Permanent Record: Edward Snowden's Journey from Whistleblower to Digital Conscience
INTRODUCTION
Am I Going To Benefit From This? Learn The Truth About Snowden.
The Name Edward Snowden Is Familiar To Everyone, Even Those Who Haven't Followed The News Closely In Recent Years.
This Name Is Pronounced With Both Disdain And Admiration At Different Times. He Is A Hero Of The Contemporary Era Or A Traitor To His Nation, Depending On Whom You Ask. How Did A Shy, Timid Maryland Computer Nerd Become A Controversial, Pivotal Figure In The United States' Recent Past?
Snowden, In The Glorious History Of Democracies Past, Revealed An Illegal And Unethical Practice. As A Tech Specialist For The National Security Agency And The Central Intelligence Agency, He Dealt With The Clandestine Mass Surveillance System That The United States Government Established Following 9/11. This System Enabled Us Intelligence Services To Gather And Access The Private Communications Of Any Citizen At Any Time.
Snowden Chose To Put His Life On The Line To Expose The Us Government's Covert Surveillance Of Innocent Individuals Once He Learned Of This Violation Of Privacy. These Flashes Provide A Glimpse Of His Life And Work, As Well As The Values That Shaped Him Into The Courageous Whistleblower He Is Today.
Why Snowden Chose To Reveal The Us Government Program That Spied On American Residents
How He Stole Top-Secret Data Out Of The Nsa Building
How Rebelling Against Bedtime Regulations Marked The Beginning Of His Hacking Career.
Key 1: Edward Snowden Grew Up In The Realm Of The Internet In The '90s, Being Born Into A Family Of Government Personnel.
Nowadays, The Names Google, Facebook, And Amazon Come To Mind When The Term "Internet" Is Mentioned. These Multinational Corporations That Have Figured Out How To Make The Most Of Our Time Spent Online Now Control The Internet.
However, The Web Did Not Yet Exist In The 1990s. It Was A Place Where Tech Nerds And Specialists Went To Discuss Arcane Knowledge And Experiment With Different Online Personas; There Were No Regulations, And There Were A Lot Of Complex Amateur Websites And Forums.
Edward Snowden Was Made Possible By The Internet.
A Member Of A Long Line Of Public Officials, Snowden Came Into This World In North Carolina's Elizabeth City. His Father Served As A Technical Engineer For The Coast Guard, And His Mother Came From A Long Line Of Military Officials; She Was A Government Clerk. The Snowden Family Relocated To The Renowned Us Army Station In Maryland, Fort Meade When Edward Was Nine Years Old, And His Mother Began A New Administrative Position At The National Security Agency. Residents At Fort Meade Often Held Clandestine Government Positions, Similar To His Mother's.
At First, Little Snowden Wasn't Interested In Being A Government Spy, Even Though He Liked Spying On His Older Sister Jessica From His Bedroom Window. Tech Was His First Love. Snowden Enjoyed Tinkering With And Disassembling Various Electronic Equipment, From The Early Commodore 64 Computer System His Dad Brought Home To His First Nintendo.
Edward And The Family's First Internet-Connected Computer Quickly Became Inseparable. He Devoted Nearly All Of His Waking Hours To Playing Adventure Games And Reading Up On Politics And Technology.
Edward Was Able To Connect With Others Online Who Were Enthusiastic About Answering His Inquiries And Had Similar Interests. In No Time At All, He Was Battling With Computer Geeks All Around The World About Cheat Codes, Hardware Issues, And Even The Death Penalty. In Addition To Enhancing His Computer Skills, These Conversations Played A Significant Role In Shaping His Perspective.
The Fact That He Was A Shy, Uncomfortable Thirteen-Year-Old In Real Life Had No Impact On His Online Friends. They Were Completely Unaware. Back In The Day, When People's Online Personas Were More Directly Associated With Their Actual Identities, The Internet Was A Place Where People Could Freely Express Themselves Without Fear Of Repercussion.
One Skill That Edward Snowden Quickly Mastered—Hacking—Was The Ability To Change His Username And Assume The Identity Of Whomever He Desired.
Key 2: Snowden Began Breaking Adult-Imposed Boundaries And Hacking Computers When He Was A Little Boy.
Being Proficient With Computers Is Not A Prerequisite For Becoming A Hacker.
"Hacking" Simply Refers To Being Familiar Enough With A System To Take Advantage Of Its Vulnerabilities. A Computer System Is One Example Of A System Of Rules; Another Is Your Routine, Such As When You Go To Bed.
The First "Hack" That Snowden Pulled Off Was Declaring His Intention To Never Sleep Again On His Sixth Birthday. After Tricking His Parents Into Thinking It Was Still Light Outside, He Eventually Succumbed To Tiredness And Dozed Off On The Living Room Rug.
It Became One Of Snowden's Favorite Pastimes To Use The Reasoning Of The Grownups Around Him Against The Arbitrary Rules That They Put On Him.
In Later Years Of High School, One Instructor Disclosed That Homework Made Up A Meager Fifteen Percent Of Pupils' Final Scores. Even If Snowden Never Turned In Any More Homework And Earned An A+ On All Of His Exams, He Would Still Get A B. Instead Of Doing Homework, He Spent More Time In Front Of The Computer.
However, He Was Unable To Carry Out His Plan To Sleep Through High School When He Was Struck With Mononucleosis During His Sophomore Year. Because Of The Exhaustion Caused By The Sickness, He Was Unable To Attend Class Or Even Use His Favorite Computer. Snowden Was Informed By His High School In Writing That He Would Need To Retake The Grade After Being Absent For Four Months. While Snowden Was Unwell And Despondent, The Idea Of Having To Stay In High School For Longer Than He Had Expected Jolted Him Out Of His Funk. He Sought A Loophole And Discovered One: He Submitted His College Applications.
Anne Arundel Community College, Snowden's Local Institution, Welcomed Him Even Though He Did Not Have A Certificate. Only Two Days A Week Would He Attend Class; The Other Days Would Be Devoted To Recuperation. He Had To Wait A Few Months Before He Could Sit For The Test That Would Get Him His General Education Diploma—The American High School Graduation Equivalent.
While Attending Community College, Snowden's Elder Classmate Mae Saw His Proficiency With Computers And Quickly Recruited Him To Help Her With Her New Internet Business. Together, They Would Make Use Of The Emerging Internet Economy By Designing Websites For Businesses From Mae's Basement, Taking Advantage Of The Increasing Demand For Freelancers With Technical Expertise.
Key 3: The Tragic Events Of September 11 Inspired Snowden To Serve His Nation And Expedited His Ascent Through The Federal Bureaucracy.
Many Of Us Can Still Vividly Recall Our Locations On That Tragic September Morning In 2001 When The News Broke.
While Visiting His Friend And Business Partner Mae At Her House, Edward Snowden Received A Call From Mae's Spouse. Terrorists Had Struck The World Trade Center, And He Was Calling From His Job At The National Security Agency To Inform Them.
Snowden Saw The Nsa Headquarters At Fort Meade Evacuate In A Panic As He Headed Home To Be With His Family. Snowden Felt A Strong Patriotic Desire To Assist His Country During This Difficult Period After Witnessing His Fellow Citizens In Such A State Of Terror. He Made Up His Mind To Enlist.
Unfortunately, Snowden's Military Career Was Abruptly Ended When He Shattered His Ankle. This Happened Just A Few Months Into Basic Training At Fort Benning In The Southern Us.
As He Rested On His Mom's Couch, Snowden Had An Epiphany: His Knowledge Of Computers Would Be The Most Useful Asset To His Country. For A Technical Job With The Cia Or Nsa, He Opted To Seek A Security Clearance. The Government Must Do A Thorough Background Check Before Granting This Approval, Which Can Take Up To A Few Months.
The 22-Year-Old Snowden Found His Soulmate On The Internet While Waiting For His Clearance. Another Region Of Maryland Was Home To Lindsay Mills, A Photography Student. The Two Began Dating Soon After Meeting On The Dating Website Hot Or Not.
Snowden Was Finally Cleared To Work In Intelligence For His Country's Government After Passing The Polygraph Exams. His Clearance Was Funded In Part By The Newly Built Nsa Facility In Maryland, Where He Worked As A Night-Shift Security Guard For A Few Months. But This Dull Work Was Only The Beginning Of A Long And Winding Career Path.
Before 9/11, Snowden's Meteoric Climb Through The Intelligence Community's Ranks Was Impossible. However, The United States Administration Wasted Little Time In Stepping Up Security Measures In The Wake Of The Attack, Claiming Victory In The War On Terror. Intelligence Organizations Were Always On The Hunt For Recruits, Particularly In The Rapidly Expanding Cybersecurity Industry. The National Security Agency And The Central Intelligence Agency Were Prepared To Overlook Some Qualifications, Such As A Bachelor's Degree, That Snowden Did Not Possess, To Hire An Individual They Deemed Promising.
Because Of His Extraordinary Proficiency With Computers, Snowden Would Quickly Rise To Positions Of Prominence Among The Most Powerful Intelligence Agencies In The World.
Key 4: Despite His Occasional Rule-Bending, Snowden Was Able To Secure High-Level Positions In The Cia And Nsa Thanks To His Proficiency With Computers.
Snowden Sought A More Fulfilling Method To Put His Skills To Use For The Government After His Short Time As An Entry-Level Security Guard.
He Started Going To Federal Employment Fairs, Where Private Corporations Like Lockheed Martin, Dell, And Intel Scout For Qualified Candidates For Specialized Government Jobs. Contractors Often Report Straight To The Government Department That Pays Them, Even Though They Claim To Work For The Aforementioned Corporations On Paper.
As A Systems Administrator At The Cia Headquarters In Mclean, Virginia, Snowden Secured His First Contracting Employment Through A Company Named Comso. In That Role, He Oversaw The Agency's Proprietary Server Infrastructure. On The Other Hand, Snowden Was Itching To See More Of The Globe After Spending Months Working In A Basement Without Light.
He Figured That If He Became A Government Employee, He Could Live And Work Wherever In The World.
He Planned To Become A Technical Information Security Officer (Tiso) By Enrolling In A Six-Month Program Run By The Central Intelligence Agency (Cia). Everything From Establishing Computer Networks To Repairing Appliances Falls Within The Purview Of Tisos, Who Oversee The Technology Supporting Intelligence Operations. Every Us Embassy Employs Them.
When Snowden Was In Training, He Specifically Asked To Be Assigned To An Embassy In The Middle East Upon Graduation So He Could Experience A Fresh And Challenging Setting. However, He Erred When He Dared To Question The Cia's Power.
Snowden And His Other Students Had Become Sick Of Spending All Of Their Waking Hours In The Dilapidated Cia Training Facility, Which Had Been Transformed Into A Motel. Snowden Independently Corresponded With The School Director And His Boss, The Director Of Field Service, In Long Emails In Which He Detailed His Grievances And Demanded A Resolution. His Plan Backfired; The Class Was Relocated To A Different Training Center Not Long Afterward.
However, Snowden Was Summoned To The Director's Office On The Final Day Of Training. The Director Of Field Service Informed Snowden That He Had Defied Command By Contacting Him Personally.
After He Disobeyed Orders, The Cia Had Him Sent To Geneva To Operate As A Tiso For The Nsa. Although Snowden Had Hoped For More Hands-On Field Experience, This Affluent Swiss Metropolis Served As A Solid Stepping-Stone. During The Us Government's Shift To Intelligence Based On Technology, Snowden Found Himself In The Role Of Tech Specialist When He And Lindsay Relocated To Geneva.
Key 5: As Snowden Was Getting Ready To Go To A Conference In China, He Began To Have Doubts About The Extent To Which The United States Government Was Monitoring Its People.
After A Few Years On The Job, Snowden Began To See The Potential Uses For The Technology He Had Helped Develop And Manage.
He Was A Systems Administrator At The Pacific Technical Center Of The National Security Agency In 2009. Snowden Was Invited To Deliver A Presentation On China's Monitoring Of Personal Communications At A Conference In Hong Kong After A Coworker Abruptly Withdrew. The Technology That China Uses To Spy On Its Citizens' Internet, Email, And Phone Calls Was Something He Had To Research In A Flash.
As He Was Doing So, The Following Thought Crossed His Mind: If China Were Monitoring Its People, Why Wouldn't The United States?
Cases When Us Intelligence Services Had Gone Too Far Had Already Made It To His Ears. Intelligence Agencies Were Able To Illegally Tap Phone Calls Through The President's Surveillance Program (Psp), Which Had Been Exposed A Few Years Prior By Whistleblowers. Subsequently, The Relevant Authorities Informed The Public Through A Report. Snowden, Insatiably Curious In The Case, Searched The Nsa System For The Secret Report, But Could Not Find It.
The Secret Psp Report Accidentally Reached Snowden's Desk Months Afterward. He Was Taken Aback Since, Other Than The Name, It Had Little Resemblance To The Publicly Disclosed Document. It Explained Stellar Wind, A Program That Sought To "Bulk Collect" Data From Everyone's Phone And Internet Activity, Including Private Details Like A Person's Browser History.
To Gather Information About People's Conversations, Including When, Where, And With Whom They Had Taken Place, The Authorities Sought The Assistance Of Private Telecommunications Companies Like At&T. Not Only Could This Metadata Provide A Person's Current Location And The People With Her, But It Also Showed Her Past Locations And Her Future Destinations.
The United States Government Was Able To Conduct Unlimited Mass Surveillance On Its Citizens Through The Stellar Wind Program.
Snowden Originally Sought To Explain Away His Findings. Later On, He Made An Effort To Completely Disregard It. He Could No Longer Deny His Knowledge When He Returned To The Us In 2011 To Resume His Employment With The Cia. His Depression Worsened. Adding Insult To Injury, He Started Suffering Epileptic Convulsions.
Snowden Chose To Take A Lengthy Vacation From The Work He Once Adored Due To His Illness And A Secret He Could Not Disclose To Anyone.
Key 6: Before Deciding To Reveal It Methodically, Snowden Set Out To Analyze The Us Government's System Of Mass Monitoring.
After A Few Months Of Resting And Recuperation, Snowden Accepted A Post In Hawaii With The National Security Agency. He Had High Hopes That A Fresh Start In Paradise With Lindsay Would Do Wonders For His Emotional And Physical Well-Being.
It Was A Career And Financial Setback For The Employee. But Snowden Was Fine With It. He Passed The Time By Perusing The Headboards, Which Are Internal News Feeds At The Nsa That Include All The Reports From A Certain Department. It Was Snowden's Goal To Gather As Much Information As Possible Regarding The Nsa's Surveillance Program. Even More So, He Developed Heartbeat, A Program That Would Consolidate All The Breadboard's Fresh And Noteworthy Reports Into A Single Newsfeed, So That Users Could Explore More Efficiently.
While In Hawaii, He Oversaw The National Security Agency's Electronic Calendar. Given That Most Documents At His Workplace Were Classified, He Let Himself Make Light Of The Situation On Constitution Day 2012 By Jokingly Leaving A Printed Copy Of The Us Constitution On Each Of His Coworkers' Desks. However, Snowden Was Very Disturbed By The Fourth Amendment's Unambiguous Assertion Of The Right To Privacy Of Us Individuals Upon His Review Of The Constitution.
What Could Be More Personal Than An Individual's Online Activity In This Digital Era?
The Government And Its Institutions, According To Snowden, Have Abandoned Their Original Mission Of Protecting The Liberty And Security Of American Citizens. Intelligence Services, On The Other Hand, Were Openly Trampling On People's Rights Without Providing Any Real Security. He Reasoned That The General Public Should Be Informed.
However, He Needed To Take Methodical Action To Breach The System And Reveal Its Deceit.
He Would Start By Collecting All The Pertinent Data He Could Get His Hands On Without Jeopardizing The Other Operations Of Spy Agencies. Once He Found Reliable Journalists, He Would Provide Them With The Documents And Expect Them To Report The Story In A Coherent And Relevant Manner.
Snowden Finally Settled On Documentarian Laura Poitras—Who Had Produced Multiple Films Concerning Us Foreign Policy Following 9/11—And Civil Liberties Lawyer Glenn Greenwald—Who Had Reported On The Nsa's Unclassified Psp Report From 2009—After A Protracted Search For Journalists To Collaborate With. Emails Sent By Snowden From His Home Computer Were Encrypted And Sent To The Two Individuals.
Who Could Secretly Collect And Divulge Sensitive Documents To Them? That Was The Last Remaining Question.
Key 7: Subterfuge And Creativity Were Employed By Snowden To Obtain Confidential Documents From The Nsa Headquarters And Distribute Them To Journalists.
Problems Arose For Snowden After He Decided To Reveal The Nsa's Bulk Surveillance Program: How To Obtain Highly Classified Papers From A Highly Protected Institution?
Accessing Papers Became A Breeze With The Heartbeat Program He Had Developed. Finding Specific Material That Poitras And Greenwald Might Utilize While Searching The Files Was The Most Challenging Element. Snowden Couldn't Just Go Surfing Through Secret Documents On His Nsa Work Computer Because The Agency Was Monitoring Everything He Did. He Then Started Copying The Files Onto A Slew Of Unused Workstations Around The Company, All While Claiming To Be Doing "Compatibility Testing." Snowden Could Securely Search And Categorize The Documents On These Older Systems.
Then, After What Could Have Been An Eight-Hour Ordeal, He Encrypted And Copied Them Onto Sd Cards. Snowden Began Tote About A Rubik's Cube And Concealed Its Tiles Beneath Them To Retrieve The Sd Cards From The Premises. He Became Famous As The "Rubik's Cube Guy" Among The Naive Guards.
After Returning Home, Snowden Saved A Copy Of The Information On His Hard Drive And Distributed It To Journalists Using His Car, Which He Used To Access Wifi Networks At Various Locations.
Being One Of Only A Few Individuals With Access, Snowden Was Aware That The Nsa Would Be Able To Identify Him Once The Documents Were Made Public. He Thought About Damaging The Papers To Hide Their Provenance But Decided Against It.
He Delivered The Documents In Their Original Form Because He Prioritized The Public Interest Above His Safety.
Snowden Requested A Transfer To The National Threat Operation Center In Hawaii From The Nsa As A Last Coup. His Interest Lay In Xkeyscore, The Search Engine That Provided Nsa Personnel With Access To Stellarwind Data. Once Again, Snowden Was Directed To Report To Fort Meade, Where His Fellow Analysts Acclimatized Him To His New Role And Demonstrated The Ins And Outs Of The System.
Xkeyscore's Strength Exceeded Snowden's Expectations. With The Simple Input Of A Name Or Ip Address, His Fellow Agents Could View The Complete Digital Footprint Of Any Given Individual. It Became Apparent After Some Time That Several Analysts Had Been Covertly Accessing The Database To Read Their Loved Ones' Emails Or Eavesdrop On Their Phone Calls. What Disturbed Snowden, Though, Was Not So Much The Fact That Envious Government Workers Could Suddenly Secretly Monitor Their Partners From The Comfort Of Their Office Desks, But Rather The Fact That They Could Do It Whenever They Pleased.
Key 8: Following The Publication Of The Documents And The Filing Of Espionage Charges By The United States, Snowden Retreated Into Exile.
A Feeling Of Finality Settled Over Snowden When He Returned To Hawaii. With The Knowledge That The Government Would Apprehend Him At Some Point, He Began Making Plans To Permanently Depart From The United States. The Fact That He Couldn't Tell Lindsay About It—Out Of Fear That She Might Get In Trouble—Was The Most Excruciating Aspect Of The Plan. While On A Camping Vacation With Friends, Snowden Escaped The Nation After A Harrowing Final Few Weeks In Hawaii.
Snowden Initially Met With Glenn Greenwald And Laura Poitras In Hong Kong, Where He Assisted In The Production Of The Videos And Articles That Would Expose Everything.
The First Story That Greenwald Wrote Regarding The Nsa Program Was Published In The Guardian On June 6, 2013. Snowden Chose To Expose Himself As The Whistleblower A Few Days Later, Ahead Of Schedule Compared To The Us Government. Upon Disclosing His Identity, Greenwald's Lawyer Buddy Extended An Offer To Assist In Obtaining A Safe House Close To Hong Kong.
Even Though There Is A Statute In The United States That Protects Government Whistleblowers, Snowden Was Still Unable To Return. Just The Fact That The Data He Had Released Were Classified May Lead To A Severe Punishment In Court.
After The United States Formally Charged Snowden With Espionage On June 17, 2013, He Was Forced To Seek Refuge In A Different Nation. He Was Assisted By An Expanding Group Of Attorneys Who Sought Refuge In Other Nations; Nevertheless, All Of His Pleas Were Turned Down Since No Nation Dared To Jeopardize Its Relationship With The United States.
Finally, Sarah Harrison, Editor Of Wikileaks, Arranged For Snowden To Seek Asylum In Ecuador, The Same Country That Had Previously Granted Asylum To Julian Assange, Founder Of Wikileaks. He Would Fly Across Havana, Caracas, And Moscow On His Way There To Evade Capture.
However, Officials Apprehended Snowden During Their Moscow Layover. His Passport Had Been Revoked By The Us Department Of State, Leaving Him And Harrison Stranded At The Moscow Airport. Ruslan Putin's Tired Russian Government Finally Gave Snowden Temporary Shelter After He Spent 40 Nights In The Airport, Surrounded By Journalists.
Lindsay Is Now Snowden's Wife And The Two Of Them Still Reside In Moscow. His Activism Has Not Ended In Exile; He Has Developed Multiple Privacy Apps For Use On The Internet. He Aspires To Go Back To The United States Someday.
Final Summary:
Under The Days When The Internet Was Still A Community Of Free And Anonymous Members, Edward Snowden Spent His Childhood Under The Shadow Of Fort Meade. Even As A Young Boy, Snowden Took Pleasure In Breaking Into The Systems That He Perceived As Ineffective. His Sense Of Patriotism Was Heightened After 9/11, And He Aspired To Use His Computer Expertise To Assist Us Intelligence Organizations.
However, Snowden's Anti-Authoritarian Justice Impulses Were Reawakened When He Saw, While Employed By The Nsa, How The System Was Monitoring The Private Communications Of Us Residents. By Using His Hacking Abilities To Release Secret Papers, Snowden Exposed The Us Government's System Of Mass Monitoring And Alerted The Public To This Invasion Of Privacy.