Epstein Secrets

lso had such a capability. The Silk Road founder, Ross Ulbricht, discovered to his distress that his Tor software did not make his computer server in Iceland invis- ible. According to a former top official in the Justice Department, the NSA was able to locate it by cracking the Tor software (Ulbricht is cu

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

n—I don’t want to, and I can’t,” he later explained. “It’s not my job. It’s not the relationship. Iam a journalist.” Although Gellman suspected that Iceland might be the foreign government in question, Snowden, as it turned, had not ever contacted the consulate of Iceland while he was in Hong Kong. “We ha

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

place to meet Greenwald. If some consideration by Snowden precluded Brazil as a destination, Snowden could have also gone to Ecuador, Bolivia, Cuba, Iceland, or Venezuela, which are also countries that do not have active extradition treaties with the United States. Yet, instead of proceeding to a country

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

of the Mira hotel, caught a taxi to the Hong Kong airport, and gone on Swiss International Air Lines via Zurich to any country in South America or to Iceland. But, as in the oft-cited Sherlock Holmes clue of the dog that did not bark, Snowden’s inaction in not obtaining visas during this thirty-day @ peri

. 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

I don’t want to, and I can’t,” he later explained. “It’s not my job. It’s not the rela- tionship. I am a journalist.” Although Gellman suspected that Iceland might be the foreign government in question, Snowden, as it turned out, had never con- | | Epst_9780451494566_2p_all_r1.z.indd 105 @ 9/29/16 5:51 Pa

nterest in exposing the NSA’s secrets, this person could sup- ply him with the necessary guidance, steering a still-unsuspecting Snowden first to the Booz Allen position and afterward to his associ- ates in Hong Kong. By taking sole credit for the coup in the video that he made with Poitras and Greenwald in H

OR project, as they called it, was still a very tiny operation in 2012. It employed less than 100 core developers who were located mainly in Germany, Iceland, Japan, Estonia, and the United States. Its staff worked mainly out of a single room in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The guiding spirit behind the TOR

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 O