Edward Snowden shot to notoriety as the computer whiz turned whistleblower who revealed classified information about the United States government’s surveillance activities. He is hailed by some as a hero, yet dismissed by others as a traitor and criminal.
Beginnings
Edward Snowden was born in North Carolina in 1983. At 16, he moved with his family to Maryland where he went on the attend Anne Arundel Community College to earn high school credit. He did not finish, however, and later earned his GED at another college.
Years later, worked as a security guard for the National Security Agency at the University of Maryland before working in information security for the Central Intelligence Agency. He left the CIA in 2009 to work for Dell and Booz Allen Hamilton, relocating to Hawaii.
Surveillance Disclosure
In 2012 Snowden hacked and downloaded sensitive information from the National Security Agency (NSA). While with Booz Allen Hamilton he gained access to additional secret documents. By the end of the year he made contact with Glenn Greenwald of The Guardian with regard to revealing this information. In May 2013 Snowden flew to Hong Kong in anticipation of the effects of the disclosure.
While in Hong Kong he met with Greenwald, documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras and reporter Ewen MacAskill. The next month both The Guardian and The Washington Post began publishing details of Snowden’s revelations. From the documents released by Snowden and published by the journalists, it was revealed that the NSA ran a series of spying programs intercepting Internet and telephone communication from over one billion people in various countries around the world. Some of these countries, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Germany, participated in surveillance activity along with the NSA.
The surveillance programs were put into effect to fight terrorism and to assess the foreign policy and economic stability of other nations. According to Greenwald, the U.S. government was using counter-terrorism as an excuse to perform the surveillance as an effort to compete with other countries economically.
Aftermath
Several days after the disclosures President Obama attempted to reassure the American public that the extent of the surveillance was not as drastic as believed and that the phone calls of U.S. citizens were not being monitored. On June 14, because of the unauthorized contact and theft of government property, Edward Snowden was officially charged by the U.S. federal court with violating the Espionage Act of 1917. Weeks later he fled to Russia and was granted asylum by Vladimir Putin. This act led to a weakening of the relations between the United States and Russia.
National Security Agency director Keith B. Alexander stated that leaking this information has irreversibly damaged the national security of the United States. According to him, the release of classified information will make it more difficult for the NSA to detect future threats against the nation. The disclosure of the NSA surveillance has sparked outrage from leaders of Brazil and the European Union. Protests and petitions have taken place in support of Snowden and defense of civil liberties.
As of September 2013, Snowden remains on asylum in Russia and claims to have a job offer in the working. Vladimir Putin has stated that the United States should not insist upon the release of Snowden while they refuse to give over Russian criminals.