Epstein Secrets

ted, seek bail, and fight extradition in court. Tibbo said @ he planned to mount a powerful legal defense against extradition by using a provision in Hong Kong’s extradition treaty with the United States that protects fugitives from persecution on political grounds. After he told Snowden that it would entail a

am headed by Richard “Rick” Ledgett, who was then director of the NSA’s Threat Opera- tions Center at the NSA’s headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland. Ledgett was the logical choice to head the damage assessment inves- tigation because the center’s regional branch in Hawaii was under his command. Ledgett fl

n camera in his Hong Kong interview in June 2013 that NSA investi- gators would have “a heart attack” when they discovered the extent of the breach. Ledgett, the NSA official who had conducted the damage assess- ment, while not having a heart attack, confirmed that Snowden had taken a massive number of do

rested, seek bail and fight extradition in court. Tibbo said he planned to mount a powerful legal defense against extradition by using a provision in Hong Kong’s extradition treaty with the United States that protects fugitives from persecution on political grounds. After he told Snowden that it would entail a

s. They had even relayed his request to go to Russia to Putin. His movements were also no secret to sophisticated intelligence services. In an era in Hong Kong ii which cell phones emit their GPS location every 3 seconds and CCTV cameras scan many street intersections, it is not easy to conceal one’s whereabout

se “bread crumbs” were missed by the NSA according to its statement. It is within the realm of possibility that the NSA Damage Assessment team under Ledgett falsified its finding to inflate the number of documents that Snowden stole. NSA executives also might have lied to Congress to the same end. But why

d 4 @ 929N6 5:51 Pa | | HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_019492 Prologue | 5 terms of the 1997 transfer of sovereignty from Great Britain, China is responsible for Hong Kong’s defense and foreign policy, includ- ing intelligence services. He then proceeded to Russia, which has no extradition treaty with the United States. R

ell was transferring files held at Fort Meade to backup computers in Hawaii. He “was moving copies of that data there for them,” said Deputy Director Ledgett, “which was perfect cover for stealing the [NSA] data” through the fall and winter of 2012. The security mea- sures at the Hawaii base presented no o

d in Hong Kong. Yet, Snowden chose to put his physical safety in the hands of China. One reason why Snowden may not have been overly concerned about Hong Kong’s extradition treaty with the U.S. was that he had never intended to test it by staying in Hong Kong after his media events. Snowden told the editor of

ld walk out the door,” Snowden interview, German NDR TV, January 26, 2014. http://www.tagesschau.de/snowden-interview- englisch100.pdf “According to Ledgett, the perpetrator...” Tabassum Zakaria and Warren Strobel, “After 'cataclysmic' Snowden affair, NSA faces winds of change,” Reuters December 13, 2013