Snowden reveals new information about Russia, Trump, WikiLeaks and microwave spies
Why he changed his mind about the iPhone.
The name of this honest guy appeared in the press in June 2013. Exactly then former CIA officer told the whole truth about the dirty dealings of the US and British governments.
Since then, his life has been closely monitored in the press. Funny, considering the fact that this whole mess started with his fight for non-intervention into private life.
That's why people remember him at all
Edward Snowden was an employee of the American CIA and was moving well up the career ladder. Everything would be fine, but access to secret information screaming about the violation of the rights of citizens did not give him peace. And Edward couldn't keep it to himself.
In 2009, the young idealist leaves the CIA and becomes an employee of the National Security Agency. And in 2013 he began to communicate closely with publicists of leading publications, such as TheGuardian And WashingtonPost. In the summer of the same year, Edward arranges with their help a loud exposure of the spy system PRISM.
According to Snowden, with its help, the governments of the two countries are resorting to total control of citizens. Not to be unfounded, the smart guy grabbed a number of secret materials on the work of the American intelligence services. And the very next day he went on the run.
Snowden hasn't finished college yet
While still a student, Edward tried to score the required number of points to receive a certificate, but something went wrong. That's why higher education he received in absentia and only in 2011.
In 2003, the guy was drafted into the army, but things didn’t go smoothly there either. While still in training, he manages to break both legs, after which he is commissioned into civilian life.
Despite his lack of experience and professional qualifications, he is hired by the National Security Agency. The guy does a great job and very soon gets a good position in the CIA. Where he subsequently becomes disappointed in the honesty of the intelligence services.
Edward was reluctantly given shelter in Russia
After the loud revelation, Snowden realized that he would not be forgiven for this so easily. Therefore, I quickly moved to the transit zone of Sheremetyevo airport and began to look for political refuge.
There was nowhere to run further - his American passport had already been revoked, and imprisonment for up to 30 years awaited him in the States. From 27 countries His request was responded to only in Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua. Edward was slightly disappointed. But on July 1, a response came from Putin.
A month later, Snowden was already registered with the Russian Migration Service. But on the condition that he will no longer harm his homeland. And in August 2014 the guy got three-year residence permit, which allows him to travel even outside the country.
The guy never gets tired of receiving titles and awards
During his year of living in Russia, Snowden not only found work supporting a large website, but also became “Person of the Year” several times. This is exactly what viewers of the Euronews TV channel and readers of the Guardian newspaper dubbed the guy.
And on April 7, 2014, Snowden was awarded the Ridenoir Award for his courage in the name of truth. And in September of the same year the guy received "Alternative Nobel Prize» . It is awarded for particularly exemplary actions, and, apparently, Snowden won them over with his determination.
But the American authorities are in no hurry to praise. For example, Hillary Clinton does not advise returning a criminal and kidnapper to the country valuable papers. And Senator Bernie Sanders even promises to imprison Snowden and shut down all the spy programs voiced by him. Well, only when Bernie is elected president :)
One of former officers CIA Robert Baer said that this did not happen in his time. And he blamed the incompetent intelligence services for what happened. Some even believed that Snowden was a Russian intelligence agent, but Edward said that this was complete nonsense.
He handed over all the secret materials to journalists and came to Moscow with an absolutely clear conscience. But the Americans hardly believed him.
American authorities offered a deal on his passport
A lawyer has taken on the task of defending Snowden's rights. Anatoly Kucherena. It was he who told reporters about the curious deal that American diplomats offered him.
After Snowden fled to Moscow from Hong Kong, his American passport was revoked. That is why the Sheremetyevo transit zone became his temporary prison.
To transport Edward to Washington, American diplomats offered to open his passport, but only one way: Russia – America. To which Snowden's lawyer replied: "Either you open the passport without restrictions, or you don't open it at all."
What the world looks like according to Snowden
Of course most of information flows to intelligence agencies through Cell phones . All geographical movements, calls, mail, voice acting of what is currently happening to the owner of the gadget. Anything, even a photo online. In short, they invested heavily in the system.
In addition, every purchase, every trip abroad, every email subject and every file on personal computer. Snowden threatened to reveal the addresses of all government data interception points. And also name the names of large American television companies that supply intelligence agencies with millions of recordings per day.
The British government commented simply: “Everything is strictly necessary and within the bounds of the law.”
Edward is dissatisfied with human rights in Russia
Having settled in Russia, Snowden found out that nowhere can do without problems. In particular, he was dissatisfied with human rights in the area Internet sphere.
The Kremlin responded that he had the right to such an opinion. But now Edward sees that the situation is improving, and the human rights movement is gaining momentum.
Even with limited contact with his homeland, Edward finds ways to lecture at Princeton University. And Scottish students from Glasgow even chose Snowden as their rector.
The guy was the hero of books and films
Snowden's action inspired many idealists. Some, after close communication with him, even decided to publish a book or make a film, as the journalist did Laura Poitras.
In the very first days of release, the film “CITIZENFOUR. Snowden's Truth" attracted more than 10 thousand spectators to the cinema. In addition, the film became the highest-grossing non-fiction project of the year and was even nominated for an Oscar.
The same Snowden became the prototype for the book of his lawyer Anatoly Kucherena. The first book of the trilogy was called “The Time of the Octopus,” and its film adaptation was entrusted to the famous director Oliver Stone. So Edward no longer has to worry about his mark in history.
Snowden has a very strained relationship with the FBI
Surely you already know what demand the FBI came to Tim Cook. After the mess in San Bernardino, American authorities demanded that Apple hack the terrorist’s phone. To which Cook answered with a clear “no.”
This decision caused a strong resonance, but it is understandable. You definitely won’t be able to do this all at once – gadgets will start being hacked in all such stories, and then Apple will no longer be asked. But the protection of personal data is one of the pillars of the company. Apple took over responsibility for preserving the personal space of users and is going to defend it.
After this, Snowden changed his anger to mercy and decided to no longer blame the company for the unsafe iPhone. Before this, he only trusted a simple phone, fearing that some programs could be activated even without his knowledge.
In his microblog on Twitter, he wrote that citizens should not rely on private company. But the FBI just leaves them no choice (No votes)
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.
It has older sister- Jessica Snowden, she 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 Armed Forces USA - 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 of 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. 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 presidential elections 2008, although I believed his election promises. During election campaign Ron Paul in 2012. Snowden twice donated $250 to her.
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 - key person, through which you can stop the disclosure 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 the 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, allowing you 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 phone calls foreign politicians and officials attending 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 examined 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 international 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 technical capabilities independently open and steal hundreds of thousands of secret documents and that such large-scale actions, as well as unimpeded movement around the world after fleeing the United States, could be 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 organized by him.
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 classified materials to 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 in 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 of the Russian authorities was confirmed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
On June 21, 2013, on Edward's 30th birthday, he was charged in the United States with theft of state property and disclosure of state secrets.
On June 22, 2013 it became known that State Department The United States has appealed to 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 matter.
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 other European countries, prohibited 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 concerns 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.
On July 4, 2013, the general director of the RBC-TV channel 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, invitations were received by State Duma deputy Vyacheslav Nikonov, member Public Chamber RF Olga Kostina, Ombudsman Vladimir Lukin, as well as lawyers Anatoly Kucherena, Genrikh Padva and Henry Reznik.
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 stay 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 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 move freely throughout the territory of Russia and find employment in any job. workplace(except for civil service) without obtaining a work permit. On the same day, Snowden crossed the Russian border, leaving the transit zone of Terminal E of 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 world's most wanted people, 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 we see in 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 for each other is fundamentally wrong," Edward Snowden said.
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 name the new award in 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; after 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 services 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 negative example"If you're willing to voluntarily spend your whole life in prison, then how can you sit there for a while and then come out and advocate and become even stronger and inspire other people to oppose these policies - 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 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 “Lindsay 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 popular culture in general, including anime, video games and martial arts, which he became interested in while working at 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 thought 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 employee 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 watch over 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.
Edward Snowden stopped by the TED conference in Vancouver, 2014
"Edward Snowden was lying in the back seat of my Ford Escape, hidden from prying eyes and temporarily unconscious while I drove him to the Whitney Museum early that morning to meet art world friends,” writes journalist Andrew Rice of New York Magazine. He spent some time with Snowden, driving him to art exhibitions, technology conferences and television shows.
For one of the FBI's most wanted men, Snowden lives a surprisingly free and rich life, speaking in public and giving interviews. A former special agent and hacker has found a great life hack: he moves around the world in the body of a robot connected to the Internet.
Snowden is not at all bothered by the fact that his body is physically locked somewhere in Russia. Safely hidden from American intelligence agencies. Consciousness has temporarily “moved” into a mobile robot for teleconferencing, model BeamPro, and the robot cannot be arrested. More precisely, he can be arrested, but then Edward Snowden will “move” into another robot and continue speaking via live video conference and tweeting. That is, this will not change anything. In the era of modern communications, it doesn’t matter where your body is.
Snowboat with safety experts at Princeton University. Photo: Courtesy of Surveillance Workshop
The actions of his ward are constantly monitored by lawyer Ben Wizner from the American Civil Liberties Union. For example, in April 2016, he observed the public flogging that Edward Snowden carried out in live CNN to journalist Fareed Zakaria, who defended the desire of the US authorities to gain access to any encrypted digital information by court order.
After this, Snowden, in the body of a robot, showed up at the Disruptive Innovation Awards conference, where he was greeted with thunderous applause.
Edward rode up to the microphone with a grin and made a speech (with slight lags), then answered questions and carefully left the stage.
The BeamPro robot is a commercial model produced by Suitable Technologies. The so-called Smart Presence System, which costs about $14,000, is designed to provide more realistic teleconferencing where one or more participants are not physically in the room.
Snowden's avatar (unofficially called Snowbot) lives in the New York office of the American Civil Liberties Union, in his office he holds meetings and receives guests, and sometimes goes to conferences or important meetings.
Google co-founder Sergey Brin poses for a photo with Snowbot. Photo: Chris Anderson
For Snowden, this technology has a specific practical meaning - it is much more convenient to ensure your “presence” at public events and communicate with interlocutors almost live. After a few minutes of conversation, you already forget that this is a robot in front of you. "There's always a bit of confusion at first, when everyone is admiring and looking on with curiosity," he says. But then this barrier disappears. People begin to communicate with Snowbot as an ordinary person, as if Edward himself was really next to them.
Snowbot speaks with technology entrepreneur Peter Diamandis at the 2016 CES conference in Las Vegas. Photo: Done Clark for Wall Street Journal
There is also a symbolic role here: this is a clear demonstration that no authorities or super-powerful intelligence agencies are able to impose their will in the modern era of the Internet. It is impossible to “block” a person, it is impossible to isolate him from outside world and prohibit communication. Not those times. Now the Internet is everywhere - and it gives people unlimited freedom.
(It should be noted that there is no Internet in some places, and Snowbot’s ability to move is also limited. Snowden himself jokes about this: he says that people have nothing to fear from robots as long as we have stairs and Wi-Fi is not accepted in elevators) .
Snowbot is greeted with applause at events. This is also a demonstration that the American people - at least the tech elite - support Edward and his action, even if the official authorities call it “treason.”
At the New York Whitney Gallery, Snowden's avatar visited a multimedia exhibition by Laura Poitras, director of the documentary Citizenfour about Edward Snowden. For her work, Laura Poitras received a Pulitzer Prize and an Oscar - further proof of the importance of the mission that Snowden dared to undertake.
The exhibition at the Whitney Gallery is called Astro Noise, after the name of the encrypted file of documents that Edward Snowden carried on a flash drive from a secret NSA computer center in Hawaii.
Snowboat at the Astro Noise exhibition. Photo: Henrik Moltke
From his cramped Russian apartment, Edward Snowden can remotely control his New York avatar via computer. The robot moves and maneuvers nimbly, turning to face the person it is talking to.
Sometimes you need help. At the exhibition Astro Noise We arranged a personal tour for Snowbot. When he was shown unusually placed parts of the gallery—for example, the night sky over Yemen from which CIA killer drones had flown in, or video footage of a drone shooting civilians on a screen—the assistants turned or tilted Snowbot so he could take a closer look. Edward thanked him for his help.
Surprisingly, Edward Snowden is now hiding in a secret hideout somewhere in Russia (most likely in Moscow). He can't take a walk in the park outside, but at the same time his avatar in New York drives around freely anywhere, infuriating former bosses from US intelligence. Although they no longer joke about putting Edward Snowden on a drone strike list, as former CIA Director Michael Hayden joked in 2013. But they still say unequivocally that Edward caused real harm to the United States of America when he revealed specific technical details of secret mass surveillance programs, secret diplomatic agreements and specific targets of US foreign intelligence surveillance.
Edward Snowden and his robot have become real people's favorites in the United States. He is considered a hero. He exposes dangerous government mass surveillance programs that threaten people's civil rights and violate the Constitution. He is constantly invited to speak at various conferences and TV shows: for last year he gave more than 50 performances. Most of them are free, but for others Edward can receive several thousand dollars - he has to look for a livelihood because Edward's personal financial reserves ran out last year.
Edward Snowden is quite consistent in his position. He announced his refusal to cooperate with FSB officers who wanted to obtain the secret information he had. He greeted friends of Russian officials with information about billions of dollars in secret offshore companies. After all, Snowden criticizes government Internet surveillance and censorship in any country, not just the United States. For example, he spoke very sharply about Irina Yarovaya’s package of “anti-terrorist” amendments to legislation, June 24, 2016. The amendments provide for total wiretapping of Internet traffic and telephone conversations of all Russians, recording and storing traffic and conversations, as well as the obligation of providers to provide keys for decrypting encrypted traffic at the request of the authorities. They will come into force after approval by the Federation Council on June 29 (about which there is practically no doubt) and after signing by the President of the Russian Federation.
“Mass surveillance doesn’t work. This law will take money and freedom from every Russian without any improvement in security. It should not be signed,”
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, according to Yahoo News, he earned about the same amount in 2016 from speaking fees at various lectures and symposiums 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 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 his face appears on a giant screen at a conference on personal data security in Tokyo, here he speaks to an audience at the international exhibition of youth culture Comic-con in San Diego, and then at a 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 the secrets of his native 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. Sensors 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 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.
Will the fugitive return home?
Inevitably, during such a long stay in Russia, Snowden was accused of working for the 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 to a permanent place of residence in 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.
In materials from the National Security Agency provided to journalists by its former employee Edward Snowden, there was a mention that the FSB hacked the email 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 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 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 zone of Terminal E of 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 world's most wanted people, 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 condemn 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 operating systems, which are 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 overwhelming executive power, ruling the the world that I love, just for a moment.” “I really want these documents to be put 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 handed over to The Guardian and The Washington Post newspapers 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 New York Film Festival premiered a two-hour documentary 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 at the Kassel 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 documentary film"Citizenfour", his girlfriend, dancer Lindsay Mills, moved to Russia to join Snowden, whose relationship with Snowden has continued since 2009. In January 2014, the press reported that Snowden and Mills had separated, but this claim was refuted in the film.
