Read The Edward Snowden Affair for Free Online

Prologue:
A Busy Day for Washington
    W ASHINGTON HAD ITS HANDS FULL . The day before, June 5, a British daily newspaper The Guardian revealed that the FBI, with the power of the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court behind it, was actively utilizing a provision within the PATRIOT Act. A highly secretive order had been issued requiring one of the world’s largest telecommunication providers, Verizon, to hand over all domestic call records between the dates of April 25 to July 19, 2013. The government was quick to respond as it reassured everyone the content of Verizon users’ calls were not included, merely when and where a call was made, to what number, and on what phones. What the White House conveniently failed to include in its briefing was that the three-month window was not an exception but an ongoing rule: Consecutive extensions had been occurring for the past seven years and, though only hinted at in The Guardian’s report, included culled customer information of Verizon’s competitors, AT&T and Sprint. The government was also in the process of accommodating the massive amount of incoming data. It was putting the finishing touches on a $1.5 billion top secret building located in the middle of the Utah desert.
    A day later as the American capital attempted to quell the flames which were being fanned by the ACLU, Fourth Amendment advocates and enraged Verizon users, not one but two bombs were dropped. Pulitzer-winning journalist Barton Gellman and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Laura Poitras presented another, albeit much grander, revelation about the U.S. government’s surveillance methods. In a Washington Post article titled, “U.S. intelligence mining data from nine U.S. Internet companies in broad secret program,” the duo disclosed classified information obtained from an anonymous source which had been extracted from the most enigmatic and secretive organization in America and perhaps the world: the National Security Agency. A few minutes later, an American attorney living in Brazil and the man partially responsible for the Verizon story, Glenn Greenwald, seconded the claim in The Guardian’s “NSA Prism program taps in to user data of Apple, Google and others.” As the same groups who were up in arms about the previous day’s shocking headlines lunged forward in protest while gaining international support and sympathy from countries around the world, many anticipated this was the tip of the proverbial iceberg and much, much more was taking place behind the security curtain in Fort Meade, Maryland. Yet, as the White House steadfastly backpedaled amid the incessant barrage of questions, one remained unanswered: Where had Greenwald, Gellman and Poitras gotten their information? If history was any guide, the public might never know unless the person responsible was caught, killed or opted to make a deathbed confession.
    Three days later, the world would meet Edward Snowden, a former CIA and NSA contractor who had orchestrated the information dump not months but years prior, who had already fled the country and was now holed up in a hotel room in Hong Kong. This was the person responsible for, in The New York Times’ approximation, “The most significant security breach in American history.”
    In the months ahead, a worldwide manhunt would ensue as the press continued to dispense piecemeal information about other covert surveillance programs. Democrats and Republicans would find themselves in uneasy agreement. Global demonstrations would take place. World leaders would learn America had been spying on them. A foreign president’s plane would be forbidden safe passage for fear it contained the fugitive. Congress would consider demolishing the foundation upon which democracy was built. In less than two months, after three nations had offered Snowden asylum before the whistleblower accepted temporary sanctuary in Russia, President Barack Obama would appear on national television and unrepentantly