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 Lately He 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. Complete chaos and hysteria reigned within the ranks of the National Security Agency employees; they quickly turned to the FBI for help in the investigation.
Essentially, 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 asked the Hong Kong authorities to extradite him to the United States, but the authorities refused to do so - 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, had no 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.
National Security Agency materials leaked to reporters by former employee Edward Snowden indicate that the FSB hacked the email account of Novaya Gazeta columnist Anna Politkovskaya in 2005, a year before her murder, The Intercept reports, citing this previously unpublished top-secret document. . The document itself is available on Documentcloud.org. The email hack was posted on Snowden's Intellipedia, the NSA's internal wiki, which read: Email from murdered Russian woman
US President Barack Obama said he could not consider pardoning the ex-NSA employee Edward Snowden until he appears before an American court. I cannot pardon a person who has not been brought to justice. Therefore, at this stage I cannot comment on this topic, he said in an interview with Spiegel magazine.
As Russian President V. Putin admitted on September 4, 2013, during his stay in Hong Kong, Snowden first met with Russian diplomatic representatives and explored the possibility of moving to Russia.
On July 16, 2013, Snowden officially applied to the Federal Migration Service with a request for temporary asylum in Russia. On August 1, 2013, Snowden received a certificate of temporary asylum in the territory Russian Federation, issued on July 31, 2013 by the Office of the Federal Migration Service for the Moscow Region and valid until July 31, 2014 (with the possibility of extension); this document gives the right to freely move throughout the territory of Russia and find employment (with the exception of the civil service) without obtaining a work permit. On the same day, Snowden crossed the Russian border, leaving the transit area of Terminal E at Sheremetyevo Airport and leaving, according to lawyer Anatoly Kucherena, in a taxi, accompanied by Sarah Harrison, in an unknown direction. Anatoly Kucherena, showing a copy of his asylum document, said that for security reasons, the whereabouts of Snowden, one of the most wanted people in the world, would not be disclosed.
Edward Snowden's actions have received conflicting assessments. According to some people, he is a hero, whistleblower, dissident or even a patriot; according to others, he is a traitor. Some US intelligence officials have denounced his actions as causing "severe damage" to US intelligence capabilities, but there are also those who do not take Snowden's revelations seriously and denounce him as simply a clown or a liar. US President Barack Obama said that "it is not yet known exactly what Snowden did" and he preferred to refrain from making any preliminary assessment of Snowden's actions until he appeared in court.
On August 2, 2013, as a result of the revelations published by Snowden, Germany terminated agreements with the United States and Great Britain, concluded in 1968 and 1969, which allowed the intelligence services of these states to engage in electronic intelligence on German territory, but soon began preparing a new agreement with the United States prohibiting mutual espionage. Spain has demanded clarification from the United States regarding the interception of telephone and Internet communications on its territory. Brazil made the same demand.
Edward Snowden's story about Russia. Latest details.
“I am willing to sacrifice all of this because I cannot in good conscience allow the US government to violate the privacy, freedom of the Internet and the fundamental freedoms of people around the world with this enormous surveillance system that they are secretly developing,” he told the Guardian.
Previously, ransomware viruses penetrated Windows computers in Russia, the USA, Great Britain, Spain, Italy and other countries. Former US National Security Agency (NSA) employee Edward Snowden called on Congress to learn about other vulnerabilities in operating systems used in UK hospitals. In light of today's attack, Congress needs to know whether the NSA knows about other vulnerabilities in the operating systems used in our hospitals, Snowden tweeted. He added that if the NSA had not
“I've said before and I'll say it again, I'm most interested in Zcash right now because its privacy options are truly unique. But we see many other projects moving towards this,” Snowden said about his preferences.
In a note accompanying the first batch of documents, Snowden wrote: “I understand that I will have to suffer for my actions,” but “I will be satisfied if secret laws, unequal impunity and insurmountable executive branch, ruling the world that I love, would be for a moment.” “I really want these documents to be in the spotlight and hope that it will spark discussion among citizens of all world about what kind of world we want to live in.”
Moscow. 30 June. INTERFAX.RU - The lawyer of ex-CIA employee Edward Snowden, Anatoly Kucherena, said that Russia will not bargain with the United States on the issue of extradition or exchange of the fugitive American. "Russia…
), North Carolina) is an American technician and special agent, a former employee of the CIA and the National Security Agency (NSA) of the United States. At the beginning of June 2013, Snowden gave the newspapers The Guardian and The Washington Post classified NSA information regarding the total surveillance of American intelligence services over information communications between citizens of many countries around the world using existing information and communication networks, including information about the PRISM project, as well as X-Keyscore and Tempora. According to a classified Pentagon report, Snowden stole 1.7 million classified files, most of the documents relating to “vital operations of the US Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force.” In this regard, in the United States on June 14, 2013, Snowden was charged in absentia with espionage and theft of government property. Put on the international wanted list by the American authorities. Soon he fled from the United States, first to Hong Kong, then to Russia, where he spent more than a month in the transit zone of Sheremetyevo airport. On August 1, 2013, he received temporary asylum in the Russian Federation, a year later - a three-year residence permit, which in 2017 was extended until 2020. Lives in Russia outside of Moscow (according to other later reports - in Moscow); its exact location is not disclosed for security reasons.
On October 10, the two-hour premiere took place at the New York Film Festival. documentary film about Edward Snowden “Citizenfour. The Snowden Truth" by Laura Poitras. On the same day, a 2.7-meter-tall plaster statue of Edward Snowden appeared in Union Square in New York, but it did not stand there for long because it was installed without permission.
On June 14, 2015, it became known that the British intelligence service MI6 had withdrawn its agents from several countries after Russia and China hacked a secret cache of files stolen by former US intelligence officer Edward Snowden. This was reported by the Sunday Times, citing sources in the British government, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the intelligence services.
On June 25, 2013, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced at a press conference in Moscow that Russia has nothing to do with Snowden’s movements around the world, and Russian authorities learned of Snowden’s plans to travel to South America from information in the press. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Snowden is in the transit zone of Sheremetyevo airport, where a Russian visa is not required, he did not cross the Russian border and did not commit any crimes in the country, and therefore there are no grounds for his detention and extradition to the United States. Putin also said: “Our special services have never worked with Mr. Snowden and are not working today.” On June 30, in an interview with Echo of Moscow, Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov clarified that Putin, on the contrary, prefers that Snowden be dealt with by special services.
Edward Snowden: where now?. Exclusive.
On July 5, the award ceremony for the winners of the Russian Media Manager 2018 award took place. More than 100 media business professionals from all over Russia took part in the award, the results of which were assessed by the Expert Council and the award jury.
On May 21, in a Moscow hotel, Snowden met with NBC TV presenter Brian Williams. The conversation lasted about four hours. The interview aired on NBC on May 29 at 6:00 Moscow time (2:00 UTC).
The prestigious German Glass of Prudence Award was awarded for the 26th time in the German city of Kassel. This prize is awarded to those who have made significant contributions to promoting tolerance and mutual understanding, as well as overcoming ideological differences between people. The award ceremony took place in Kasselsky State Theater. The German public also awarded the Glass of Prudence to Edward Snowden. In 2013, despite the risk to his own safety and life, he revealed to the world the facts about the total surveillance of citizens by US intelligence services
About in an interview with Oliver Stone. Former US National Security Agency (NSA) employee Edward Snowden, who received asylum in Russia, is not a traitor to the interests of his country. Russian President Vladimir Putin stated this in an interview with American director Oliver Stone, excerpts of which were published on June 1 at publication website Hollywood Reporter. Snowden is not a traitor. He did not betray the interests of his country, he also did not transmit any information to any other country, the publication quotes Putin. In the same time
July According to the documentary film Citizenfour, Snowden's girlfriend, dancer Lindsay Mills, whose relationship with Snowden has been going on since 2009, moved to Russia. In January 2014, the press reported that Snowden and Mills had separated, but this claim was refuted in the film.
Bolivian President's planeEvo MORALESAwas forced to make an unscheduled landing in Vienna on the way to Russia. France and Portugal have banned him from flying through their airspace, reportsBBC.
The reason for the ban was the suspicion that a former CIA officer was on board the Bolivian plane. Edward SNOUDEN. Bolivia has denied reports of this, writes “ Ukrainian truth«.
Minister of Foreign Affairs of this country David ChOCEUANKA stated: “We don’t know who came up with this lie. In front of the international community, we protest against this injustice that President Evo Morales' plane received."
As you know, Snowden turned to 21 countries with a request to grant him political asylum. Among these countries was also Bolivia.
It is known that nine countries have already refused to grant Snowden political asylum.
Snowden released documents according to which US intelligence agencies have access to information about clients of the largest Internet and telecommunications companies, such as Microsoft, Skype and Facebook.
Also, last week a London newspaper Guardian reported, citing Snowden's documents, that British intelligence is recording and analyzing enormous amounts of information from transatlantic fiber optic cables.
What did Snowden say and why does Washington allow itself to demand that European countries forcefully land presidential planes due to unconfirmed suspicions?
I tried to answer this question Andy GREENBERG in Ukrainian " Forbes«.
For several days now, the attention of the world media has been focused on mysterious movements. former employee American National Security Agency (NSA) Edward Snowden. Founder of the WikiLeaks project Julian ASSANGE, who took Snowden under his wing and helped him escape from the authorities, said that he was seeking political asylum in Ecuador. But a couple of days ago Russian President Vladimir PUTIN admitted that the 29-year-old former NSA employee settled in the transit zone of Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport, where he flew from his temporary shelter - one of the hotels in Hong Kong. According to information available to journalists, Moscow was supposed to become a transit point for Snowden to fly to Cuba. To the surprise of the press, the plane heading to this country took off without him.
The Snowden case is almost a ready-made plot for a spy novel. But, carried away by the intrigue associated with the escape and sudden appearance in Moscow of the holder of the secrets of the American and British intelligence services, many media outlets left behind the scenes what he risked himself for. To fill this gap, let us recall some facts that Snowden managed to make public.
The first document disclosed by Snowden was secret ruling from the US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), sent to an American telecom operator Verizon. The court required Verizon provide data on telephone conversations of American citizens for three months. In the FISC document obtained by the newspaper's journalists The Guardian, it was indicated that the operator is obliged to transfer to the special service not recordings of telephone conversations, but service data about calls - the location of the caller, telephone numbers of subscribers, duration of the conversation, etc. Main conclusion, made by journalists: the court ignored the rules by which the NSA is prohibited from spying on citizens of its own country. Senators Saxby CHEYBLISS And Diane Feinstein defended the NSA and said that the intelligence agency has not practiced telephone surveillance for the past seven years, and that the current case is an exception.
At parliamentary hearings, the director of the NSA Keith ALEXANDER clarified that data on telephone conversations of Americans was needed for the archive, access to which is provided in exceptional cases, and only with the permission of FISC judges. However, another secret document published The Guardian, indicates that the NSA’s internal rules have a lot of exceptions that give the intelligence service access to information about Americans and allow it to be stored indefinitely. For example, the NSA can collect data on American citizens if it believes that the information obtained contains “important facts about foreign intelligence” and sheds light on crimes committed or being planned. It is also allowed to listen to the conversations of Americans, which could potentially make public information important to US national security. In addition, the NSA is allowed to store encrypted messages of US citizens and foreigners that are intercepted for decryption indefinitely.
Snowden disclosed information about Boundless Informant data mining system. The NSA uses it, in particular, to systematize data on countries in which electronic surveillance is conducted. Among the materials disclosed by Snowden is a digital map created by Boundless Informant indicating target countries for electronic intelligence. Judging by this map, American intelligence agencies are most active in Iran, Pakistan and Jordan. But also in own country The NSA conducts mass digital surveillance as part of the government's secret PRISM program to intercept telephone conversations and electronic communications.
Snowden conveyed to reporters an order from US President Obama, in which he tasks intelligence agencies with compiling a list of potential targets for cyber attacks around the world. As stated in this order, the list should include systems, processes and infrastructure facilities, a hacker attack on which will help the United States solve its strategic objectives. The order was issued after the United States accused the Chinese government of organizing cyber attacks.
Journalists The Guardian received from Snowden a document confirming the existence of a British intelligence system to intercept data transmitted through transatlantic fiber optic cables.
This system, called Tempora, was created by the British intelligence service GCHQ and is capable of storing huge amounts of information. The British share most of the information they collect with the NSA, where 250 specialists analyze it. Another project of the British GCHQ, according to Snowden - interception of negotiations conducted by G20 leaders at the London summit in 2009.
The intelligence service monitored calls and emails from politicians sent from Blackberry smartphones. GCHQ even created several fake Internet cafes, and used keyloggers - hacker programs to track keystrokes - to collect information. Hong Kong newspaper SCMP
Snowden showed documents listing targets for potential US hacking attacks in China and Hong Kong. The Guardian In total, the intelligence service has identified 61,000 targets for cyber attacks around the world. Based on information received from Snowden, the Hong Kong SCMP published information that the US National Security Agency was able to gain access to the fiber optic network of the Chinese operator Pacnet and the systems of several mobile operators. The result is a huge volume of SMS messages intercepted by the intelligence service. said that Snowden gave him hundreds of documents, including dozens of sensational ones. Snowden himself stated that he was ready to share data with the media: in his opinion, journalists in each country should independently decide whether to publish information about the operations of American intelligence services. So no matter where in the world the former NSA contractor ends up, the biggest spy scandal of the decade appears to be just heating up.
Source: AP 2019
On June 21, 1983, Edward Snowden, a world-famous whistleblower of American intelligence agencies, was born in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, 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 was Edward Snowden's annual income at the National Security Agency (NSA), according to The Guardian. 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 recluse. On the contrary, his face constantly appears at various technology and human rights conferences, leading directors like Oliver Stone seek his attention, 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 have been criticizing the former employee for the fifth year now 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,” former CIA Director John Brennan said in 2016.
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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 Kucherena, the whistleblower lives in an ordinary Moscow rented apartment, moves around the city by metro and buys groceries in regular 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 Lindsay Mills lives with Snowden in Russia. Several years ago, the American media wrote about their separation, but director Oliver Stone, who made a feature film about Snowden and met with 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.
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.
For example, the head of German counterintelligence, Hans-Georg Maasen, said in 2016 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 internationally 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 can we explain the fact why he, while living in Russia, repeatedly criticized the Russian authorities? 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 either under the previous President Barack Obama or under the current owner of the White House, Donald Trump. This is despite the fact that at home leading human rights organizations, Hollywood stars and even individual politicians, such as US presidential candidate Democrat Bernie Sanders, are supporting Snowden.
When Trump came to power, some American publications wrote that the Kremlin might hand over Snowden as a gift to Trump, 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.
Edward Snowden
Edward Joseph Snowden. Born June 21, 1983 in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, USA. American technical specialist and special agent, former employee of the CIA and the National Security Agency (NSA) of the United States. Revealed secret NSA information regarding the total surveillance of American intelligence agencies around the world.
Father - Lonnie Snowden, served in the US Coast Guard until 2009, lives in Pennsylvania.
Mother - Elizabeth Snowden, a lawyer, works in federal court in Baltimore.
Parents are divorced. The father remarried Karen Haberbosch.
Has an older sister, Jessica Snowden, who works at the Federal Judicial Center in Washington, DC.
He spent his childhood in Elizabeth City and lived in Maryland (close to the NSA headquarters in Fort Meade).
In 1999, he and his family moved to Ellicott City (Maryland).
He studied computer science at Anne Arundel Community College in Maryland, but was not able to graduate immediately: he missed several months of school due to illness, but, as soon as he returned, he was able to pass the General Educational Development tests at the local community college.
From May 7 to September 28, 2004, he served in the US Armed Forces - he was a reservist in the Special Operations Forces. He said he joined the Army because he wanted to fight in the Iraq War because he “felt that as a human being I had an obligation to help people free themselves from oppression.” He left the service after breaking both legs during a training exercise and never completed his military training course.
He then worked for the NSA, beginning a career guarding a secret facility at the University of Maryland (presumably CASL). Received a Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information level clearance - according to experts, Snowden had access not only to top secret, but also to “Special Intelligence” information containing technical details intelligence operations of the United States and its allies.
While working as a systems administrator at an NSA base in Hawaii, Snowden convinced 20 to 25 colleagues to give him their usernames and passwords, explaining that he needed them for his job.
After the NSA, he worked in the information security department of the CIA, in particular, from March 2007 to February 2009, he worked under the diplomatic cover of the US permanent mission to the UN (Geneva). His work was related to ensuring the security of computer networks.
In 2009, Edward left and began working for consulting companies working with the NSA. First at Dell. And later - at the military contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, although he worked there for a short time - less than 3 months until June 2013.
In the process of working for American intelligence agencies, Snowden became increasingly disillusioned with their activities. So, according to him, in 2007 he witnessed how CIA officers recruited a Swiss bank employee. At first, they deliberately got him drunk and persuaded him to get behind the wheel and go home. When he was arrested for drunk driving, CIA agents offered to help him, which allowed him to be recruited to gain access to the bank's secrets.
“A lot of what I saw in Geneva really took away my illusions about how my government operates and what it brings to the world. I realized that I am part of something that does much more harm than good.", Snowden said. According to him, then for the first time he thought about disclosing official secrets, but did not do so for two reasons. Firstly, “most CIA secrets are about people, not about machines and systems; and I would not feel comfortable disclosing anything that could endanger anyone.".
In one of his interviews, Snowden claimed that he did not vote for the 2008 presidential election, although he believed his campaign promises. During Ron Paul's 2012 presidential campaign, Snowden twice donated $250 to the campaign.
According to him, he hoped for changes after the election of Barack Obama. But he soon became convinced that with the advent of Obama the situation only worsened.
Edward Snowden's secrets
In January 2013, Snowden finally decided to act. He wrote an email to Laura Poitras, an American journalist, film director and producer, and one of the founders of the Freedom of the Press Foundation. At the same time, Snowden did not reveal his name, but said that he had important secret information.
He soon contacted Glenn Greenwald, a journalist for the English newspaper The Guardian, and publicist Barton Gellman, who wrote articles for the Washington Post.
Communication took place through encrypted e-mail messages. Snowden wrote that his identity would eventually be revealed, whether by his own will or against it, but until then he asked that lengthy quotes from his messages not be made for fear of being identified through semantic analysis. The intelligence services, he suggested, would "almost certainly kill you if they think you are the key person through whom to stop the release of this information."
In the second half of May 2013, Snowden began transmitting key information about the PRISM program to Greenwald and Gellman, but asked not to disclose it immediately.
According to NSA head Keith Alexander, Snowden handed over about 200 thousand secret documents to journalists. The status of the disclosed documents turned out to be significantly higher than that of materials previously published on WikiLeaks and relating to the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Revealed the fact of comprehensive surveillance in 60 countries of more than a billion people by the governments of 35 countries.
Snowden revealed information about the PRISM program, which includes mass surveillance of negotiations between Americans and foreign citizens via telephone and Internet. According to him, PRISM allows the Agency to view email, listen to voice and video chats, view photos, videos, track sent files, and learn other details from social networks. The PRISM program includes Microsoft (Hotmail), Google (Gmail), Yahoo!, Facebook, YouTube, Skype, AOL, Apple and Paltalk.
Snowden made it public secret order of the FISC court dated April 25, 2013. Under this regulation, one of the largest American cellular operators, Verizon, is required to transmit daily to the NSA “metadata” about all calls made within the United States or between the United States and another country, including the telephone numbers of the calling and receiving subscribers, IMEI phones, time and call duration, call location. However, the audio recording of the conversation itself should not be transmitted.
The decree also prohibited all public and private employees involved in the collection of such information from disclosing the very existence of such a decree until 2038. In this regard, journalists subsequently suggested that similar resolutions could have been sent to other US cellular operators.
Snowden said that since 2009, US intelligence agencies have illegally infiltrated the computer networks of the East Asian fiber-optic network Pacnet, as well as Chinese mobile operators, to gain access to millions of SMS messages. According to a statement by the Hong Kong Sunday Morning Post, he handed over documents confirming this to the editor.
Snowden disclosed details of the British surveillance program Tempora, and also said that he does not use the iPhone because of the integrated software that allows him to track the user. Instead of modern smartphones, Snowden prefers a regular mobile phone.
On June 17, The Guardian newspaper, citing Snowden's data, reported that British intelligence services monitored computers and intercepted telephone calls of foreign politicians and officials participating in the G20 summit in London in 2009. The secret work was carried out by the UK Government Communications Center and the US National Security Agency. In addition, British intelligence services intercepted telephone conversations of the Russian President during the summit.
Snowden emphasized that he did not disclose all the information known to him: “I carefully reviewed each document to ensure that its disclosure would serve the legitimate interests of the public ... There are many different documents, the disclosure of which would have great consequences, but I am not handing them over, because my goal is openness, not hurting people."
This was later confirmed by NSA Director General Keith Alexander, speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in Baltimore. He said that Snowden handed over to reporters from 50 to 200 thousand secret documents that will continue to “float out.” But, unlike Snowden, Keith believes that leaks are deliberately organized in such a way as to cause maximum damage to the NSA and US national interests.
Snowden gained access to electronic intelligence data not only from the United States, but also from Great Britain; he may have up to 58 thousand British secret documents at his disposal.
According to a classified Pentagon report, the contents of which became known in January 2014, Snowden stole 1.7 million secret files, most of the documents concern "vital operations of the U.S. Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force." A few days later, the heads of the intelligence committees of the US House of Representatives and Senate, Michael Rogers and Dianne Feinstein, suggested that Snowden did not have the technical capabilities to independently open and steal hundreds of thousands of secret documents and that such large-scale actions, as well as unhindered movement around the world after his escape from the United States could have been carried out with the help of Russian intelligence. An investigation by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation found no evidence that Snowden was assisted by foreign intelligence agencies.
Snowden himself denied allegations of the involvement of foreign countries in the leak of information he organized.
Edward Snowden's escape
On May 20, 2013, Snowden said goodbye to his girlfriend for several weeks and took a leave of absence from the NSA under the pretext of treatment for epilepsy. He flew to Hong Kong, where he rented a hotel room and continued email correspondence with journalists. According to WikiLeaks, Sarah Harrison was sent to Hong Kong and carried out a special operation to help Snowden reach Hong Kong safely.
On June 6, 2013, an alarmed Snowden told Gellman: “The police visited my home in Hawaii this morning.” On the same day, with his permission, The Washington Post and The Guardian published revelations about the PRISM program.
On June 9, 2013, Snowden decided to reveal his identity. He invited journalists, including Greenwald and Poitras, to Hong Kong for interviews. This video interview and his real name were published by The Guardian at his own request. However, he stated: “I have no intention of hiding who I am, because I know that I have not done anything wrong.”
After revealing his identity, Snowden continued to send secret materials journalists. Some former NSA and CIA employees have expressed concerns that Snowden could provide classified information to China. Snowden rejected these suggestions, saying that in this case he would have been in the palace in Beijing long ago.
On June 10, 2013, around noon, Snowden left The Mira Hotel in Hong Kong, where he was hiding from US authorities. He planned to seek political asylum in Iceland or another country that supports freedom of speech.
On June 11, 2013, the press secretary of the Russian President, Dmitry Peskov, announced Russia’s readiness to consider Snowden’s application for political asylum, if one were received. Later this position Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed to Russian authorities.
On June 21, 2013, on Edward's 30th birthday, he was charged in the United States with theft of government property and disclosure of state secrets.
On June 22, 2013, it became known that the US State Department had asked the Hong Kong authorities to detain Snowden and extradite him to the United States. Hong Kong authorities refused to extradite Snowden, citing incorrect wording in the request. A White House spokesman noted that American authorities do not believe that the decision to allow Snowden to fly further instead of handing him over to them was made by Hong Kong leaders, and not Beijing.
Snowden wanted to seek asylum in Hong Kong, which was supported by the local and Chinese public, but Snowden's Hong Kong lawyer said that a Chinese "mediator" visited Snowden and made it clear to him that he would not be welcome in China. At the same time, Chinese officials denied any involvement in this case.
As the President of the Russian Federation admitted on September 4, 2013, during his stay in Hong Kong, Snowden first met with Russian diplomatic representatives and explored the possibility of moving to Russia.
On July 1, 2013, at a press conference in Moscow, Vladimir Putin announced that Snowden would be able to stay in Russia, but “there is one condition: he must stop his work aimed at causing damage to our American partners, no matter how strange it may sound from my lips." The next morning, Dmitry Peskov said that Snowden was not satisfied with the conditions put forward by Putin.
On July 2, 2013, the governments of France, Spain, Italy and Portugal, as well as a number of others European countries banned the plane of Bolivian President Evo Morales from entering the airspace of their countries after taking off from Moscow, and therefore the plane was forced to land in Vienna. The ban was due to fears that Snowden was on board the plane. When the plane was inspected in Vienna by the Austrian security service, it turned out that Snowden was not there.
July 4, 2013 CEO channel RBC-TV A. Lyubimov invited Snowden to work as a TV presenter of the show “Snowden. Detective technologies" - this work can be performed remotely, including in the transit area of the airport.
On July 7, 2013, it became known that, having sent applications for political asylum to more than 20 countries, Snowden received three positive responses - from Bolivia, Venezuela and Nicaragua.
Edward Snowden in Russia
On June 23, 2013, Snowden, accompanied by WikiLeaks representative Sarah Harrison, arrived at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow. He did not have a Russian visa, and he could only legally stay in the transit area of the airport - supposedly a few hours before his connecting flight.
According to the media, citing unnamed sources at Sheremetyevo and the passengers of the plane, after landing the plane was driven to the far parking lot of the airport, Snowden and Harrison were taken out of the plane and put into a car with diplomatic license plates that drove up close to the ramp, which then disappeared in an unknown direction. and none of the journalists saw Snowden until the meeting he convened on July 12 with human rights activists.
On July 12, 2013, Snowden held a meeting in the Sheremetyevo transit zone, where representatives of the international human rights organizations Amnesty International, Transparency International, Human Rights Watch, the Polish human rights organization Creed Legal, as well as the UN representative in Russia. In addition, State Duma deputy Vyacheslav Nikonov, member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation Olga Kostina, Ombudsman Vladimir Lukin, as well as lawyers Anatoly Kucherena, Genrikh Padva and Henry Reznik received invitations.
At the meeting, Snowden read out a prepared statement. In particular, he announced his intention to ask for temporary asylum in Russia, since his safety can now only be ensured if he temporarily remains in Russia, although in the future he plans to settle in Latin America. Two years later, Julian Assange said that he advised Snowden to seek asylum and remain in Russia. According to Assange, Snowden could have been kidnapped or even killed in Latin America, and Russia is one of the few countries that is not under the influence of the CIA.
Human Rights Watch representative Tatyana Lokshina said at the meeting that on the way to the airport, the American Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul called her and asked her to tell her that the United States considers Snowden not a whistleblower, but someone who broke the law.
In the evening, the presidents of Russia and the United States, Putin and Obama, discussed the situation by phone.
Three days later, V. Putin said that the Americans scared everyone and no one wants to take him, “this is such a gift for the Nativity of Christ,” Putin also expressed the hope that as soon as Snowden has the opportunity to leave Russia, he will immediately take advantage of it.
On July 16, 2013, Snowden officially applied to the Federal Migration Service with a request for temporary asylum in Russia.
On July 17, 2013, US Senator Lindsey Graham called for a boycott of the Sochi Olympics in response to Russia granting asylum to Edward Snowden.
On July 24, 2013, it became known that Snowden wants to stay in Russia forever, find work here and has already begun to learn Russian, which was announced after another meeting in the Sheremetyevo transit zone by the lawyer representing his interests, Anatoly Kucherena.
On August 1, 2013, Snowden received a certificate of temporary asylum on the territory of the Russian Federation, issued on July 31, 2013 by the Office of the Federal Migration Service for the Moscow Region and valid until July 31, 2014 (with the possibility of extension). This document gives the right to move freely throughout the territory of Russia and find employment in any workplace(except for civil service) without obtaining a work permit. On the same day, Snowden crossed the Russian border, leaving the transit area of Terminal E at Sheremetyevo Airport and leaving, according to lawyer Anatoly Kucherena, in a taxi, accompanied by Sarah Harrison, in an unknown direction. Anatoly Kucherena, showing a copy of his asylum document, said that for security reasons, the whereabouts of Snowden, one of the most wanted people in the world, would not be disclosed.
On August 7, due to the situation with Snowden, US President Obama canceled a meeting with Russian President Putin in Moscow scheduled for September, as well as bilateral negotiations in St. Petersburg.
On October 10, 2013, his father Lonnie Snowden flew to Russia to meet with Edward. The meeting between father and son was very emotional. On October 16, Snowden Sr. left for the United States.
On December 19, 2013, Putin, at a large press conference at the World Trade Center, said that in operational terms, Russian intelligence services do not work with Snowden, he himself has not met Snowden, and described him as an interesting person, thanks to whom a lot has turned in the heads of politicians.
While in Russia, Snowden spoke out against the Russian government's policies to restrict the Internet and its treatment of gays. “The desire that we see in the Russian government to control more and more the Internet, to control more and more what people see, even parts of their personal lives, to decide what is appropriate or inappropriate for how people express their love to each other.” to a friend is fundamentally wrong,” said Edward Snowden.
In the spring of 2014, the Russian Association of Electronic Communications, the Notamedia company and the Ekho Moskvy radio station jointly established the first award in the field of Internet media: Internet Media Awards (IMA). According to them, Snowden personally agreed to the appropriation new award his name.
On August 1, 2014, Snowden received a residence permit in Russia for a period of three years. He has a job and also receives help from private individuals; in five years he will be able to apply for Russian citizenship in the general manner.
In March 2015, he expressed a desire to leave Russia and move to Switzerland.
In March 2016, he stated that he would like to return to the United States.
Edward Snowden Quotes:
"The war in Iraq, in which I was assigned to participate, was started because of false premises. The American people were misled. Whether this was due to bad faith or an error in intelligence, I cannot now say for sure. But I can say, "that this exposes the problem of over-reliance on intelligence agencies without public discussion of their activities."
"Each of us has a sensor in our pocket that shows where we are, at any time and everywhere. Think about your privacy. Children born today may grow up and not even know what privacy is. They will never won't understand what it means to have something that isn't recorded or tracked."
“I was looking for leaders, but I realized that leadership is being the first to act.”
“If you willingly sacrificed yourself to be used as a negative example, if you are willing to spend your whole life in prison, then how can you serve there for a while and then come out and advocate, become even stronger and inspire other people to oppose this policy - are you doing good or bad?"
"Even if you don't do anything wrong, you will be watched and recorded... It gets to the point where you don't have to do anything wrong, you just end up under suspicion from someone, even on a false accusation." and then they can use this system to go back in time and scrutinize every decision you've ever made, every friend you've ever discussed something with, and blame you for it or just take you under suspicion of your innocent life."
"I'm not a spy - that's the real question."
"I am neither a traitor nor a hero. I am an American."
"Your rights matter because you never know when you'll need them."
"I don't want to live in a world where there is no right to privacy and therefore no room for intellectual exploration and creativity."
"A child born today will grow up with a complete lack of understanding of privacy. Children will never know what a moment of privacy means when you are not being recorded and your statements are not analyzed. And this is a problem, because privacy matters. Privacy is what allows us will define who we are and who we want to become."
"I don't want to live in a world where everything I say, everything I do, everyone I talk to, every expression of creativity, love or friendship is recorded."
"There are things more important than money. If I were motivated only by money, I would sell these documents to many countries and become very rich."
“Saying that you don’t care about privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don’t care about free speech because you have nothing to say.”
"I didn't want to change society. I wanted to give society a chance to determine whether it should change."
"Regardless of the outcome of Brexit, it shows how quickly half of any population can be persuaded to vote against themselves. A good lesson."
Edward Snowden. Interview
Edward Snowden's height: 180 centimeters.
Personal life of Edward Snowden:
Since 2008, she has been in a relationship with Lindsay Mills.
Lindsay Mills was born in 1985 in Maryland. She was professionally engaged in choreography and ballet. She made money by performing erotic dances. According to Western media reports, Mills was also a stripper in men's clubs and pole danced. He maintains his own blog, where he posts his thoughts. He is interested in photography.
When Edward Snowden fled the United States in 2013, there were rumors that he abandoned Lindsay - primarily because he did not inform her about his plans (obviously, for reasons of secrecy and security).
In an interview with journalists in 2013, Lindsay's father, Jonathan Mills, said that Snowden literally abandoned his daughter to the mercy of fate, leaving her without a livelihood. He noted that “Lindsey still cannot get her life back on track and recover from the shock she experienced when her boyfriend told her that he was going on a business trip, and he himself left forever.” His girlfriend only learned that Snowden had fled the country and began publishing secret intelligence documents from news reports: she thought he was going on a business trip, Jonathan Mills testified.
However, when Edward settled in Russia, Lindsay Mills came to him in Moscow in July 2014, where she lives with him.
One of Snowden's main hobbies is Japanese and East Asian culture in general. Mass culture, including anime, video games and martial arts, which he became interested in while working on a US military base in Japan and teaching Japanese. At one time he worked for an American anime production company.
He also studied Mandarin and believed he could do good career in China or Hong Kong.
In his application form when enlisting in the US Armed Forces, he indicated “Buddhism” in the “religion” column, because the answer “agnosticism” was “strangely absent” in that application form.
According to Spiegel magazine, Snowden practices Buddhism, is a vegetarian, does not drink alcohol and does not drink coffee. He spends a lot of time at the computer and reading books on Russian history.
Edward Snowden in art and cinema:
In the 2014 film “Where the Motherland Begins,” directed by Rauf Kubaev, the first frames show an episode about a secret flight to Russia to avoid the arrest of ex-CIA officer James Snow, whose prototype was Edward Snowden. The role of James Snow in the film was played by the aspiring Lithuanian actor Arnas Fedaravičius.
In October 2014, the two-hour documentary film Citizenfour premiered in New York. Snowden's Truth" by Laura Poitras, dedicated to Edward Snowden. The film won several prestigious film awards, including BAFTA, Sputnik and Oscar. In Russia, in cinemas, the film became the highest-grossing non-fiction film of 2015.
On October 5, 2015, Peter Taylor's film Edward Snowden: Spies and the Law premiered on the BBC's Panorama program.
On September 15, 2016 in Russia and September 16 in the USA, the film “Snowden” was released. The film's premiere was postponed twice; filming took place in Munich in February-May 2015. To write the script, the American film director acquired the rights to film the books by lawyer Anatoly Kucherena “The Time of the Octopus” and Guardian newspaper journalist Luke Harding’s “The Snowden File: The Story of the Most Wanted Man in the World.” The role of ex-CIA officer Snowden in this film was played by American actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Edward Snowden took part in the filming of the film; he spent one shooting day in Moscow.
A number of games for mobile devices have been created based on events from Snowden’s life.
In one of the episodes of the American animated series " South Park" - “Go, the government will look after you" - there is a hint of Edward Snowden when Cartman says that he has become an informer and he will have to hide in Russia.
On May 15, 2014, it became known that Sony Pictures Entertainment had acquired the rights to the film adaptation of British journalist Glenn Greenwald’s book about Edward Snowden, “Nowhere to Hide,” and intends to make a film about the ex-CIA officer. The film will be produced by Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, who previously worked on James Bond films.
Also named in honor of Edward Snowden for his contribution to the defense of freedom of speech, the species of decapod crayfish Cherax snowden, described by German zoologists in 2015, was named.