Epstein Secrets

t suspicion from anyone else. This move could also give any collaborator he might have had in Hawaii time to cover his or her tracks. The astronomer Carl Sagan famously said in regard to searching the universe for signals from other civilizations that the “absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.” Tha

is not known to take no for an answer in issues involving espionage. Even if Snowden refused to furnish his key encryption, accord- ing to a former National Security Council staffer, the Russian cyber service in 2013 had the means, the time, and the incentive to break the encryption. It is unlikely it would have had to go

nowden may have carried out”: Drumheller, interview with author. 153 As Snowden acknowledges: Bamford, “Edward Snowden.” 154 “absence of evidence”: Carl Sagan, Cosmos (New York: Random House, 1980), 49. 154 “The greatest trick”: Cherkashin, interview with author. The quotation from The Usual Suspects was

ties”: Chris Strohm and Gopal Ratnam, “NSA Leader Seeks Openness on Secret Surveillance Orders,” Bloomberg News, June 13, 2013. Also, staff member of National Security Council who requested anonymity, interview with author. CHAPTER 18 The Unheeded Warning 185 “The NSA—the world’s”: Morell, Great War of Our Time, 287. 185

wald, to divert suspicion from anyone else. This move could also any collaborator he may have had in Hawaii time to cover his tracks. The astronomer Carl Sagan famously said in regard to searching the universe for signals from other civilizations that the “absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.” Tha

arrier for the FSB. Snowden may have had confidence in the power of his encryption protocols but, HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_020290 139 according to a former National Security Council staffer, the Russian cyber service in 2013 had the means, the time and the incentive to break the encryption. It is unlikely they would have gone to