Epstein Secrets

g as in mainland China. Even though the CIA kept officers there in 2013, it was considered “hos- tile territory,” according to the former CIA officer Tyler Drumheller. Snowden apparently knew the limits of CIA operations in Hong Kong, which provided him with an envelope of protection. He told Greenwald that he was

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

.A. Warning on Snowden in ’09 Said to Slip Through the Cracks, New York Times, October 10, 2013 5. “It was not a stellar...”—Author’s interviews with Tyler Drumheller 6. “Snowden’s superior had suspected...”-- Eric Schmitt, “C.L.A. Warning on Snowden in ’09 Said to Slip Through the Cracks, New York Times, October

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

lls for IT jobs from outside contractors. So it had no need for employing a twenty-two-year-old dropout who did not meet its requisites. According to Tyler Drumheller, a former CIA station chief in Europe, the only plausible way that Snowden, with no qualifica- tions, was allowed to jump the queue was that “he had

. 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

e America and go public, he could serve as a near-perfect umbrella. “Snowden may have carried out of the NSA many more documents than he knew about,” Tyler Drumheller, the former CIA station chief, said. It @ could also account for the disparity between the claims of Snowden @ and the NSA damage assessment as to t

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

d Andrews, “Snowden Saga.” CHAPTER 3 Contractor 28 “Much of what I saw”: Greenwald, Poitras, and MacAskill, “Edward Snowden.” 30 This “free pass”: Tyler Drumheller, interview with author. 30 “So the guy with whom the CIA”: Morell, Great War of Our Time, 284. 30 His initial job for Dell: Burrough, Ellison, and

ndia?” Also, Shilpa Phadnis, “Edward Snowden Sharpened His Hacking Skills in Delhi,” Times of India, Dec. 4, 2013. 33 “It is a dead-end job”: Former Booz Allen official who requested anonymity, interview with author. 33 shaded by a sakura: The description of Snowden’s life in Maryland comes entirely from Li

ogatory comment. He was also threatened with a punitive investigation unless he agreed to quietly resign from the CIA. “It was not a stellar career,” Tyler Drumheller, former CIA station chief told me in 2014. The job in Geneva did have its benefits, however. It provided him a generous housing and travel allowance

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