for the NSA undercover overseas, and for the DIA had developed sources and methods to keep information and people secure "in the most hostile and dangerous environments around the world. [284] He asked not to be quoted at length for fear of identification by stylometry. Edward Joseph Snowden (born June 21, 1983) is an American and Russian former computer intelligence consultant who leaked highly classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013, for ethical reasons, when he was an employee and subcontractor. According to Snowden, the U.S. government "waited until I departed Hong Kong to cancel my passport in order to trap me in Russia." A potential return to the United States seemed possible as, in August 2020, President Trump flirted with the idea of pardoning Snowden. government. In Germany, Italy, France, the Netherlands, and Spain, more than 80% of people familiar with Snowden view him positively. [20] His maternal grandfather, Edward J. Barrett,[21][22] a rear admiral in the U.S. Coast Guard, became a senior official with the FBI and was at the Pentagon in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. Here are some examples: Dreamy Smurf - Has the ability to turn phones on or off remotely. He, however, had to pass through Moscows Sheremetyevo International Airport. [95] NSA Director Keith Alexander initially estimated that Snowden had copied anywhere from 50,000 to 200,000 NSA documents. 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. [283] [159] Following the revelation of Black Pearl, a program targeting private networks, the NSA was accused of extending beyond its primary mission of national security. Snowden leak. ", Snowden observed that this behavior happened routinely every two months but was never reported, being considered one of the "fringe benefits" of the work.[74]. Sir David Omand, a former director of the UK's GCHQ intelligence gathering agency, described it as a huge strategic setback that was harming Britain, America, and their NATO allies. [18], On June 2, 2015, the U.S. Senate passed, and President Obama signed, the USA Freedom Act which restored in modified form several provisions of the Patriot Act that had expired the day before, while for the first time imposing some limits on the bulk collection of telecommunication data on U.S. citizens by American intelligence agencies. Citing Obama's promise to not allow "wheeling and dealing" over the case, Snowden commented, "This kind of deception from a world leader is not justice, and neither is the extralegal penalty of exile. The Hon. [375] [56] In 2010, he had a brief stint in New Delhi, India where he enrolled himself in a local IT institute to learn core Java programming and advanced ethical hacking. A spokeswoman for Johns Hopkins said that the university did not find records to show that Snowden attended the university, and suggested that he may instead have attended Advanced Career Technologies, a private for-profit organization that operated as the Computer Career Institute at Johns Hopkins University. He came to international attention after the leaks appeared inThe Washington Post, The Guardian,and other publications. "[295], Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg called Snowden's release of NSA material the most significant leak in U.S. Moscow CNN . Then he became one", "Would You Feel Differently About Snowden, Greenwald, and Assange If You Knew What They Really Thought? Edward loves traveling, and though he is restricted to Russias borders, he has plenty to see in the vast nation. MOSCOW Russian President Vladimir Putin has granted Russian citizenship to former U.S. security contractor Edward Snowden, according to a decree signed Monday by the Russian leader. [91] The September 15, 2016, HPSCI report[92] estimated the number of downloaded documents at 1.5 million. [12][188] Snowden had been in his room at the Mira Hotel since his arrival in the city, rarely going out. [119], According to Gellman, before their first meeting in person, Snowden wrote, "I understand that I will be made to suffer for my actions and that the return of this information to the public marks my end. Edward Snowden Tells NPR: The Executive Branch 'Sort Of Hacked The Constitution'. [107][108] In April 2015, the Henry Jackson Society, a British neoconservative think tank, published a report claiming that Snowden's intelligence leaks negatively impacted Britain's ability to fight terrorism and organized crime. "[185], In January 2014, Snowden said his "breaking point" was "seeing the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, directly lie under oath to Congress. The university said that Snowden registered for an online master's degree program in computer security in 2011 but was inactive as a student and had not completed the program. [367] He told the Parliament that the NSA was working with the security agencies of EU states to "get access to as much data of EU citizens as possible. The agency's intelligence-gathering operations had targeted, among others, oil giant Petrobras, Brazil's largest company. Snowden said that he had told multiple employees and two supervisors about his concerns, but the NSA disputes his claim. Assigned to an NSA facility at Yokota Air Base near Tokyo, Snowden instructed top officials and military officers on how to defend their networks from Chinese hackers. [127] In February 2014, for reporting based on Snowden's leaks, journalists Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras, Barton Gellman and The Guardians Ewen MacAskill were honored as co-recipients of the 2013 George Polk Award, which they dedicated to Snowden. Extradition", "China Said to Have Made Call to Let Leaker Depart", "HKSAR Government issues statement on Edward Snowden", "Hong Kong did not assist Snowden's departure", "Woman who sheltered Edward Snowden is granted asylum in Canada", "New life in Montreal for family that helped Edward Snowden flee to Hong Kong", "Snowden stopping in Moscow en route to Cuba, Russian says", "Edward Snowden lands in Moscow, likely bound for Ecuador", "Fidel Castro labels libelous report Cuba blocked Snowden travel", "Russian media report: How Snowden missed his flight to Cuba", "Snowden got stuck in Russia after Cuba blocked entry: newspaper", "Snowden stayed at Russian Consulate while in Hong Kong, report says", " : . The vast majority of those were related to our military capabilities, operations, tactics, techniques, and procedures. His second request, under President Emmanuel Macron, was favorably received by Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet. Edward Snowdens Twitter page states that he used to work for the government but is now a public servant. Germany later blocked Snowden from testifying in person in an NSA inquiry, citing a potential grave strain on US-German relations.[381]. In a December interview with Fox News, Rogers said Snowden "did some things capability-wise that was beyond his capabilities.". He said that the NSA had copies of emails he sent to their Office of General Counsel, oversight, and compliance personnel broaching "concerns about the NSA's interpretations of its legal authorities. I'm not suspended from the ceiling above a barrel of acid by a rope that burns a little faster every time I tweet, you concern-trolling ghouls. Snowden collected top-secret. But the debate shouldn't be about him. Why did he do. [285] The judgment also found that Snowden had been paid speaker honorariums totaling $1.03million for a series of 56 speeches delivered by video link. The greatest gift is the love we share,Edward wrote on Twitter alongside a photo of himself, his wife, and his newborn child. "[16] On September 17, 2019, his memoir Permanent Record was published. "[111][184], In December 2013, upon learning that a U.S. federal judge had ruled the collection of U.S. phone metadata conducted by the NSA as likely unconstitutional, Snowden said, "I acted on my belief that the NSA's mass surveillance programs would not withstand a constitutional challenge, and that the American public deserved a chance to see these issues determined by open courts today, a secret program authorized by a secret court was, when exposed to the light of day, found to violate Americans' rights. [8] Two days later, he flew into Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport, where Russian authorities observed the canceled passport, and he was restricted to the airport terminal for over one month. [217] In 2021, Supun Thilina Kellapatha, Nadeeka Dilrukshi Nonis and their children found refuge in Canada, leaving only one of Snowden's Hong Kong helpers waiting for asylum. The lawsuit was ultimately rejected by the Norwegian Supreme Court. Former US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden has been given permanent residency in Russia, his lawyer Anatoly Kucherena told state-run news agency RIA Novosti .