Epstein Secrets

ieved enormous success in World War II in using computers to crack the German Enigma cipher. This alliance expanded to include Canada, Australia, and New Zealand in the so- called Five Eyes Alliance. Because over 80 percent of international phone calls and Internet traffic passed through fiber-optic cables in

lso be targeted in enemy ter- ritories. Although repairing the damage might take many “decades,” according to Michael McConnell, the vice-chairman of Booz Allen, the new director had to get on with that task. McConnell, a for- | | Epst_9780451494566_2p_all_r1.indd 207 @ 9/30/16 8:13AM | | HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_01

ntruthful about his degree in computer sciences, he not only had a SCI secu- rity clearance but was willing to take a cut in pay. In keeping with the Booz Allen business plan, such a recruit provided another cog in its profit machine. Not only had the NSA outsourced much of its computer opera- | | Epst_9780

d War II had achieved enormous success in using computers to crack the German Enigma cipher. This alliance expanded to include Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, in the so-called Five Eyes Alliance. Since over 80 percent of international phone calls and Internet traffic passed through fiber-optic cables in th

have access to the Level 3 documents stored in these compartments. Nor, as was discussed earlier, was he given access to them when he transferred to Booz Allen because he had not completed the requisite training. Snowden had also, it will be recalled, relinquished his privileges as a system administrator wh

interest in exposing the NSA’s secrets, this person could supply him with the necessary guidance, steering a still unsuspecting Snowden first to the Booz Allen position and afterwards to his associates in Hong Kong. By taking sole credit for the coup in the video that he made with Poitras and Greenwald in Ho

crets. He used his new position, and widened access at Booz Allen, to go after secret documents from the intelligence services of Britain, Australia. New Zealand and Israel He revealed this operation only after receiving sanctuary in Russia. He told an interviewer that by moving to his new Booz Allen job as an

the Level 3 breach was switching jobs on March 15th 2013. Snowden chose to leave his job as a system administrator at Dell SecureWorks to take job at Booz Allen as an analyst-in-training. His motive was not money, as it was a lower- paying position. At the time, he made this choice he had already set up an en

se” in Hawaii with his girl friend. Yet he chose to move to Booz Allen he also greatly increased the risk of exposure because the auditing system at Booz Allen could trace back unauthorized copying (though not in real time.) Presumably he knew, as he later told Greenwald and Poitras, that stealing documents

er, After earning a degree in chemical engineering from McGill Univer- sity and working in Asia as an engineer for a decade, he went to law school in New Zealand and became a barrister in Hong Kong special- izing in cases involving the legal status of refugees. Over a leisurely tea, Tibbo made it clear that h

. It did not change that decision even after it found out about his subterfuge. According to Admiral McConnell, Snowden never actually worked in the Booz Allen offices, which are housed in a skyscraper in downtown Honolulu. Instead, he was immediately assigned to work at the NSA’s highly sensitive National T