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

ntractors servicing the NSA. Such “career management,” as it is called by the CIA, could explain why Snowden had switched jobs in March 2013 to Booz Allen Hamilton, which, unlike his previous employer, Dell, allowed | | Epst_9780451494566_2p_all_r1.z.indd 160 @ 9/29/16 5:51 Pa | | HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_019648 The Q

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

Major Com- puter Breach, Officials Say,” Washington Post, Aug. 6, 2014. 214 successful 2011 attack: Andy Greenberg, “Anonymous Hackers Breach Booz Allen Hamilton,” Forbes, July 11, 2011. 215 acomputer system called e-QIP: Joe Davidson, “Federal Background Check Sys- tem Shut Down Because of ‘Vulnerability, ”

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

fficiently protect the personal data of their off-premise employees working at the NSA. Consider, for example, the successful 2011 attack on the Booz Allen Hamilton servers. The previously-mentioned hackers' group “Anonymous” took credit for it. It not only breached the security of Booz Allen servers but cracked

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

jor computer breach, officials say,” Washington Post, August 6, 2014 “Successful 2011 attack on...”-- Andy Greenberg, “Anonymous Hackers Breach Booz Allen Hamilton,” Forbes, July 11, 2011 HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_020419 268 13. “A computer system called E-QIP...”-- Joe Davidson, “ Federal background check system shut