http://casestudies.law.harvard.

edu

By Anastasia Tolu, under supervision of Charles R. Nesson

July 2015

The Snowden Effect

Case Study
HLS cases are developed solely as the basis for class discussion and participation. Cases are
not intended to serve as endorsements, sources of primary data, or illustrations of effective or
ineffective legal representation.
Copyright 2015 President and Fellows of Harvard College. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout the permission of Harvard Law School.

The Snowden Effect

Sometimes to do the right thing, you have to break a law.
Edward Snowden, interview to NBC News, June 10, 2013 1

Introduction
Hoodies or suits, Edward Snowden? asked Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig,
nearing the end of his teleconference with former National Security Administration (NSA)
contractor Edward Snowden. This final question on whether Snowden identified more the
establishment or anti-establishment elicited laughter. Its hoodies all the way, replied
Snowden. 2
It was October 2014 and Snowden had reportedly been living on asylum in Russia for over a
year. The United States government accused Snowden of theft of government property
and willful communication of classified communications intelligence to an unauthorized
person3 after he revealed, in conjunction with news outlets the Guardian and the
Washington Post, that the NSA had conducted mass surveillance activities of US residents.
Since then, government agents had relentlessly and publicly pursued Snowden, making him
one of the most wanted men in the world. 4 President Barack Obama called him a 29-yearold hacker5 and Secretary of State John Kerry denounced him as a coward and traitor. 6
Snowden polarized debate over issues of government surveillance and personal rights to
privacy. The United States struggled to repair the damage the leaks caused to its credibility
abroad and to regain trust at home, while pundits, observers, and citizens pondered the
trade-offs between the need for security and the right to privacy. Does a governments
responsibility to protect its people allow it to compromise the privacy of its citizens, visitors,
and residents? Was Snowden a heroic whistleblower who served US citizens by exposing
unethical and perhaps unconstitutional behavior on the part of the NSA? Or was he a
misguided and troubled computer hacker whose actions embarrassed his country and put
diplomats and agents abroad at risk?

Who was Edward Snowden?

I dont want public attention because I dont want the story to be about me. I
want it to be about what the US government is doing.
Edward Snowden, as quoted in the Guardian. 7

Lawrence Lessig is the Roy L. Furman Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, and Director of the Safra
Center for Ethics at Harvard University. See http://hls.harvard.edu/faculty/directory/10519/Lessig.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________
This case was prepared by Anastasia Tolu, under supervision of Professor Charles Nesson. Cases are developed solely
as the basis for class discussion and are not intended to serve as endorsements, sources of primary data, or legal
advice. Copyright 2015 Harvard University. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise without permission.

Early years
Edward Joseph Snowden was born on June 21, 1983. He spent his early years in Elizabeth City,
North Carolina and later moved with his family to Maryland. 8 His family had a long history of
serving the US government: Snowdens grandfather worked for the FBI, 9 his father was a
Coast Guard officer, 10 his mother was chief deputy of administration and information
technology 11 at the US District Court in Maryland 12 and his older sister, a lawyer by training,
was a researcher at the Federal Judicial Center in Washington. 13
Snowdens education was unconventional. Due to illness, he missed several months of high
school and did not graduate, 14 but later obtained a general equivalency degree. 15 Snowden
took courses, including computer science, at Anne Arundel Community College between
1999 and 2005. 16, 17 Later, Snowden attended classes at the University of Maryland and online
courses from the University of Liverpool 18 but never obtained a college degree or
certificate. 19 While still in his teens, Snowden started working for a community college
classmate who owned a technology business, located in Fort Meade, Maryland, the same city
as the National Security Administration (NSA) headquarters. 20

NSA Headquarters 21

Army and CIA Experience

On September 11, 2001, Snowden, then 18 years old, was on his way to work when he heard
about the World Trade Center attacks. In later interviews, he recalled: I was right outside
the NSA.... So I remember the tension that day. I remember hearing on the radio the planes
hitting. And I remember thinking my grandfather, who worked for the FBI at the time, was in

The Snowden Effect

the Pentagon when the plane hit it. I take the threat of terrorism seriously. And I think we all
do. 22
Moved by those events Snowden enlisted in US Army in 2004, but was soon discharged due
to injuries suffered in training. 23 In 2005, Snowden landed a job as security guard and later as
Information Technology (IT) specialist at the University of Marylands Center for Advanced
Study of Language.24 Some sources reported that the NSA operated a covert facility on
campus and that the Center provided language training to the US intelligence community. 25
By 2006 Snowdens experience in computer networks and systems caught the attention of
the CIA. He attended a six-month training program at one of the CIAs covert technology
schools 26 and obtained a position in the global communications division. 27,28
In March 2007, the CIA assigned Snowden to Geneva, Switzerland under diplomatic cover as
an IT and cyber security expert, according to a timeline published by NBC News. 29 During
the next two years abroad, Snowden started to question the CIAs methods of operation,
telling the Guardian: Much of what I saw in Geneva really disillusioned me about how my
government functions and what its impact is in the world. I realized that I was part of
something that was doing far more harm than good. 30In an interview published on
wired.com, Snowden recalled: [CIA agents] do really risky things to recruit [people] that
have really negative, profound impacts on the person and would have profound impacts on
our national reputation if we got caught. But we do it simply because we can. This was the
Bush period, when the war on terror had gotten really dark. We were torturing people; we
had warrantless wiretapping. 31

The PATRIOT Act and the Post-9/11 Environment

As Snowden realized, the tragedy of September 11, 2001 brought changes to many aspects of
the world order: in the ways people thought about themselves, their place, and their values.
US Congress passed the PATRIOT Act of 2001 in response to the widely held view that
government agencies needed more tools to guard against attack. The act established a more
simplified procedure for surveillance activities, authorizing electronic surveillance and
physical search for longer periods, 32 the seizure of voicemail by warrant rather than wiretap
order; 33 and delay[ed] notice of the execution of a warrant if the execution of the
warrant may have an adverse result.34
The act also broadened the scope of surveillance. It permitted for the first time the
surveillance of US citizens, provided that investigation is not conducted solely upon
the basis of activities protected by the first amendment to the Constitution, 35 and allowed
communication providers to disclose communications or records to safeguard life and
limb. 36 Furthermore, the act authorized the government to [require] the production of any
tangible things (including books, records, papers, documents, and other items) for an
investigation to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities,

The Snowden Effect

superseding the confidentiality of business, medical, educational, and library records. 37 The
Act enabled data collection from public facilities, via non-specific or roving wiretaps, 38 as
well as from bulk, non-targeted packets of network information. 39 At the same time, data
capture technology was developing dramatically fast, allowing companies to collect very
large amounts of information while the cost of storage decreased.
The Pew Research Center found public opinion in 2002 polarized on the governments access
to citizens private email correspondence and online activities: 47% of Americans opposed
such government access and 45% supported it. 40 By 2010, 47% of respondents believed that
these policies have not gone too far in restricting civil liberties, while 32% disagreed. 41 As of
June 2013, the majority (62%) of Americans supported governments policies against
terrorism even at the expense of their privacy, while 34% regard personal privacy higher than
the ability to investigate potential dangers to security. 42 Additionally, 56% supported the NSA
obtaining secret court orders to track telephone calls of millions of Americans in an effort to
investigate terrorism. 43
Although the counterterrorist practices instituted in the Bush era were somewhat
controversial, the Obama administration did not effectively change this course of action,
given that polls showed that the public remained divided and maintained some apathy to the
issue of decreasing privacy in exchange for more security. In addition, the Department of
Justice asserted: The government's success in preventing another catastrophic attack on
the American homeland since September 11, 2001, would have been much more difficult, if
not impossible, without the USA Patriot Act. The authorities Congress provided have
substantially enhanced our ability to prevent, investigate, and prosecute acts of terror. 44

Cybersecurity Contract Work

Snowdens disillusionment at the CIA did not go unnoticed. In 2009, his supervisor wrote a
memo about Snowdens change in demeanor and work habits, raising the suspicion that
Snowden had attempted to access documents above his classification level. 45 Soon after,
Snowden left the CIA for a job in Japan with the computer company Dell, working as a
contractor providing IT support for the NSA. An NSA co-worker described Snowden as a
genius among geniuses, someone trying to do the right thing. 46 The colleague recalled
that Snowden kept a copy of the US Constitution on his desk, against which he could
evaluate the activities of the NSA. 47
Although the government later characterized Snowden as a low-level analyst, Snowden
disagreed: [Top CIA leaders] were asking me to solve problems that no one else could
do. I developed new systems that created new capabilities that would protect the NSA from
disastrous events around the world.... At the same time, in a completely different part of
work, in a less constructive and more adversarial position, I was monitoring the activities of
foreign adversaries. And they assigned me to watch one of the most elite units of a foreign
governmentwho nobody else could really figure out. 48

The Snowden Effect

During his tenure with Dell, Snowden worked with the CIA and the NSA in both Maryland and
Hawaii. 49 In the spring of 2013, Snowden left Dell to work for Booz Allen Hamilton (Booz
Allen), another contractor for the NSA. Snowden later admitted to the South China Morning
Post: My position with Booz Allen Hamilton granted me access to lists of machines all over
the world the NSA hacked. That is why I accepted that position. 50

The NSA-inspired logo51 from an Electronic Frontier Foundation hoodie, reportedly worn by
Snowden 52

NSA Surveillance Activities

From 2009 until 2013, Snowden had become increasingly dismayed about the surveillance
programs maintained by the government intelligence community. In his contract positions,
he became aware of programs that allowed the NSA to intercept large bulks of foreign
information. Moreover, US communications, he said, were being intercepted and stored
without a warrant, without any requirement for criminal suspicion, probable cause, or
individual designation. 53
PRISM is a program that collects Internet communications from major Internet Service
Providers (ISPs), such as Google and Yahoo, based on court-mandated search terms. 54 This
program compels US companies to provide various governmental agencies, including the
NSA, access to its overseas customer data. ,55 PRISM is governed by the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) Amendments Act of 2008. Although PRISM targeted non-US

In various interviews, talks, and documents produced to news outlets, Snowden later offered detailed
accounts of several NSA surveillance programs, summaries of which are included in this case study.

The data collected by this program is content-filled, rather than metadata (or, data about data).

The original statute of 1978 was written to provide oversight of government surveillance. It permitted
warrantless surveillance for up to one year with the approval of the Attorney General, with the alternative
of gaining a court order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. FISA, Pub. L. No. 95-511, 209,
92 Stat. 1783 (1978). The court has been found to reject 0.03% of total requests. [Evan Perez, Secret

The Snowden Effect

nationals, the wide sweep of data collection often involved communications from US
residents and citizens.
Boundless Informant is, according to the Guardian, a powerful tool for recording and
analyzing where its intelligence comes from. 56 NSA fact sheets supplied by Snowden
showed that the tool allows users to select a country on a map and view the metadata
volume and select details about the collections against that country. 57
A decryption program called Bullrun allows the government to access encrypted data
collected by corporate partners, 58 obtaining a master key either by agreement, court orders,
or computer network exploitation, colloquially known as hacking. 59
Another NSA program under development was called MonsterMind. 60 This program was
being designed to watch for unusual online traffic patterns that signaled cyberattacks and
block such traffic from entering the United States. Snowden maintained that the program
could eventually be programed to initiate counterattacks back to the incoming computers
without any human interaction. 61 According to Snowden, this automatic operation could
damage innocent computers that were hijacked by hackers as a channel for virus
delivery. 62 Snowden explained in an interview, You could have someone sitting in China, for
example, making it appear that one of these attacks is originating in Russia. And then we end
up shooting back at a Russian hospital. What happens next? 63
Snowden also believed that in order for MonsterMind to understand which traffic patterns
were problematic, it would have to access and intercept all online traffic flows to the US. 64
Snowden later explained, That means violating the Fourth Amendment, seizing private
communications without a warrant, without probable cause or even a suspicion of
wrongdoing. For everyone, all the time. 65
Snowden distinguished between the government agencys methods and its mission or
employees, whom Snowden respected as good people trying to do hard work for good
reasons. 66 Some observers, he said, were too quick to dismiss the NSAs valid role as a
defender of the nation; the real problem was that senior officials are investing themselves
with powers that theyre not entitled to and theyre doing it without asking the public for any
kind of consent. 67 In an interview with the Guardian, Snowden described how he tried to
raise these issues at the NSA:
The reality of working in [the] intelligence community is you see things that
are deeply troubling all the time. I raised concerns about these programs
Courts Oversight Gets Scrutiny, Wall Street Journal, June 9, 2013.] The Amendments Act removed the
necessity for a court order to conduct surveillance on non-US persons reasonably believed to be outside
of the US; this precludes intentionally targeting people in the US or people outside the US to learn
information about someone in the US. The Amendments also granted immunity to service providers and
extended the length of warrantless surveillance. FISAAA, Pub. L. No. 110-261, 702, 122 Stat. 2436, 2438
(2008).

The Snowden Effect

regularly and widely, [to] more than 10 discreet colleagues that I have
worked with and thats both laterally and vertically in my work. I said:
What do you think about this? Is this unusual? How can we be doing this?
Isnt this unconstitutional? Isnt this a violation of rights? and Why are we
intercepting more American communications than were intercepting Russian
communications?
The people that are staffing these intelligence agencies are ordinary people
. Theyre not moustache-twirling villains theyre going: Youre right.
That crosses a line but you really shouldnt say something about that because
its going to end your career. 68

Breaking point
After working in the clandestine services for eight years, Snowden became increasingly
disillusioned about the leadership and its intentions. At the NSA, Snowden had an
earthquake moment: he realized that the NSA ended Stellar Wind, a warrantless
wiretapping system used in the Bush administration, when public knowledge of the program
caused a scandal for the Agency. According to Snowden:
[I]t showed that the officials who authorized these programs knew it was a
problem, they knew they didnt have any statutory authorization for these
programs. But instead the government assumed upon itself, in secret, new
executive powers without any public awareness or any public consent and
used them against the citizenry of its own country to increase its own power,
to increase its own awareness. 69
The breaking point for Snowden came in March 2013, when James Clapper, Director of
National Intelligence, denied to Congress that the NSA collected data on Americans. 70, 71
In an interview with NBC News, Clapper called his answer to Congress the least untruthful
one he could make. 72 Michael V. Hayden, the former director of the NSA and the CIA,
defended Clapper, saying that such public questioning was unfair, given the classified
subject.73 Snowden eventually lost faith in the Obama administration to curtail the NSA
surveillance practices, and realized that he needed to take action: [Y]ou cant wait around
for someone else to act. I had been looking for leaders, but I realized that leadership is about
being the first to act. 74

Whistleblower in Action
By May 2013, Snowden reportedly downloaded various classified information onto flash
drives without leaving any traces. 75 He requested unpaid time off for medical treatment, and
on May 20, he traveled to Hong Kong. 76

The Snowden Effect

In Hong Kong Snowden met with Glenn Greenwald, a journalist at the Guardian, and Laura
Poitras, a documentary filmmaker, with whom he established communication a year earlier. 77
He disclosed classified information to the journalists in early June.
I carefully evaluated every single document I disclosed to ensure that each
was legitimately in the public interest. There are all sorts of documents that
would have made a big impact that I didnt turn over, because harming
people isnt my goal. Transparency is. 78

Glenn Greenwald 79

Laura Poitras 80

On June 5, 2013, the Guardian published the first classified documents, regarding the NSA
obtaining metadata from millions of Verizon phone customers. 81 In the coming days, the
Washington Post and the Guardian leaked PowerPoint slides about PRISM, Boundless
Informant, presidential directives on cyberterrorism, cyber-attacks on foreign governments,
and spying at the 2009 G20 summit, the UN, and foreign embassies.
On June 9, Snowden allowed his identity to be revealed. 82 He said that from the start, he did
not plan to be anonymous: I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have
done nothing wrong.83
Within days, the US Department of Justice brought criminal charges against Snowden under
the Espionage Act, including theft, unauthorized communication of national defense
information and willful communication of classified communications intelligence information
to an unauthorized person. 84 Each of the three charges carried a ten-year prison sentence.
On June 23, Reuters reported that Snowdens passport was revoked by the US Department
of State. 85 That day, Snowden left Hong Kong for Moscow, Russia, staying in the transit zone

The Snowden Effect

of Sheremetyevo International Airport for 39 days. He gained access to enter Russia on

August 1 under a one-year asylum,86 and rebutted accusations of being a Russian spy. Upon
its expiration, Snowden received a three-year residency in Russia. 87
Russian president Vladimir Putin stated in an interview that because there was no extradition
law between Russia and the United States, Russia has no other choice but to permit him to
live here.88 Russia remained neutral towards Snowdens activities, and Putin has declared
that Snowden was free to decide on his geographical destination. 89

The World Reacts

Snowdens revelations sent shockwaves around the world. Although most countries were
aware of and took part in intelligence gathering, it was still eye-opening for Germans, for
example, to read that Chancellor Angela Merkels phone was bugged by the NSA. The details
included on the scope of US activity in India and Pakistan cooled relations with those
countries. In Great Britain, the Guardian came under fire from its own government for
publishing the leaks.
The reactions of US officials were mixed. Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican Leader of
the Senate, expressed his disapproval of leaking classified material: Given the scope of
these programs, its understandable that many would be concerned about issues related to
privacy. But whats difficult to understand is the motivation of somebody who intentionally
would seek to warn the nations enemies of lawful programs created to protect the
American people. 90 However, Democratic Senator Ron Wyden called for public hearings:
the American people have the right to expect straight answers from the intelligence
leadership to the questions asked by their representatives. 91 Similarly, Democratic
Representative Brad Sherman believed that the NSA had too much latitude and too little
oversight. 92
In a blog post, former NSA Chief Counsel Joel F. Brenner spoke out against Snowdens
actions:
This kind of information tells our adversaries about the structure and focus
of our efforts, including by implication the approximate number of agents
were training. We have committees of Congress who receive these details.
Thats how a representative democracy works. Putting the information out
for general consumption is not in the publics interest if the public is serious
about wanting a robust foreign intelligence capabilitywhich is now an open
question. You cannot run intelligence by plebiscite. 93
President Obama remarked: Our nations defense depends in part on the fidelity of those
entrusted with our nations secrets. If any individual who objects to government policy can
take it in their own hands to publicly disclose classified information, then we will not be able
to keep our people safe, or conduct foreign policy. 94

The Snowden Effect

Secretary of State John Kerry urged Snowden to man up, come back home and face the
charges for the damage done to his country. 95 Similarly, former Secretary of State Hillary
Rodham Clinton strongly criticized Snowdens actions, stating that he had broken the law
and should have taken other actions, for example, communicating with the Senate
representatives who were interested in privacy and surveillance issues. 96 She also noted that
instead of being accountable for his actions, Snowden chose to go to two countries with
which the United States has difficult diplomatic relationshipsHong Kong (a Chinese
territory) and Russia. 97
In March 2014, the NSA itself made a somewhat unprecedented public appearance in an
unconventional way: a TED talk. Responding to Snowdens own TED talk, NSA deputy
director Richard Ledgett responded to questions about safety and privacy. 98 (See below for
TED videos.)
Meanwhile, as the leaks continued, watchers around the world started to understand just
how far-reaching Snowdens actions were. In 2014, the Guardian and the Washington Post
shared the Pulitzer Prize for public service for their work with the Snowden documents. In
December 2014, Snowden remotely received the Winston Award for his contribution to
promoting the right to privacy and his invaluable influence on the privacy debate. 99

Climate Change
On the judicial front the opinions split. In Klarman v. Obama, the US District Judge Richard J.
Leon found that one of the NSA programs that indiscriminately collected phone metadata of
Americans infringes on that degree of privacy that the founders enshrined in the Fourth
Amendment. 100 Judge Leon granted the request for an injunction, blocking the collection of
phone data for the plaintiff and ordering the government to destroy any of the gathered
records. 101 In contrast, in American Civil Liberties Union v. James R. Clapper, US District Judge
William J. Pauley ruled that the collection of phone records metadata was legal. 102
A NSA surveillance reform was proposed under the USA Freedom Act in November 2014.
It passed with some amendments in the House of Representatives, but was two votes short
of passing in the Senate. 103 The rising threat of the Islamic State (ISIS) and continuing unrest
in Syria and other nations seemed to have cooled the public disapproval of NSA surveillance
programs. However, a new hearing is planned in the next Senates session in 2015. 104
Snowdens suggestion to incorporate robust encryption in order to end mass surveillance
without any legislative action at all, without any policy changes and put our faith in
technologynot politicians 105 seems to have been heard. Companies such as Google and
Apple have increased the encryption of their operating systems such that even the
companies themselves are unable to access client data. 106 Such encryption could afford
privacy even in case of court-issued warrant. 107 Meanwhile, over 700 million private citizens
reported modifying their Internet behavior in response to NSA leaks. 108

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10

Snowden in Russia
By virtue of his political disclosures Edward Snowden is known to the world, but nobody
recognizes him at a local grocery store in Russia. James Bamford of Wired remarked, He has
learned to live modestly in an expensive city that is cleaner than New York and more
sophisticated than Washington.109 But if he could choose to go anywhere in the world,
Snowden admitted, that place would be home. 110
Snowden continues to maintain that he would not receive a fair trial if he returned to the
United States. He argues that the law does not provide whistleblowers protection to
contractors and that the Espionage Act, with which he is charged, offers no opportunity to
defend himself publicly. He said that he would not be able to argue to the jury that he acted
in the public interest. 111 He added that the evidence in his favor, even if exculpatory, may be
classified. 112
As of 2015, Snowden continues to seek asylum in various European countries. 113 Snowdens
asylum in Russia expires in August 2017. 114 What is Edward Snowdens next chapter?
Snowden said, whether amnesty or clemency ever becomes a possibility is not for me to
say. Thats a debate for the public and the government to decide. 115

Video: TED Talk by Edward Snowden

Video: TED Talk by NSA deputy director Richard Ledgett
Optional video: Lawrence Lessig Interviews Edward Snowden, October 20, 2014

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11

Appendix A: Official Criminal Complaint against Edward Snowden

Source: US vs. Edward J. Snowden criminal complaint, Washington Post, accessed March 12, 2015,
https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/716888/u-s-vs-edward-j-snowdencriminal-complaint.pdf.

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12

Matthew Cole, Richard Esposito, Bill Dedman, and Mark Schone, Edward Snowdens Motive Revealed:
He Can Sleep at Night, NBC News, May 28, 2014, accessed February 18, 2015,
http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/edward-snowden-interview/edward-snowdens-motive-revealed-hecan-sleep-night-n116851.
2
Edward Snowden, interview by Lawrence Lessig, Harvard Law School, YouTube video, October 20, 2014,
accessed February 18, 2015, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_Sr96TFQQE.
3
Evan Perez, US Charges Snowden in Security-Leak Case. Wall Street Journal, June 22, 2013, accessed
February 7, 2015, http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323893504578560071189477346.
4
James Bamford, The Most Wanted Man In the World, Wired, 2014, accessed February 18, 2015,
http://www.wired.com/2014/08/edward-snowden/.
5
President Obama stated: No, Im not going to be scrambling jets to get a 29-year-old hacker See
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sq_YWbExWtA.
6
Jonathan Topaz, John Kerry: Edward Snowden a coward traitor, Politico, May 28, 2014, accessed
February 7, 2015, http://www.politico.com/story/2014/05/edward-snowden-coward-john-kerry-msnbcinterview-nsa-107157.html.
7
Glenn Greenwald, Ewen MacAskill, and Laura Poitras, Edward Snowden: the whistleblower behind the
NSA surveillance revelations, Guardian, June 11, 2013, accessed February 18, 2015,
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/09/edward-snowden-nsa-whistleblower-surveillance.
8
Luke Harding, How Edward Snowden went from loyal NSA contractor to whistleblower, Guardian,
February 1, 2014, accessed February 18, 2015, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/01/edwardsnowden-intelligence-leak-nsa-contractor-extract.
9
Paul Szoldra. The 4 Most-Surprising Details From Edward Snowdens First-Ever US Television Interview,
Business Insider, May 29, 2014, accessed January 25, 2015, http://www.businessinsider.com/edwardsnowden-nbc-interview-2014-5.
10
Harding, How Edward Snowden went.
11
Adam Geller and Brian White, Edward Snowdens Background Surrounded By Spycraft, Huffington
Post, June 15, 2013, accessed February 18, 2015, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/15/edwardsnowden-background_n_3446904.html.
12
Connor Tracy, What we know about NSA leaker Edward Snowden, NBC News, June 10, 2013, accessed
February 18, 2015, http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/10/18882615-what-we-know-aboutnsa-leaker-edward-snowden?lite.
13
Geller and White, Edward Snowdens Background.
14
Harding, How Edward Snowden went.
15
Cole, Esposito, Dedman, and Schone, Edward Snowdens Motive.
16
Geller and White, Edward Snowdens Background.
17
Harding, How Edward Snowden went.
18
Geller and White, Edward Snowdens Background.
19
Ibid.
20
Bamford, The Most Wanted Man.
21
National Security Administration, NSA Aerial View, accessed March 12, 2015,
https://www.nsa.gov/about/_images/pg_hi_res/nsa_aerial.jpg.
22
Cole, Esposito, Dedman, and Schone, Edward Snowdens Motive.
23
Ibid.
24
Harding, How Edward Snowden went.
25
Ibid.
26
Bamford, The Most Wanted Man.
27
Harding, How Edward Snowden went.
28
Bamford, The Most Wanted Man.
29
Cole and Mike Brunker, Edward Snowden: A Timeline, May 26, 2014, accessed July 10, 2015,
http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/edward-snowden-interview/edward-snowden-timeline-n114871.
30
Harding, How Edward Snowden went.

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13

31

Bamford, The Most Wanted Man.

Alberto R. Gonzales and Robert S. Mueller, Testimony: USA Patriot Act Amendments to Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act Authorities, FBI, April 27, 2005, accessed February 18, 2015,
http://www.fbi.gov/news/testimony/usa-patriot-act-amendments-to-foreign-intelligence-surveillanceact-authorities.
33
USA PATRIOT Act, Pub. L. No. 107-56, 209, 115 Stat. 272, 283 (2001).
34
USA PATRIOT Act, Pub. L. No. 107-56, 213, 115 Stat. 272, 285 (2001).
35
USA PATRIOT Act, Pub. L. No. 107-56, 214, 115 Stat. 272, 286 (2001).
36
USA PATRIOT Act, Pub. L. No. 107-56, 212, 115 Stat. 272, 284 (2001).
37
Electronic Privacy Information Center, USA Patriot Act, accessed February 18, 2015,
https://epic.org/privacy/terrorism/usapatriot/#history.
38
Ibid.
39
USA PATRIOT Act, Pub. L. No. 107-56, 216, 115 Stat. 272, 288 (2001).
40
Susannah Fox, Lee Rainie and Mary Madden, One year later: September 11 and the Internet, Pew
Research Center, September 5, 2002, accessed February 18, 2015,
http://www.pewinternet.org/2002/09/05/one-year-later-september-11-and-the-internet/.
41
Pew Research Center, Continued Positive Marks for Government Anti-Terror Efforts, October 22,
2010, accessed February 18, 2015, http://www.people-press.org/2010/10/22/continued-positive-marksfor-government-anti-terror-efforts/.
42
Pew Research Center, Majority Views NSA Phone Tracking as Acceptable Anti-terror Tactic, June 10,
2013, accessed February 18, 2015, http://www.people-press.org/2013/06/10/majority-views-nsa-phonetracking-as-acceptable-anti-terror-tactic/.
43
Ibid.
44
US Department of Justice, The USA Patriot Act: Preserving Life and Liberty, accessed July 10, 2015,
http://www.justice.gov/archive/ll/highlights.htm.
45
Eric Schmitt, CIA Warning on Snowden in 09 Said to Slip Through the Cracks, October 10, 2013,
accessed February 18, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/11/us/cia-warning-on-snowden-in-09said-to-slip-through-the-cracks.html?hp&pagewanted=all&_r=1&.
46
Andy Greenberg, An NSA Coworker Remembers The Real Snowden: A Genius Among Geniuses,
Forbes, December 16, 2013, accessed February 18, 2015,
http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/12/16/an-nsa-coworker-remembers-the-real-snowden-a-genius-among-geniuses/.
47
Greenberg, An NSA Coworker Remembers.
48
Cole, Esposito, Dedman, and Schone, Edward Snowdens Motive.
49
Bamford, The Most Wanted Man.
50
Lana Lam, Snowden sought Booz Allen job to gather evidence on NSA surveillance, South China
Morning Post, June 24, 2013, accessed February 18, 2015, http://www.scmp.com/news/hongkong/article/1268209/snowden-sought-booz-allen-job-gather-evidence-nsa-surveillance?login=1.
51
Electronic Frontier Foundation, NSA-square, licensed under CC BY 3.0,
https://www.nsa.gov/about/_images/pg_hi_res/nsa_aerial.jpg. License available at
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en.
52
Greenberg, An NSA Coworker Remembers.
53
Bamford, The Most Wanted Man.
54
Barton Gellman and Ashkan Soltani, NSA infiltrates links to Yahoo, Google data centers worldwide,
Snowden documents say, Washington Post, October 30, 2013, accessed February 18, 2015,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-infiltrates-links-to-yahoo-google-datacenters-worldwide-snowden-documents-say/2013/10/30/e51d661e-4166-11e3-8b74d89d714ca4dd_story.html.
55
Edward Snowden, Heres how we take back the Internet, TED2014, March 2014, accessed February
18, 2015, http://www.ted.com/talks/edward_snowden_here_s_how_we_take_back_the_internet
?language=en, 5:02.
32

The Snowden Effect

14

56

Greenwald and MacAskill, Boundless Informant: the NSAs secret tool to track global surveillance
data, The Guardian, June 11, 2013, accessed February 18, 2015,
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/08/nsa-boundless-informant-global-datamining.
57
Ibid.
58
Nicole Perlroth, Jeff Larson, and Scott Shane, NSA Able to Foil Basic Safeguards of Privacy on Web,
September 5, 2013, accessed February 18, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/06/us/nsa-foilsmuch-internet-encryption.html?pagewanted=3&_r=1&.
59
Snowden, Heres how we take back, 18:01; James Ball, Julian Borger, and Greenwald, US and UK spy
agencies defeat privacy and security on the internet, The Guardian, September 5, 2013, February 18,
2015, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/05/nsa-gchq-encryption-codes-security.
60
Kim Zetter, Meet MonsterMind, the NSA Bot That Could Wage Cyberwar Autonomously, August 13,
2014, accessed February 24, 2015, http://www.wired.com/2014/08/nsa-monstermind-cyberwarfare/,
and Bamford, The Most Wanted Man.
61
Ibid.
62
Ibid.
63
Ibid.
64
Ibid.
65
Ibid.
66
Cole, Esposito, Dedman, and Schone, Edward Snowdens Motive.
67
Ibid.
68
Alan Rusbridger and MacAskill, Edward Snowden interview- the edited transcript, The Guardian, July
18, 2014, February 18, 2015, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/18/-sp-edward-snowden-nsawhistleblower-interview-transcript.
69
Ibid.
70
Jay Syrmopoulos, Media Blacks Out New Snowden Interview the Government Doesnt Want You to
See, Ben Swann, January 31, 2014, accessed February 18, 2015, http://benswann.com/media-blacks-outnew-snowden-interview-the-government-doesnt-want-you-to-see/.
71
TimesVideo, NSA Denies Phone Surveillance, June 11, 2013, accessed February 18, 2015,
http://www.nytimes.com/video/multimedia/100000002274856/nsa-denies-phone-surveillance.html.
72
Shane and Jonathan Weisman, Earlier Denials Put Intelligence Chief in Awkward Position, New York
Times, June 11, 2013, accessed February 18, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/12/us/nsadisclosures-put-awkward-light-on-official-statements.html.
73
Ibid.
74
Greenwald, MacAskill, and Poitras, Edward Snowden: the whistleblower.
75
Ibid.
76
Ibid.
77
Greenwald, MacAskill, and Poitras, Edward Snowden: the whistleblower.
78
Ibid.
79
David dos Dantos, Lawyer and activist Glenn Greenwald, licensed under CC BY 3.0,
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Glenn_Greenwald_2014-01-20_001.jpg. License
available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en.
80
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Laura Poitras Documentary Filmmaker, licensed
under CC BY 4.0, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Poitras_2012_hi-resdownload_3.jpg. License available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en.
81
Timeline of Edward Snowdens revelations, AlJazeera America, accessed February 18, 2015,
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/multimedia/timeline-edward-snowden-revelations.html.
82
Greenwald, MacAskill, and Poitras, Edward Snowden: the whistleblower.
83
Ibid.
84
Perez, US Charges Snowden.
85
US revokes Snowdens passport: official source, Reuters, June 23, 2013, accessed February 18, 2015,
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/23/us-usa-security-passport-idUSBRE95M0CW20130623.

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86

Steven Lee Myers and Andrew E. Kramer, Defiant Russia Grants Snowden Years Asylum, New York
Times, August 1. 2013, accessed February 18, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/02/world/europe
/edward-snowden-russia.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.
87
Alec Luhn and Mark Tran, Edward Snowden given permission to stay in Russia for three more years,
Guardian, August 7, 2014, accessed February 18, 2015,
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/07/edward-snowden-permission-stay-in-russia-threeyears.
88
RT, Russias only choice is to permit Snowden to live here Putin, September 5, 2013, accessed
February 18, 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXmzgmzcOgg.
89
Ibid.
90
Shane and Weisman, Earlier Denials.
91
Ibid.
92
Ibid.
93
Joel Brenner, Intelligence by Plebiscite?, LawFare, August 29, 2013, accessed February 18, 2015,
http://www.lawfareblog.com/2013/08/a-critique-of-the-latest-snowden-disclosures/.
94
Barack Obama, Remarks by the President on Review of Signals Intelligence, The White House Office of
the Press Secretary, January 17, 2014, accessed February 18, 2015, http://www.whitehouse.gov/thepress-office/2014/01/17/remarks-president-review-signals-intelligence.
95
Erin McClam, Naive and Gravely Mistaken: Analysts Rebut Snowden Claims, May 29, 2014, accessed
February 18, 2015, http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/-snowden-interview/watch-primetime-specialinside-mind--snowden-n117126.
96
Hillary Clinton: NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has right to legal defence in US - video interview,
The Guardian, July 4, 2014, accessed February 18, 2015,
http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2014/jul/04/nsa-hillary-clinton-edward-snowdenwhistleblower.
97
Ibid.
98
Ledgett, The NSA Responds.
99
Winston Smith, Edward Snowden receives Winston Award Big Brother Awards X, Amsterdam,
accessed February 18, 2015, http://vimeo.com/114807250.
100
Ellen Nakashima and Ann E. Marimow, Judge: NSAs collecting of phone records is probably
unconstitutional, Washington Post, December 16, 2013, accessed February 18, 2015,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/judge-nsas-collecting-of-phone-records-is-likelyunconstitutional/2013/12/16/6e098eda-6688-11e3-a0b9-249bbb34602c_story.html.
101
Ibid.
102
Ibid.
103
Patricia Zengerle, Republicans block overhaul of NSA surveillance reform, Reuters, November 19,
2014, February 18, 2015, http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/19/us-usa-security-congressidUSKCN0J226Y20141119.
104
Ted Barrett, Senate Blocks Bill That Would Curb NSA Surveillance, CNN, November 18, 2014,
accessed February 18, 2015, http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/18/politics/nsa-surveillance-bill-senate/.
105
Bamford, The Most Wanted Man.
106
Glenn Chapman, Google to boost Android encryption, joining Apple, Yahoo News, September 18,
2014, accessed February 18, 2015, http://news.yahoo.com/google-boost-android-encryption-joiningapple-224221090.html.
107
Ibid.
108
Bruce Schneier, Over 700 Million People Taking Steps to Avoid NSA Surveillance, Schneier on
Security, December 15, 2014, accessed February 18, 2015,
https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2014/12/over_700_millio.html.
109
Bamford, The Most Wanted Man.
110
CBS/AP, NSA leaker Edward Snowden: I want to come home to US, May 29, 2014, accessed February
18, 2015, http://www.cbsnews.com/news/nsa-leaker-edward-snowden-i-want-to-come-home-to-u-s/.

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111

McClam, Naive and Gravely Mistaken.

Ibid.
113
Nikolaj Nielsen, Edward Snowden wants asylum in EU, Euobserver, March 7, 2014, accessed February
18, 2015, https://euobserver.com/justice/123398.
114
Doug Stanglin, Snowden gets 3-year residency permit in Russia, USA Today, August 7, 2014, accessed
February 18, 2015, http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/08/07/snowden-nsa-russiaus/13710893/.
115
CBS/AP, NSA leaker Edward Snowden.
112

The Snowden Effect

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