Epstein Secrets

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

cret NSA documents was the brutal treatment of Bradley Manning after he was arrested in 2010 by the U.S. government. “Snowden told me they had abused Manning in a way that contributed to his decision to become a whistle-blower,” Assange said in an interview in 2015. If Manning’s mistreatment was Snowden’s

es to Russia.” 41 Physical Phatness: Lindsay Mills’s Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com /lindsay.mills.90/about. 42. the first known document: Ledgett revealed this in an interview with Vanity Fair. Burrough, Ellison, and Andrews, “Snowden Saga.” 42 “He stole the [NSA] test”: Snowden’s obtaining th

“I, Spy.” “was moving copies of that data”: Burrough, Ellison, and Andrews, “Snowden Saga.” 45 he later pointed out: Bamford, “Edward Snowden.” 45 Ledgett subsequently reported: Burrough, Ellison, and Andrews, “Snowden Saga.” 45 This theft was made: Michael Hayden, interview with author. 46 “Icrossed

Assange: Assange interview, in Giles Whittell, “Julian Assange Unmasked,” Sunday Times (London), Aug. 29, 2015. 99 “Snowden told me they had abused Manning”: Michael Sontheimer, “Spiegel Interview with Julian Assange,” Spiegel Online International, July 19, 2015. 100 Assange called Harrison: Corbett, “H

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

w Chelsea Manning) to transfer some fifty thousand diplomatic cables and military reports from his laptop to Assange’s WikiLeaks website. Eventually, Manning was identified by a fellow hacker, con- victed by a military court for violations of the Espionage Act, and sentenced to thirty-five years in prison.

position since the top- secret unit was responsible for discovering and countering the threats posed by Chinese, Russian and other adversary nations. Ledgett was also the logical choice to head the damage assessment investigation since the Center’s regional branch in Hawaii was from where highly-sensitive

court sentenced to 35 years in a military stockade. The prison time that others received did not go unnoticed by Snowden. He had been following the Manning case since 2012. In fact, he posted about it shortly before he began stealing far more HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_020172 21 damaging documents than had Manni

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

secret NSA documents was the brutal treatment of Bradley Manning after he was arrested in 2010 by the US government. “Snowden told me they had abused Manning in a way that contributed to his decision to become a whistleblower,” Assange said in an interview in 2015. If Manning’s mistreatment was Snowden’s m

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

nterview in (London) Sunday Times. Giles Whittell, “Julian Assange unmasked.” Times Magazine, August 29, 2015. Also, “Snowden told me they had abused Manning. ..”— Michael Sontheimer, “Spiegel Interview with Julian Assange,” Spiegel Online International, July 19. 2015 ““Assange called Harrison...”-- ...”-