Edward Snowden - Internal Whistleblower Behind NSA Leaks

[JohnQPublic]

Good interview with Thomas Drake. NSA whistleblower (wire tapping controversy):

Ex-NSA Leaker's Advice To Snowden: "Always Check Your Six"

[Libertytree]

Edward Snowden: how the spy story of the age leaked out

The full story behind the scoop and why the whistleblower approached the Guardian

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  • Ewen MacAskill in Hong Kong
    
  • The Guardian, Tuesday 11 June 2013
  • Jump to comments (…)
  
  
  
  
  Link to video: NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden: 'I don't want to live in a society that does these sort of things' As he pulled a small black suitcase and carried a selection of laptop bags over his shoulders, no one would have paid much attention to Ed Snowden as he arrived at Hong Kong International Airport. But Snowden was not your average tourist or businessman. In all, he was carrying four computers that enabled him to gain access to some of the US government's most highly-classified secrets.
  Today, just over three weeks later, he is the world's most famous spy, whistleblower and fugitive, responsible for the biggest intelligence breach in recent US history. News organisations around the globe have described him as "America's Most Wanted". Members of Congress have denounced him as a "defector" whose actions amount to treason and have demanded he be punished to the fullest extent of the law.
  His supporters argue that his actions have opened up a much-needed debate on the balance between security and privacy in the modern world.
  
  So is he whistleblower or traitor? That debate is still raging.
  Snowden, aged 29, had flown to Hong Kong from Hawaii, where he had been working for the defence contractor Booz Allen Hamilton at the National Security Agency, the biggest spy surveillance organisation in the world. Since Monday morning, he has gone underground. Hong Kong-based journalists, joined by the international press, have been hunting for him. At the height of the search, reporters recruited Twitter followers to see if they could successfully identify the lighting and other hotel furnishings shown in the video in which he went public. They did: the $330-a-night Mira Hotel, on Nathan Road, the busy main shopping drag in Kowloon district.
  
  
  Knowing it was only a matter of time before he was found, Snowden checked out at lunchtime on Monday. It is thought he is now in a safe house.
  What happens now? The US is on the verge of pressing criminal charges against him and that would lead to extradition proceedings, with a view to bringing him back to the US for trial and eventually jail.
  If America is planning to jail for life Bradley Manning, who was behind the 2010 WikiLeaks release of tens of thousands of state department memos, what retribution lies in store for Snowden, who is guilty of leaking on a much bigger scale? The documents Manning released were merely "classified". Snowden's were not only "Top Secret", but circulation was extremely limited.
  
  
  For an American, the traditional home for the kind of story Snowden was planning to reveal would have been the New York Times. But during extensive interviews last week with a Guardian team, he recalled how dismayed he had been to discover the Times had a great scoop in election year 2004 – that the Bush administration, post 9/11, allowed the NSA to snoop on US citizens without warrants – but had sat on it for a year before publishing.
  
  
  

More at link.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013...blower-profile

[JohnQPublic]

I wish Snowden just leaked to Wikileaks. What we are getting is one powerpoint slide at a time (with redactions) from the Guardian. Basically, do we trust the Guardian to start with? Does the queeny-poo or her representatives get to pick what slides get released, and what gets redacted?

[JohnQPublic]

BREAKING NOW: Whistleblower Edward Snowden talks to South China Morning Post!

http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/a...a-morning-post

SERVERS ARE DOWN! NSA?

"Sorry...
Our servers are temporarily unavailable.

We're currently fixing the problem and the site should be back up and running in the next few minutes. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Sorry... Our servers are temporarily unavailable.

We're currently fixing the problem and the site should be back up and running in the next few minutes. Apologies for any inconvenience caused." (From the main page www.scmp.com)


Sorry...

Our servers are temporarily unavailable.

We're currently fixing the problem and the site should be back up and running in the next few minutes. Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

[JohnQPublic]

It is back (scmp.com):

Washington is bullying Hong Kong to extradite me, says Edward Snowden



America is desperate to prevent me leaking further information, whistle-blower says

"... He said: “I heard today from a reliable source that the United States government is trying to bully the Hong Kong government into extraditing me before the local government can learn of this [the US National Security Agency hacking people in Hong Kong]. The US government will do anything to prevent me from getting this into the public eye, which is why they are pushing so hard for extradition.” ..."


EXCLUSIVE: Whistle-blower Edward Snowden talks to South China Morning Post


Whistle-blower Edward Snowden tells SCMP: 'Let Hong Kong people decide my fate'



Ex-CIA operative wants to remain in Hong Kong


[Most of this is already on Zerohedge- JQP]

[JohnQPublic]

Attachment 5012

(found this linked at a zerohedge comment)

[Hatha Sunahara]

"If you see something, say something." Juxtaposed on pictures of your 'friends', Janet and Barry, who are 'Preserving our freedoms'.

Ignorance is strength
War is Peace
Freedom is slavery

They are also the champions of strength and peace. Bravo. Not surprising that sales of Orwell's 1984 have gone exponential.


Hatha

[JohnQPublic]

Snowden Currently answering questions live via Twitter:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013...-whistleblower

[JohnQPublic]

John_QPublic 17 June 2013 5:23pm



Mr. Snowden:


Of critical minds I have come across (non-sheeple), a sizable portion want to support what you do, but are suspicious that you may:


1. Have been led by various agencies to break the revelations you made for their purposes (unwittingly by you);
2. May be part of a larger distraction;

Is there anything you can say to lay these suspicions to rest?
God be with you in any case.

[JohnQPublic]

EXCLUSIVE: Father of Edward Snowden urges son not to commit 'treason,' to return home