Edward Snowden

Edward Snowden
Snowden in 2013
Born	Edward Joseph Snowden (1983-06-21) June 21, 1983 (age 42) Elizabeth City, North Carolina, U.S.
Citizenship	United States (1983–2013) Stateless (2013–2022) Russia (2022–current)
Alma mater	Anne Arundel Community College University of Liverpool
Occupation	Computer security consultant
Employers	University of Maryland (2005) CIA (2006–2009) Dell (2009–2013) Booz Allen Hamilton (2013)
Known for	Revealing classified U.S. Government surveillance programs; in exile in Russia since June 23, 2013
Spouse	Lindsay Mills ​ (m. 2017)​
Children	2[1]
Relatives	Edward J. Barrett (grandfather)
Awards	Right Livelihood Award
Website	edwardsnowden.substack.com
Signature

National Security Agency surveillance
Map of global NSA data collection as of 2007[update], with countries subject to the most data collection shown in red
Programs Pre-1978 ECHELON MINARET SHAMROCK PROMIS Since 1978 Upstream collection BLARNEY FAIRVIEW Main Core ThinThread Genoa Since 1990 RAMPART-A Since 1998 Tailored Access Operations Since 2001 OAKSTAR STORMBREW Trailblazer Turbulence Genoa II Total Information Awareness President's Surveillance Program Terrorist Surveillance Program Since 2007 PRISM Dropmire Stateroom Bullrun MYSTIC Databases, tools etc. PINWALE MARINA Main Core MAINWAY TRAFFICTHIEF DISHFIRE XKeyscore ICREACH BOUNDLESSINFORMANT GCHQ collaboration MUSCULAR Tempora
Legislation Safe Streets Act Privacy Act of 1974 FISA ECPA Patriot Act Homeland Security Act Protect America Act of 2007 FISA Amendments Act of 2008
Institutions FISC Senate Intelligence Committee National Security Council
Lawsuits ACLU v. NSA Hepting v. AT&T Jewel v. NSA Clapper v. Amnesty Klayman v. Obama ACLU v. Clapper Wikimedia v. NSA US v. Moalin
Whistleblowers William Binney Thomas Drake Mark Klein Thomas Tamm Russ Tice Edward Snowden
Publication 2005 warrantless surveillance scandal Global surveillance disclosures (2013–present)
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
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Edward Joseph Snowden (born June 21, 1983) is a former National Security Agency (NSA) intelligence contractor and whistleblower^[2] who leaked classified documents revealing the existence of global surveillance programs.

Born in 1983 in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, he attended a community college and later enrolled at a masters programme of the University of Liverpool without finishing it. In 2005 he worked for the University of Maryland, in 2006 he started working for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and then switched to Dell in 2009 where he was managing computer systems of the NSA. In 2013, he worked two months at Booz Allen Hamilton with the purpose of gathering more NSA documents.^[3]

In May 2013, Snowden flew to Hong Kong and in early June he revealed thousands of classified NSA documents to journalists Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras, Barton Gellman, and Ewen MacAskill. His disclosures revealed numerous global surveillance programs, many run by the NSA and the Five Eyes intelligence alliance with the cooperation of telecommunication companies and European governments and prompted a cultural discussion about national security and individual privacy.

On June 21, 2013, the United States Department of Justice unsealed charges against Snowden of two counts of violating the Espionage Act of 1917 and theft of government property,^[4] following which the Department of State revoked his passport.^[5] He stayed for a month at Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport, Russia later granted Snowden the right of asylum and became naturalized in 2022.^[6][7]

In early 2016, Snowden became the president of the Freedom of the Press Foundation, a San Francisco–based nonprofit organization that aims to protect journalists from hacking and government surveillance.^[8] He also has a job at an unnamed Russian IT company.^[9] In 2017, he married Lindsay Mills. On September 17, 2019, his memoir Permanent Record was published.^[10] On September 2, 2020, a U.S. federal court ruled in United States v. Moalin that one of the U.S. intelligence's mass surveillance programs exposed by Snowden was illegal and possibly unconstitutional.^[11]