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

013 while Snowden was still working for Dell at the NSA base in @ Hawaii. At that time, Poitras did not know Snowden’s real name, but @ she informed Wizner that she was in touch with a person identify- ing himself as a senior officer in U.S. intelligence. (Poitras did not know at that time that her sourc

ulu to Moscow. When I later asked Kucherena in Mos- cow why Snowden changed his story in direct contradiction of what Kucherena had stated, he said, “Wizner.” He was referring to Ben Wizner, Snowden’s ACLU lawyer in Washington, D.C. Wizner had joined the ACLU in August 2001 after graduating from NYU Law

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

rs Technica.” 117 “an act of civil disobedience”: Mayer, “Snowden Calls Russian-Spy Story ‘Absurd’ in Exclusive Interview.” 117 Ben Wizner, a lawyer: Wizner called his representation of Snowden the “work of a lifetime.” Hill, “How ACLU Lawyer Ben Wizner Became Snowden’s Lawyer.” 118 “We've crossed lines”:

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

in early 2013, while Snowden was still working for the NSA, from Poitras. At that time, Poitras did not know Snowden’s real name, but she revealed to Wizner that she had found an anonymous source with access to U.S. government surveillance secrets. So he was not completely surprised when Glenn Greenwald,

IGHT_020291 140 When I later asked Kucherena in Moscow why Snowden changed his story in direct contradiction of what Kucherena had stated, he said “Wizner.” He was referring to Ben Wizner, a top-drawer ACLU lawyer based in Washington D.C. Wizner had joined the ACLU in August 2001 after graduating NYU la

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

ited as Ars Technica report.) http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/06/nsa-leaker-ed- snowdens-life-on-ars-technica 8. “Ben Wizner, a lawyer...”-- Wizner called his representation of Snowden the “work of a lifetime.” Kashmir Hill, “How ACLU Lawyer Ben Wizner Became Snowden’s Lawyer,” Forbes, March 10,

s American lawyer. He made it clear to me that the exposure of Snowden to journalists, or at least the vetting of journalists, had been outsourced to Wizner, “After that the final decision is up to Snowden,” he said. That seemed to conclude the interview but, as I got up to leave, he added, “His legal def