Epstein Secrets

tras’s film was called Stellarwind. It involved data mining domestic communications and financial transactions that had been authorized by President George W. Bush in 2001 after 9/11 as commander-in- chief under the war powers given to him following the attacks. It indeed led to a major exposé on domestic spying

tates.” In fact, as Snowden knew from the Inspector General report he had read, the NSA had terminated Stellarwind almost a decade earlier. President Bush ended it after top officials of the Justice @ Department insisted that he did not have the legal authority for the @ domestic part of Stellarwind. In

d terminated Stellarwind almost a decade earlier. President Bush ended it after top officials of the Justice @ Dep

ions that had been authorized by President George W. Bush in 2001 after 9/11 as commander-in- chief un

l-researched report about Snowden’s arrival there. He proposed we meet at the Foreign Cor- @ respondents’ Club. @ Bradsher told me that he had known Albert Ho, who had been retained as Snowden’s lawyer, for more than a decade. He had inter- viewed him many times, because he was a leader of a political move-

ing by the New York Times in December 2005. After President Bush’s own Justice Department then held that such surv

btain "tangible things" such as "books, records, papers, documents, and other items." Under the interpretation of this section of the law by both the Bush and Obama administrations, the FISA court was enabled by Congress to issue warrants to telephone companies demanding that they turn over to the NSA t

scent of where John LeCarre had set the opening chapter of his spy novel The Honourable Schoolboy. When we spoke later, Bradsher told me that he knew Albert Ho, who had been retained as Snowden’s lawyer, for more than a decade, and interviewed him many times as he was a leader of a political movement in Hong

hree American Presidents, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Even more shocking, in tra

ernment networks. Following the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon and World Trade Center, the surveillance of the Internet also became an integral part of Bush’ administration’s war on terrorism. In October 2001, Congress expanded the NSA’s mandate by passing the USA Patriot Act. Section 215 of the act direc

d. On the morning of June 10", 2013, Snowden’s escape plan apparently ran into a problem. Robert Tibbo and Jonathan Mann, the lawyers who, along with Albert Ho, had been retained for Snowden by an unidentified party, received an emergency phone call early in the morning telling them to help Snowden move to a

btain “tangible things” such as “books, records, papers, documents, and other items.” Under the interpretation of this section of the law by both the Bush and the Obama administrations, the FISA court was enabled by Congress to issue warrants to telephone companies demanding that they turn over to the N

put and face the music. On the morning of June 10, though, there was apparently a problem. Robert Tibbo and Jonathan Man, the lawyers who, along with Albert Ho, had been retained for Snowden by an unidentified party, received an emergency phone call early in the morning tell- @ ing them to help Snowden move

Oct. 8, 2015. 51 Silk Road, which acted: Holman W. Jenkins Jr, “The Anti-hero of Silk Road,” Wall St

-96 At this point: Former DIA officer who requested anonymity, interview with author. He had visited Hong Kong: Lindsay Mills’s blog. According to Albert Ho: Bradsher, “Hasty Exit Started with Pizza Inside a Hong Kong Hideout.” Also, Keith Bradsher, interview with author. for the next ten days: Former DI