Born June 21, 1983 in Elizabeth City, North Carolina Edward Snowden, a world-famous whistleblower of American intelligence agencies, who in 2013 provided several media outlets with information about the US government's total surveillance of millions of people around the world. Fleeing persecution, Snowden eventually ended up in Russia. He cannot return to his native country, since in the United States he was charged in absentia with espionage and theft of government property. However, the disgraced agent is not wasting his time. On the birthday of the famous whistleblower, AiF.ru tells what he began to do during his forced exile.
“The Hermit,” whose face never leaves the screens
$200 thousand - this, according to The Guardian, was Edward Snowden's annual income at the National Security Agency (NSA). And, as Yahoo News writes, he earned approximately the same amount in 2016 from fees for performances on various lectures and symposia organized around the world.
Despite the fact that Snowden's whereabouts are not disclosed for security reasons, it cannot be said that he leads the life of a hermit. On the contrary, his face constantly appears at various technology and human rights conferences, leading directors of the level seek his attention Oliver Stone, and government representatives are consulted on security issues. The range of events in which the former intelligence officer participates is incredibly wide. Here is his face appearing on a giant screen at a conference on personal data security in Tokyo, here he is speaking to an audience at international exhibition youth culture Comic-con in San Diego, and then at music festival in the middle of Europe.
Naturally, Snowden does not receive fees for all of his remote appearances. However, this is of little concern to the American authorities, who for the fifth year now have been criticizing the former NSA employee for “profiting from secrets.” home country" “In my opinion, he violated the oath he swore to our government on our Constitution. The fact that he is being rewarded for this is sad and wrong,” the former CIA Director John Brennan.
However, Snowden's supporters believe that he simply had no other choice. He was unable to take large savings with him to Russia. But you have to live on something. If he had not been able to earn money on his own, he would inevitably have been labeled a spy in the pay of Moscow. Besides, what's wrong with lecturing for a living? After all, many former American agents living quietly in their homeland make money quite legally from the same speeches on security issues.
Traveled all over Russia in 5 years
At the same time, Snowden has never appeared “live” in public in Russia over the past 5 years. Only once did a photographer accidentally capture him walking along the embankment in the Russian capital.
According to Snowden's lawyer Anatoly Kuchereny, the whistleblower lives in an ordinary Moscow rented apartment, moves around the city by metro and buys groceries in ordinary stores. For 5 years, the agent traveled around Russia, visited St. Petersburg several times, which he really liked.
Life in Russia, meanwhile, turned out to be far from cheap, and the income from lectures alone was not enough to cover everything. And Snowden accepted an offer to get a job as an IT security consultant in one of the large international corporations. At the same time, he began developing his own anti-surveillance software, Haven. It was presented in December 2017 and co-authored by the Freedom of the Press Foundation. The program allows you not only to encrypt all information on your computer or phone, but also stands guard at home. The sensors of the mobile device record changes in the room and send a signal to the owner if someone has entered there.
His girlfriend lives with Snowden in Russia Lindsay Mills. Several years ago, the American media wrote about their separation, but director Oliver Stone, who filmed about Snowden Feature Film and who met him several times in Moscow, denied this information. The agent in Russia is also visited by his father, who has repeatedly urged his son to return to his homeland.
Posted by (@lsjourney) Feb 14, 2017 at 11:29 PST
Will the fugitive return home?
Inevitably for so long term During his stay in Russia, Snowden was accused of working for Russian intelligence services. The denials, which were repeatedly given by both the whistleblower himself and the President of Russia, could not reassure the most suspicious.
Eg, head of German counterintelligence Hans-Georg Maasen in 2016 said that Snowden had become "part of the hybrid war that Russia is waging against the West." According to the politician, the Russian SVR could have recruited the American even before he joined the NSA. The fact that for international public opinion Snowden remains an idealistic loner, which Maasen called Russia's "pinnacle of success" in disinformation efforts.
But if the NSA whistleblower was indeed recruited by the Russians, then how do we explain the fact that he repeatedly criticized the Russian authorities while living in Russia? Snowden expressed disagreement with legislative restrictions on the Internet and condemned the blocking of the Telegram messenger. He repeatedly stated his desire to leave Russia and move permanently to one of the Latin American countries.
However, Snowden has already said more than once that he is ready to return to the United States and stand trial if they give him guarantees that the trial will be open and with the participation of a jury. However, he did not receive such guarantees under the previous president. Barack Obama, not under the current owner of the White House Donald Trump. At the same time, leading human rights organizations, Hollywood stars, and even individual politicians, such as the senator from Vermont and a contender for the role of presidential candidate from the Democratic Party, are supporting Snowden at home. Bernie Sanders.
When Trump came to power, some American publications wrote that the Kremlin might hand over Snowden as a gift to the new president, but these reports turned out to be just another “fake news.” Russian authorities have extended the residence permit of a former agent. And now it seems that one of America's greatest dissidents will still have time to grow old here.
https://www.site/2018-06-30/snouden_zayavil_o_korrumpirovannosti_pravitelstva_rf_kotoroe_predostavilo_emu_ubezhiche
Snowden spoke about the corruption of the Russian government, which granted him asylum
Former employee American intelligence services Edward Snowden Friso Gentsch/dpa/Global Look Press
Former US National Security Agency employee Edward Snowden said that the Russian government, which provided him asylum, is corrupt. He said this in an interview with the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.
"As is known to the Russian people“The Russian government is corrupt in many ways,” Snowden said. “I think Russians feel powerless.” This is how he answered a question about civic engagement in a country “that is widely known for violating human rights.” “Russians are not naive, they know that state television cannot be trusted. Russians are warm-hearted and smart. The problem is with the government, not with the people,” added the former US intelligence officer.
According to Snowden, he has never met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, but “definitely does not agree” with the principles of the work of the head of the Russian Federation.
When asked whether Snowden believes it is dangerous for him to criticize local authorities, he replied that there was undoubtedly a risk: “Maybe the government doesn’t care what I say. I do not speak Russian. And I'm a former CIA agent, so it's very easy for them to discredit my Political Views as an American CIA agent in Russia."
The former American special agent said that Russian intelligence services offered to cooperate with him as soon as he arrived in Russia, but he categorically refused. “I don’t want ties to them [the Russian government], I don’t want to be involved, I never planned to be here,” Snowden explained.
At the same time, he told how he now lives in Russia: “I take the metro, live in an apartment with my girlfriend and pay rent like everyone else.” However, according to him, he does not use bank cards and tries not to advertise his name.
The journalists clarified that the interview took place in a hotel near the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Snowden: new head of CIA participated in torture
Edward Snowden in June 2013 gave the Washington Post and Guardian a number of classified materials about surveillance programs of US and UK intelligence services on the Internet. He flew to Hong Kong, and from there to Moscow, where he spent some time in the transit zone of the Moscow airport. Russia granted Snowden temporary asylum for a year on the condition that he cease his activities against the United States. On August 1, 2014, Snowden received a three-year residence permit.
Name: Edward Snowden
Age: 35 years
Activity: technical specialist, former CIA and US National Security Agency employee
Family status: not married
Edward Snowden: biography
Edward Snowden is an American technical assistant, known throughout the world for publishing a number of sensational revelations by US intelligence agencies regarding mass surveillance of citizens. Since 2013, his name has appeared on the front pages of the media, as information about violations of the rights and freedoms of millions of Americans and Europeans by the National Security Agency (NSA) amazed the world community.
IN Lately Snowden lives in Russia, where he was granted political asylum because the United States put him on the international wanted list, charging him in absentia with theft and disclosure of state secrets, which is regarded as a threat to the country's security.
Childhood and youth
Edward Snowden was born on June 21, 1983 in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. His parents, coast guard Lonnie and lawyer Elizabeth Snowden, are divorced. In the family Edward is youngest child, he has an older sister, Jessica, who works as a lawyer at the Federal Judicial Center in Washington.
Snowden spent his childhood and youth in his hometown, where the future CIA and NSA employee received his secondary education. In 1999, Snowden's family moved to Maryland. There Edward entered Anne Arundel College, where he took preparatory courses for entering the university.
However, due to health reasons, he never completed the course of study - he had to continue his studies remotely, which did not prevent Snowden from receiving a master's degree from the University of Liverpool in 2011.
In 2004, Edward Snowden joined the US Armed Forces as a reservist, from where he was discharged a few months after receiving serious injuries to both legs. From that moment on, Snowden’s biography was directly related to computer science, programming and IT technologies, in which the guy showed professionalism and special talent, despite the lack of formal confirmation of the specialist’s qualifications.
Service in the CIA
Edward Snowden's rise up the career ladder was confident and rapid. The specialist received his first professional skills at the NSA, working in the security structure of a secret facility at the University of Maryland. A few years later, Snowden was hired by the CIA and, under diplomatic cover, was sent to Geneva as the US permanent representative to the UN. There, his responsibilities included ensuring the security of computer networks. According to Edward, working in Switzerland opened his eyes to the fact that he is a special link in the US intelligence services, bringing people more harm than good.
In 2009, the programmer left the CIA and began working for the NSA consulting companies Dell and Booz Allen Hamilton, performing the duties of an external contractor.
Snowden did not approve of the activities of the US National Security Agency, in the future ridding the American public of illusions about the lawful actions of the government in relation to the whole world. In this regard, in 2013, an NSA special agent decided to act at the behest of his heart and reveal to people secret information exposing American intelligence agencies in mass surveillance of people.
Snowden has repeatedly noted that he wanted to declassify the unlawful actions of the NSA and CIA back in 2008, but hoped that when he came to power the situation in the US secret services would change. It soon became obvious to the programmer that the new US President was continuing the policies of his predecessors and did not intend to interfere with the activities of the “spies.”
Revelations and criminal prosecutions
Snowden's work to declassify crimes of American intelligence agencies began in 2013. Then the former CIA and NSA agent contacted film producer Laura Poitras, American journalist Glenn Greenwald and publicist Barton Gellman, who told them that he was ready to provide classified information.
Snowden's communication took place through encrypted e-mail messages, through which the IT specialist leaked 200 thousand secret documents to journalists. Their secrecy status exceeded previously published materials on WikiLeaks regarding the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. After this, a scandal broke out, and the announced incriminating evidence received the effect of a thermonuclear bomb in the press. In the future, the founder of WikiLeaks will state that thanks to the international non-profit organization Snowden remains at large.
Edward Snowden's revelations contained facts about surveillance by US intelligence agencies of the population in 60 countries and 35 government departments across Europe. The programmer declassified information about the PRISM program, with the help of which special agents conducted mass surveillance of negotiations between Americans and foreign citizens via the Internet and mobile communications.
According to Edward, the PRISM program allowed the NSA to listen to voice and video chats, view email and photos, track transferred files and possess all user information social networks. Participated in this program a large number of popular services: Microsoft (Hotmail), Facebook, Google (Gmail), Skype, Yahoo!, AOL, YouTube, Apple and Paltalk.
Another sensational revelation by Snowden was the secret ruling of the FISC court, according to which the largest operator cellular communications Verizon is required to provide the NSA with metadata on a daily basis for all calls made within the United States. Against the backdrop of this ruling, journalists suggested that other American cellular operators could also be involved in such obligations.
In addition, thanks to Snowden, it became known about the existence of the Tempora tracking program, which intercepts Internet traffic and telephone conversations, and about the integrated software iPhone, which allows you to monitor the user's actions.
One of Snowden's most resonant revelations was the disclosure of the fact that US intelligence officers intercepted telephone conversations of foreign politicians and officials participating in the G20 summit held in London in 2009. Victims of the US NSA's misconduct include many well-known politicians from around the world.
According to the Pentagon, Snowden owns 1.7 million classified documents, most of which concern vital important information about operations American army and the Navy, Marines and Air Force. This information, according to journalists, will be gradually disclosed with the aim of harming the national interests of the United States and the NSA.
After deciding to reveal his identity, Edward Snowden, realizing that he would have to pay dearly for this act, went on the run.
At first, the programmer hid in Hong Kong, where he planned to obtain political asylum. After the announcement of official charges by the American authorities of theft and disclosure of secret state secrets, which happened on the day of Edward’s 30th birthday, the spy, for unknown reasons, appeared in Moscow at Sheremetyevo airport, but, not having a Russian visa, was forced to remain in the transit zone of the airport .
According to media reports, in Russia the programmer was met by a car with Venezuelan diplomatic license plates, which took Snowden away in an unknown direction. Presumably, Edward intended to go to South America through Moscow.
On June 30, 2013, he asked to be granted political asylum in Russia, and the very next day the President of the Russian Federation allowed the programmer to remain in the country on the condition that he stop the subversive work of the American intelligence services.
At the same time, Edward Snowden submitted a petition to the American authorities for a pardon, citing the fact that he did not observe anything bad or illegal in his actions. American authorities have a conflicting attitude towards Snowden's revelations, believing that the programmer is obliged to stand trial because he betrayed US state secrets. American intelligence officers consider the act of the former CIA and NSA employee to be harsh and illegal, causing irreparable damage to the US intelligence service.
In turn, the European Union is categorical about the issue of the prosecution of Snowden. The European Parliament has repeatedly called on the EU to refuse to impose a sentence on the American and to provide him with protection, which would make it impossible for him to be extradited to the United States or returned by a third party.
In July 2016, US CIA Director John Brennan said that Snowden should return to the US and face trial. Then the head of American foreign intelligence did not support the position of former US Attorney General Eric Holder, who called Snowden’s activities a “service to the public.” The head of the CIA does not believe that thanks to Edward, a discussion of socially significant issues has begun in the country.
In 2016, a former employee of the National Security Agency spoke in an interview with the Financial Times about his life in the Russian capital. Snowden admitted that his knowledge of the Russian language is only enough to place an order at a restaurant. Snowden added that he lives on Eastern Time and spends most of his time on the Internet, but "this has always been his life."
Snowden has repeatedly expressed his opinion regarding Russian anti-terrorism laws. A former American intelligence officer criticized in his microblog on the social network "Twitter" a package of laws (“package”) that introduce life imprisonment for international terrorism and oblige telecom operators, instant messengers and social networks to store information about the facts of conversations and correspondence of users and their content.
“Mass surveillance doesn’t work. This law takes away money and freedom from every Russian without improving security. You shouldn’t sign it,” Snowden notes.
In 2017, the authorities of many countries around the world continue to invite the former employee of the American intelligence services to speak out on a number of issues, as well as to give lectures.
Movies
“The most wanted man in the world,” Edward Snowden, after the publication and disclosure of classified information from American intelligence agencies, became one of the main characters for writers and filmmakers who thought of making him part of their creations. He was the main character documentary film"Citizenfour", directed by Laura Poitras, based on an interview with a former CIA and NSA employee.
The film about Edward Snowden won the prestigious Oscar as the best documentary film with a bold plot, which from the first to the last seconds carries sensational and revealing information.
In 2016 the world saw new project famous director entitled “Snowden”, dedicated to the story of a former IT specialist of the US intelligence services hiding from the evil American government. The main roles in the film were played by actors, and.
Personal life
The personal life of Edward Snowden, after his high-profile revelations, due to the precautions taken, became a secret to society. ABOUT family life he mentioned once in passing - in 2013, he said that he had a wife and children. It is known that since 2009, his girlfriend was dancer Lindsay Mills, with whom he lived in a civil marriage on the Hawaiian island of Waipahu.
There were rumors that the couple broke up in 2013. But director Oliver Stone, the author of the film about Snowden, denied this information. The American spy still lives with his beloved in Russia. Evidence of this fact is provided by their joint photos that appear on Lindsay’s personal Instagram account.
In 2013, a former employee of the Russian intelligence services proposed that Edward Snowden marry her. She wrote about this on Twitter, but users called this step a PR move on her part.
According to journalists who interviewed Edward in Hong Kong, Snowden remains good-natured and smart person, in whose character one can trace notes of romance and idealism. The programmer is quiet and healthy image life, practices Buddhism, spends a lot of time at the computer and enjoys reading books on the history of Russia. At the same time, the NSA and CIA “whistleblower” adheres to a vegetarian diet, does not drink coffee or drink alcohol.
Edward Snowden now
The programmer has repeatedly stated that he is ready to move to the United States, subject to an open trial with a jury present at the trial. But no head of state has yet given Snowden such guarantees. In 2017, journalists suggested that Moscow would no longer hide Edward on Russian territory, but would hand him over to the new US President, but the programmer again managed to renew his residence permit.
In 2018, the American stopped communicating with the public for six months. In the fall, with his participation, a video conference took place with the University of Management of the Austrian city of Innsbruck. Edward said that he now manages the American Foundation for the Defense of Freedom of Journalists.
As part of his activities, Snowden is developing a program to protect information sources from external threats. According to a former CIA employee, he is primarily concerned with problems American society, which he continues to struggle with. At the same time, Edward does not stop criticizing the Russian government and reforms.
In November, Snowden gave a lecture to senior Mossad officials, presenting evidence of NSA infiltration into Israeli intelligence operations via videoconference. Snowden has not yet provided information about new performances in 2019, but it is assumed that the programmer will continue to expose American intelligence services.
Quotes
Snowden himself says this about his revelations:
“I have carefully reviewed each document to ensure that its release would serve the legitimate interests of the public. There are documents of all types that would have great consequences if released, but I do not release them because my goal is openness, not hurting people."Edward Snowden was born in North Carolina, in a town with the romantic name of Elizabeth City, and spent his childhood and youth in Maryland. There he graduated from high school and entered college, where he studied computer science. Interestingly, Edward did not manage to get his diploma the first time.
In 2003, Snowden joined the US Army, but during an unsuccessful exercise he suffered fractures in both legs and was forced to leave the service.
Snowden later got a job at the US National Security Agency. His task was to guard a certain secret facility located on the territory of the University of Maryland. Supposedly it was CASL (Center for Advanced Study of Language). During his work, Snowden received Top Secret level clearance, thanks to which he could have access to many classified materials.
Since March 2007, Snowden worked at the CIA, in the information security department (he is a system administrator by profession). Until 2009, he worked at the UN under the guise of the US mission and was involved in ensuring the security of computer networks.
However, at one point Edward became disillusioned with the work of the American intelligence services. He told how in 2007 he witnessed an extremely unpleasant story: CIA officers got a Swiss bank employee drunk, put him behind the wheel and persuaded him to go home. When he was arrested for drunk driving, agents offered him a deal - help in exchange for access to secret bank information. Snowden said that during his time in Geneva, he saw that his government's activities were doing far more harm to the world than good. Edward hoped that with Barack Obama coming to power the situation would change for the better, but things only got worse.
Edward retired from the CIA and most recently rented a house in Hawaii with his girlfriend and worked at Booz Allen Hamilton.
Disclosure of confidential information
In January 2012, Snowden wrote several encrypted emails to Laura Praigner of the Free Press Foundation, Guardian journalist Glen Greenwald, and Washington Post writer Barton Gellman. He offered to supply them with some secret information, which he eventually did.
On June 6, 2013, the public became aware of the existence of PRISM, a top secret US government program. The program is aimed at obtaining secret and not-so-secret information on the Internet; companies such as Microsoft, Google, Yahoo!, Facebook and others willingly cooperated with it. There was complete chaos and hysteria in the ranks of the National Security Agency employees, they as soon as possible asked the FBI for help in the investigation.
In fact, thanks to Snowden, Americans learned that they could be subject to mass surveillance through email, telephone, video chats and personal correspondence on social networks.
Snowden also disclosed information about the existence of the British surveillance program Tempora and that British intelligence services penetrated computers and monitored calls of foreign politicians at the G20 summit (London, 2009).
This and many other declassified information caused enormous damage secret services USA and UK.
Snowden said that he does not transfer all secret data, but only those that will not harm specific people, but will help make the world a better place at least for a second - people should know that their private lives can be penetrated at any moment .
What's next?
After the disclosure of classified data, on May 20, 2013, Snowden took a leave of absence from the NSA, said goodbye to his girlfriend and flew to Hong Kong. On June 6, he told Gellman that his home in Hawaii had been searched, the same day the classified information was published in The Washington Post and The Guardian.On June 22, the US State Department appealed to the Hong Kong authorities with a demand to extradite him to the United States, but the authorities refused to do this - they were not satisfied with some of the wording in the request.
On June 23, Snowden's adventures related to Russia began. Information has been received that Edward Snowden, together with Wikileaks representative Sarah Harrison, arrived at Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport. Snowen, who did not have a Russian visa, did not have the right to cross the border with Russia, so he remained in the Sheremetyevo transit zone. According to press reports, Snowden and Harrison did not even reach the airport building, but immediately got into a car with license plates of the Venezuelan Embassy and disappeared in an unknown direction. On the evening of June 23, Snowden asked for political asylum from the Ecuadorian authorities.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on June 25 that Russia has nothing to do with the actions of Edward Snowden, has never conducted and is not conducting any business with him, he has not committed crimes on Russian territory, therefore there are no grounds for his arrest and transfer to US authorities .
On June 30, Sarah Harrison handed over documents and Snowden's request to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to grant him political asylum in Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia would provide the fugitive saboteur with asylum, but on the condition that he stop causing harm to the US government.
Upon his return to the United States, Snowden faces a prison sentence of up to 30 years, while his supporters are collecting millions of signatures in his defense, and in Hong Kong they are holding petitions outside the US Embassy.
Knock on Facebook. © Diliago/website
On Sunday, July 14, Swedish university professor Stefan Swallfors proposed nominating Edward Snowden for the Nobel Peace Prize. Svalllfors believes that the ex-CERA officer managed to “make the world a little better and safer.” The Reedus correspondent tried to understand Snowden's revelations in order to understand what new thing this character told the world.
1. Prism. In early June, Edward Snowden told reporters from The Guardian and Washington Post about the existence of a special program that monitors the actions of millions of users on the Internet. Nine major IT companies were found to be collaborating with intelligence agencies: Microsoft, Yahoo!, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube and Apple. In accordance with Snowden's revelations, these computer industry giants provide the NSA with direct access to their servers to obtain audio and video files, photographs, email correspondence, documents, data on user visits to certain sites, etc. and so on. In an interview with The Guardian, Snowden noted that "the NSA has built an infrastructure that allows it to intercept almost everything. If I wanted to know your email address or your wife's phone number, I would only have to use the intercept data. I can get your email , passwords, telephone conversation data, credit cards"The whales of the IT industry hastened to disown cooperation with the NSA. However, later they had to admit that from time to time, in accordance with American laws, they transfer the necessary data to the NSA. The whole world, including the United States, was in the sights of Prism It is this fact that has offended American human rights activists: most of them see nothing wrong with spying on other countries, but spying on their own citizens, from their point of view, is not good.
This scandal played the role of a kind of trigger; it was after the exposure of “Prism” that “Snowdenmania” began. However, apart from the name and essence of the project, Snowden did not reveal anything new. This has been recognized by computer security experts from many countries. The user agreement itself, for example, when creating a page in the “face book,” states that the company has the right to transfer information to third parties. Of course, at most every tenth user reads these agreements. Creators " South Park"They even dedicated one of the episodes of their series to this: about the agreement with Apple and the human centipede. In the cartoon, Kyle came under attack. In reality - all people who do not take their safety seriously. If you use the services of finding people "in contact" or " classmates", you can find a lot of photographs of military personnel with military unit numbers, location, etc., etc. Options like "foresquare" generally allow you to track a person's movements. More "check-ins" - more precisely, a trajectory.
With the help of social networks, not long ago, kidnappers kidnapped Kasperksy’s son. The appearance of a program that tracks the necessary information voluntarily provided by users is a completely logical step. From this point of view, Dmitry Medvedev’s statement that Russian officials should more actively use social networks to create a positive image of Russia looks funny. “Such programs themselves have a right to exist,” Americanist Ivan Denisov shared his point of view. “Under Obama, however, their use has increased, but all these “Prisms” do not contradict the American Constitution. If something went beyond the scope, So these are questions for the administration, not computer scientists."
On Friday, June 12, Foreign Policy magazine took over the baton. Foreign Policy journalists now have their own “mole” in the NSA. This "truth teller" expanded on the information provided by Edward. It turns out that the NSA has a top-secret cyber intelligence unit called Tailored Access Operations. TAO collects intelligence around the world by hacking into computers and telecommunications systems. This information is much more interesting than Snowden's, as it describes illegal methods of data extraction.
2. Verizon and Latin America. And again Snowden chose the British “The Guardian” as his “mouthpiece”. The British informed the world that the American telecommunications company Verizon daily transmitted data about its clients' calls to the CIA. From the documents released by Snowden, it follows that almost 100% of the negotiations conducted by Latin American countries are monitored in Langley. The information is certainly interesting. But it testifies not to the diabolical cunning of American spies, but to the incompetence and carelessness of the intelligence services of the countries indicated by Snowden. It would be funny if the telephone lines in the Kremlin were serviced not by the Russian telephone network, but, for example, by AT&T. In the end, it’s not for nothing that the Federal Drug Control Service, the FSB and other Russian “special” organizations have their own mobile operators and paging companies. However, this “information dump” had a very real effect. Michael Morell, deputy director of the CIA, was forced to resign after these revelations. It was he who was responsible for analytics in the Asian and Latin American regions. The Verizon scandal forced NSA head Keith Alexander to give an official interview. “This data helped prevent dozens of terrorist events,” he said, justifying himself. These words caused a backlash among American human rights activists. The meaning of their statements boils down to one thing: if you keep an eye on everyone like that, why didn’t you, damned ones, manage to prevent the terrorist attack on the Boston Marathon?
3. China. In late spring and early summer, American authorities came down hard on China because of hacker attacks allegedly organized by Chinese intelligence services. There were even official accusations. Against this background, Snowden’s latest revelation played into the hands of the Chinese authorities in the best possible way. In an interview with the South China Morning Post, the 29-year-old analyst spoke about the program of hacking attacks against the Middle Kingdom. Edward said that the US government had been hacking the networks and computers of Chinese universities and politicians for four years. According to Snowden, these attacks were carried out exclusively on private computers and machines of civilian organizations. “I am disclosing this information to show the hypocrisy of the American government, which claims that, unlike its opponents, it never attacks civilian structures,” the former CIA official told the Chinese newspaper. He also allegedly gave the newspaper a list of IP addresses in Hong Kong and mainland China that had been targeted by the NSA. It was after this news event that opinions arose that Snowden could be working for China; he handed over information about hacker attacks to Beijing just in time, and Hong Kong, as the first shelter, suggested these thoughts to some conspiracy theorists.
4. SummitG20 in London and wiretapping of European officials. This scandal was the most powerful in the series of Snowden revelations. According to his statements, the NSA and the CIA listened to all communications of the leaders of European countries. The publication of these data caused a wave of outrage in Europe. Some analysts have even begun to talk about a serious cooling in friendly relations between the United States and its European NATO partners. It is interesting that the scandal was caused not by the fact of eavesdropping, but by the fact that the Americans listened not only to their “sworn friends”, but also to their allies. Thanks to the indignation of members of the North Atlantic Alliance, the NSA was forced to admit the fact of wiretapping.
However, if you put aside emotions and start thinking soberly, it turns out that Snowden again did not say anything new. The Americans, like other strong states, have always tried to eavesdrop not only on their enemies, but also on their partners. The work of the special services is so unpleasant: to sniff out, find out, analyze, inform. This information indicates only the professional training of some intelligence officers and the failure of others. A chatterbox is a godsend for a spy. There have been better successes in our country. Just remember John Stonehouse. The British minister (first of aviation, and then of technology, post and communications), and part-time Soviet resident, is aerobatics. Against this background, Snowden's statement about wiretapping looks like a pathetic bleat.
5. NSA staffing table. To date, experts consider these documents the most important of the Snezhkov revelations, since they fully reveal the activities of the US intelligence service. While Edward Snowden only announced the information he had in his possession, there have not yet been any publications of documents for internal use. According to The Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, these materials can help people avoid wiretapping by American intelligence agencies, and, even moreover, allow them to begin electronic surveillance themselves. At the moment, this is the most bombastic of Snowden's revelations. Time will tell whether this information will be made public.