Pierluigi Paganini June 10, 2013

Edward Snowden is the person responsible for one of the most significant leaks in US political history, he is former technical assistant for the CIA and currently is working at defence contractor Booz Allen Hamilton.

Edward Snowden, this name is destined to enter into the history, a single man has compromised the secrecy of the largest surveillance program implemented.

The Guardian identified Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old technical assistant for the Central Intelligence Agency who has worked at the National Security Agency for the last four years, he worked for various defense contractors, currently, he is an employee with Booz Allen Hamilton.

Edward Snowden decided to reveal his identity according to The Guardian, during an interview with the popular newspaper he revealed to be concerned about the persecution of the US Government.

Exactly like Bradley Edward Manning, the US Army soldier who was arrested in May 2010 in Iraq on suspicion of having passed classified material to the website WikiLeaks, Edward Snowden fear that is the government will persecute for disclosing of Top Secret documentation on an extensive surveillance program known as PRISM.

Currently Edward Snowden is in a hotel in Hong Kong, he came to the Chinese territory because he believes it was independent and had “a strong tradition of free speech.”.

“I’ve left the room maybe a total of three times during my entire stay,” he said.

The man could not live with the weight of his knowledge so decided to disclose the uncomfortable truth, Snowden told to the journalists:

“I have no intention of hiding who I am, because I know I have done nothing wrong.”

The Snowden’s revelation to The Guardian and The Washington Post have shocked the Americans, everyone imagined a similar system but the confirmation of the existence of a similar program is very concerning.

The Obama administration is defending the surveillance program, it is necessary to prevent other terrorist plots, the debated data collection has already prevented terrorist acts.

The disclosure started with the publication of the secret court order to Verizon Communications but it was just the tip of the iceberg, all the principal US IT companies are supporting the surveillance program PRISM. The surveillance architecture monitors every activity on the Internet and access data from companies like Microsoft, Google, Facebook, and Apple.

Following some passages from the interview, Edward Snowden has a clear idea of his future and the way his life is changing.

 “I could be rendered by the C.I.A., I could have people come after me.” “We’ve got a C.I.A. station just up the road in the consulate here in Hong Kong, and I’m sure,” “that they’re going to be very busy for the next week, and that’s a fear I’ll live under for the rest of my life.”

Edward Snowden considers himself as a patriot, he served his Government as a soldier in Iraq and working as a contractor for CIA overseas.

Edward Snowden joined the NSA as a contractor at a facility in Japan, where he said he watched “as Obama advanced the very policies that I thought would be reined in.”

The presentation disclosed was prepared by Mr. Snowden during his work in the N.S.A. Office in Hawaii, around three weeks ago, finally, he took license a few weeks for health reasons to leave the US flying to Hong Kong.

Edward Snowden declared that he carefully evaluated the documents he disclosed to ensure no people would be harmed and the public interest served.

“Anybody in positions of access with the technical capabilities that I had could, you know, suck out secrets to pass the on the open market to Russia,” “I had access to the full rosters of everyone working at the NSA, the entire intelligence community and undercover assets all around the world — the locations of every station we have, what their missions are,”

“If I had just wanted to harm the U.S., you could shut down the surveillance system in an afternoon.”

Meanwhile, controversy is between President Obama and some members of Congress. The White House has announced that the administration has played at least 13 briefing to Congress to show the programs of data collection and control operated by the NSA. Which confirms the statement by Obama talking about the case.

“These programs – had declared the president – are subject to the control of Congress, in its debate and its authorization. And if anyone in Congress thinks otherwise, make its voice heard.”

To make his voice was a Democratic senator, Jeff Merkley, which interviewed by MSNBC said to have been informed of the program only when it has a specific request: “There are things we are talking about the normal briefing services to the Committee, I had to get special permission. “

What will happen to Edward Snowden is hard to imagine, the web is the web is mobilizing in his defense, no doubt his name entered the history together to PRISM slides.

Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs – PRISM, Edward Snowden)

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