Epstein Secrets

en a massive breach. Thousands of secret files bearing on com- munications intelligence had been stolen from a heavily guarded regional base in Oahu, Hawaii. The suspect was Edward Snowden, a twenty-nine-year-old civil- ian analyst at that base, who had fled to Hong Kong before the breach was discovered.

ted for his fantasy games. It was bur- nished so deeply in his self-image that he cited it eight years later, in exaggerated fashion, in Moscow. When Brian Williams, then an NBC anchorman, began an hour-long television interview with Snowden in 2014 by saying, “It seems to me spies probably look a lot more like E

r exchange between him and Mills (who was in Honolulu). That day Mills informed Snowden that two government investiga- tors had come to their home in Hawaii, asking her about Snowden’s whereabouts. When he had failed to show up for work on June 3 it | | Epst_9780451494566_2p_all_r1.z.indd 91 @ 9/29/16 5:

the time. Snowden had little concern about misleading journalists when it suited his purpose. For example, he told Alan Rusbridger of The Guardian, Brian Williams of NBC News, James Bamford of Wired, Katrina vanden Heuvel of The Nation, Barton Gellman, and Jane Mayer of The New Yorker that the U.S. government i

not believe an investigative book should be written without the author visiting the crime scene and other pertinent ven- ues, I undertook research in Hawaii, Japan, Hong Kong, and Moscow. Where possible, I flew the same flights that Snowden did. I am grate- ful to Ena and Ines Talakic for their assistance

019795 308 | Notes to pages 8-23 8 appointment with Robert Tibbo: Tibbo, interviews with author. 11-12 “angel descending”: Snowden, interview with Brian Williams, NBC, May 28, 2014. CHAPTER 1 Tinker 15 “It’s like the boiling frog”: Bamford, “Edward Snowden.” 15 Lon Snowden, like his father: The best reporti

e number of its most secret files had been stolen. The suspect was Edward Snowden, a 29 year old civilian analyst at the NSA’s regional base in Oahu, Hawaii, who had fled to Hong Kong. The stolen documents revealed, among other things, the secret tools and capabilities that the NSA employed to do its job.

the time. Snowden had little concern about misleading journalists when it suited his purpose. For example, he told Alan Rusbridger of the Guardian, Brian Williams of NBC News, James Bamford of Wired Magazine, Katrina vanden Heuvel of the Nation, Barton Gellman of the Washington Post and Jane Mayer of Zhe New Yo

ted as a hero for defying the US government. He had not sacrificed himself, he had transformed himself. He had risen from being a lowly technician in Hawaii whose talents went largely unrecognized, to the status of an international media star in Moscow. In his new messianic role, he could make Internet ap

ired magazine, Alan Rusbridger, the editor of the Guardian and Katrina vanden Heuvel, the editor of The Nation. He also gave a televised interview to Brian Williams of NBC News in which he explained that since he had no access to the NSA documents in Russia, he could not provide access to the Russians even if the

workers, such as Ames, it is plausible that it spotted Snowden through his Internet rants against U.S. surveillance. Even if it had missed Snowden in Hawaii, a disgruntled ex-civilian employee at the NSA would have received its full attention after he contacted Russian officials in Hong Kong. While the ta

lder of Secrets,” New Yorker, October 20, 2014 3. “This powerful narrative...” See Greenwald, op. cit. pp. 248-254. Snowden “Trapped: Interview with Brian Williams, May 28, 2014, http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/edward-snowden-interview 4. “When two NSA analysts...”—‘“Claim US Spy Caught with Secrets.” Los Angele