Edward Snowden
Patriot or Traitor?
Edward Joseph Snowden is an American computer professional, former Central Intelligence Agency employee, who copied and leaked classified information to the press.
He was granted permanent political asylum to Russia until 2020.
He was born on June 21, 1983 in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.
His father is Lonnie Snowden, former Coast Guard officer.
His mother is Elizabeth Snowden, federal court administrator.
May 7, 2004, he enlists in the Army Reserve as a Special Forces candidate.
September 28, 2004 he broke both of his legs and was discharged from the Arny Reserve without completing any training.
He attended a inteligence based job fair in 2006, were he was recruited by the C.I.A. and assigned to the global communications division at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
In March 2007, the CIA stationed Snowden with diplomatic cover in Geneva, Switzerland, where he was responsible for maintaining computer-network security.
In February 2009, Snowden resigned from the C.I.A.
Snowden began work as a contractee for Dell in 2009.
Dell manages computer systems for multiple government agencies.
He was assigned to an NSA facility at Yokota Air Base near Tokyo.
He returned to Maryland in 2011, where he spent a year as lead technologist on Dell's CIA account.
Snowden began downloading documents describing the government's electronic spying programs while working for Dell in April 2012.
Dell reassigned Snowden in March 2012, to Hawaii as lead technologist for the NSA's information-sharing office.
December 1, 2012, Snowden first made contact with Glenn Greenwald, a journalist working at The Guardian.
Snowden then contacted documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras in January 2013.
On March 15, 2013, he quit his job at Dell, after he said he reached his breaking point of seeing the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, directly lie under oath to Congress.
Snowden was offered a position on the NSA's elite team of hackers, Tailored Access Operations, but turned it down.
He started to work at Booz Allen, where he sought employment in order to gather data and then release details of the NSA's worldwide surveillance activity.
Greenwald began working with Snowden in either February or April 2013.
At which point Snowden began providing documents to them.
Om May 16, 2013 he has his first direct exchange with Washington Post reporter Barton Gellman.
On May 20, 2013 Snowden leaves for Hong Kong.
He stayed there when the initial articles based on the leaked documents were published.
In a May 24, 2013 e-mail to Gellman, Snowden requests that the Post publish information about PRISM.
PRISM is a surveillance program that gathers information from Facebook, Microsoft, Google and others.
On June 5, 2013, The Guardian reports that the US government has obtained a secret court order that requires Verizon to turn over the telephone records of millions of Americans to the NSA.
On June 6, 2013, The Guardian and the Washington Post disclose the existence of PRISM, a program they say allows the NSA to extract the details of customer activities.
This includes "audio and video chats, photographs, e-mails, documents" and other materials -- from computers at Microsoft, Google, Apple and other Internet companies.
On June 9, 2013 , The Guardian and Washington Post disclose Snowden as their source.
On June 12, 2013, The South China Morning Post publishes an interview with him in saying that US intelligence agents have been hacking networks around the world for years.
On June 17, 2013, during a live online chat, Snowden insists that US authorities have access to phone calls, e-mails and other communications far beyond constitutional bounds.
On June 18, 2013, FBI Deputy Director Sean Joyce, argues before the House Intelligence Committee, that the PRISM program has helped stop a number of alleged terrorist attacks.
On June 21, 2013, federal prosectuers charge him with espionage and theft of government property.
On June 22, 2013, the United States contacted authorities in Hong Kong to seek the extradition of Snowden.
On June 23, 2013, Snowden flies to Moscow from Hong Kong.
On June 30, 2013, German news magazine Der Spiegel reports details NSA bugging of European Union offices in Washington and New York, as well as an EU building in Brussels.
On July 16, 2013, Snowden applies for tempory asylum in Russia.
On August 1, 2013, his poltical asylum request is granted.
November 3, 2013, a letter entitled "A Manifesto for the Truth", written by Snowden is published in Der Spiegel.
It says "mass surveillance is a global problem and needs a global solution."
In a March 10, 2014 teleconference from Russia to an audience of thousands at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas, Snowden urges the audience to help "fix" the US government's surveillance of its citizens.
On May 28, 2014, NBC News airs an interview with Snowden in which he claims, "I was trained as a spy in sort of the traditional sense of the word."
On August 7, 2014, Snowden has been granted an extension to stay in Russia for three more years.
On June 4, 2015, he publishes an piece in The New York Times saying, "ending the mass surveillance of private phone calls under the Patriot Act is a historic victory for the rights of every citizen..." in response to President Barack Obama signing the USA Freedom Act .
On October 5, 2015, Snowden says he is willing to go prison, if he is allowed to return to the United States.
He and his lawyers are waiting to discuss a deal with the US government.
The film "Snowden," directed by Oliver Stone, opens in US theaters on September 16, 2016.
On January 17, 2017, Russia extends Snowden's asylum until 2020.
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