Edward Snowden
National Security Agency surveillance Map of global NSA data collection Programs Pre-2001 ECHELON Main Core MINARET SHAMROCK PROMIS Since 2001 BLARNEY RAGTIME Turbulence PINWALE MAINWAY Upstream Since 2007 PRISM Boundless Informant XKeyscore Dropmire Fairview Stateroom Surveillance Detection Unit Bullrun MYSTIC MonsterMind (alleged) GCHQ collaboration MUSCULAR Dishfire Tempora Mastering the Internet Global Telecoms Exploitation Discontinued Trailblazer Project ThinThread President's Surveillance Program Terrorist Surveillance Program STELLARWIND Legislation FISA Protect America Act of 2007 FISA Amendments Act of 2008 Patriot Act Institutions FISC Senate Intelligence Committee Lawsuits ACLU v. NSA Hepting v. AT&T Jewel v. NSA Clapper v. Amnesty Klayman v. Obama ACLU v. Clapper Whistleblowers William Binney Thomas Drake Mark Klein Edward Snowden Thomas Tamm Russ Tice Publication 2005 warrantless surveillance scandal 2013 mass surveillance scandal Related Cablegate Surveillance of reporters Mail tracking UN diplomatic spying Insider Threat Program Mass surveillance in the United States Mass surveillance in the United Kingdom Concepts SIGINT Metadata Collaboration United States CSS CYBERCOM DOJ FBI CIA DHS IAO Five Eyes CSEC GCHQ ASD GCSB Other DGSE BND v t e Edward Joseph "Ed" Snowden (born June 21, 1983) is an American computer professional who leaked classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA) to the mainstream media, starting in June 2013. A former system administrator for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and a counterintelligence trainer at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), he later worked for Dell assigned as a contractor to U.S. National Security Agency facilities in the United States and inside an NSA outpost in Japan. In March 2013, he joined the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton inside the NSA center in Hawaii. In June 2013, he came to international attention after disclosing to several media outlets thousands of classified documents that he acquired while working as an NSA contractor for Dell and Booz Allen Hamilton. Snowden's leaked documents revealed numerous global surveillance programs, many of them run by the NSA and the Five Eyes with the cooperation of telecommunication companies and European governments. A subject of controversy, Snowden has been variously called a hero, a whistleblower, a dissident, a patriot, and a traitor. His disclosures have fueled debates over mass surveillance, government secrecy, and the balance between national security and information privacy. Two court rulings since the initial leaks have split on the constitutionality of the NSA's bulk collection of telephone metadata. On May 20, 2013, Snowden flew from Hawaii to Hong Kong, where in early June he revealed numerous classified NSA documents to journalists Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras, both of whom he had summoned to Hong Kong for that purpose. On June 9, four days after the press first exposed a secret NSA program based on his leaks, Snowden made his identity public. On June 14 the U.S. Department of Justice charged him with two counts of violating the Espionage Act and theft of government property, punishable by up to 30 years in prison. The U.S. Department of State revoked his passport on June 22. According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Snowden met with Russian diplomats while in Hong Kong. On June 23, Snowden—who later said he had been ticketed for onward travel via Havana, Cuba—flew to Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport. ABC News reported that Snowden "could not enter Russia because he did not have a Russian visa and he could not travel to safe haven opportunities in Latin America because the United States had canceled his passport." Snowden remained in the airport transit zone for 39 days, during which time he applied for asylum in 21 countries. On August 1, 2013, Russian authorities granted him a one-year temporary asylum. A year later, Russia issued Snowden a three-year residency permit allowing him to travel freely within the country and to go abroad for no longer than three months. He lives in an undisclosed location in Russia and feels very secure in Moscow. He is nevertheless seeking asylum in the European Union, although member state Germany—which rejected his application in July 2013—announced in November 2014 that Snowden had not renewed his request and was not being considered for German asylum.