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nt to release defamatory information about individuals who have embarrassed USS. intelligence by defecting. When two NSA analysts, William Martin and Bernon Mitchell, defected to Russia in the 1960s and accused the NSA of violating international law after arriving in Moscow, U.S. government officials responded by
ism, which was backed by the Internet billion- aire Pierre Omidyar. Poitras remained in Hong Kong, where she moved, 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
skill, whom Poitras had not wanted Greenwald to bring to the initial meeting, joined Poitras and Green- wald in Snowden’s room. Snowden insisted that MacAskill also go through the ritual of stowing his cell phone in the minibar refrigera- tor. Not without irony, Snowden’s own phone can be seen on his bed rec
so defected to Moscow. The history of this venerable enterprise is instructive. The first two defectors in the NSA’s history were William Martin and Bernon Mitchell. They were mathematicians working on the NSA’s decryption machines who went to Moscow via Cuba in 1960. The Russian intelligence service, then called
ial journalism which was backed by Internet billionaire Pierre Omidyar. Poitras remained in Hong Kong, 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 Sno
ugh Snowden had greatly exaggerated the positions he held with the CIA and DIA, no effort was made to check them by the team of journalists. Instead, MacAskill wrote Janine Gibson in New York “The Guinness is good.” It was a pre-arranged code by which MacAskill certified Snowden’s credibility for the Guardia
Up Spying on Russia.” 218 Russian acronym SORM: Steven Aftergood, “The Red Web: Russia and the Internet,” FAS, Oct. 5, 2015. 219 William Martin and Bernon Mitchell: David P. Mowry, “Betrayers of the Trust,” Cryptologic Almanac 50th Anniversary Series (NSA), Feb. 28, 2003. 220 Victor Norris Hamilton: “American D
n.” 27 “through the system”: Burrough, Ellison, and 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,
ment to release defamatory information about individuals who have embarrassed US intelligence by defecting. When two NSA analysts, William Martin and Bernon Mitchell, defected to Russia in the 1960s and accused the NSA of violating international law after arriving in Moscow, U.S. government officials responded by
urnalists with the atmospherics of “an international spy thriller,” as Greenwald subsequently described the instructions. HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_020250 | MacAskill had stayed at the W Hotel when Poitras and Greenwald Poitras went to the Mira Hotel. Poitras did not want to bring along an uninvited guest to the fi
Entities connected to both Bernon Mitchell and MacAskill

Alan Dershowitz
PERSON
Laura Poitras
PERSONGellman
PERSON
Woody Allen
PERSON
James Bamford
PERSON
Glenn Greenwald
PERSON
Assange
ORGANIZATIONBen Wizner
PERSON
Oliver Stone
PERSON
Keith Alexander
PERSON
Hawaii
LOCATIONMorell
PERSON
Jacob Appelbaum
PERSON
Vladimir Putin
PERSON
Barack Obama
PERSON
Micah Lee
PERSON
Edward Snowden
PERSON
Booz Allen
PERSON
Barton Gellman
PERSON
Aeroflot
ORGANIZATION