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

ed, along with the Guardian reporter MacAskill, to the five-star Sheraton Hong Kong Hotel & Towers, which, like the Mira hotel, was on Nathan Road in Kowloon. The Guardian paid the bill. Her next task was to set up what turned out to be Snowden’s final interview in Hong Kong. It was scheduled for June 12.

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

sked. He rolled his eyes and said, “Snowden has a pretty wild imagina- tion. For one thing, the U.S. consulate is not down the road from the Mira in Kowloon; it is here on Hong Kong Island. And there was no CIA rendition team in Hong Kong.” My next question concerned a second period during which | | Eps

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

same day that Snowden had arrived there the previous year. I checked into the five-star Mira Hotel. It was in the Tsim Sha Tsui shopping district of Kowloon, a 10-minute ferry ride away from Hong Kong island, where most of the foreign consulates are located. I chose the Mira because it was the hotel in w

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

where she moved, along with Guardian reporter MacAskill, to the five-star Sheraton Hong Kong Tower, which, like the Mira hotel, was on Nathan Road in Kowloon. Her next task was to set up what was to be Snowden’s final interview in Hong Kong. It was scheduled for June 12th. HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_020254 103 The