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.

security clearance ran out, he applied to renew it. The new clearance now required a new background check and filling out the govern- ment’s 127-page Standard Form 86. Since 1996, background investigations for the NSA, like much of the computer work at the NSA, had been outsourced to a private company. It had proc

gence by the NSA @ was hardly a secret. As the NSA expanded further, it delegated part of its work to regional bases, including ones in Utah, Texas, Hawaii, and Japan. The paramount task of the NSA remained monitoring the channels of communications that an adversary might use. The vast prolifera- tion of

rvice hackers, since 2011. If the SVR had access to this personnel data, the research for a candidate would be greatly facilitated. From the 127-page Standard Form 86, which each applicant for a security clearance submits, the SVR could filter out intelligence workers employed by the NSA by their educational backgr

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

“Out of Control.” | | Epst_9780451494566_2p_all_r.indd 324 @ 9/30/16 8:13AM | | HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_019812 Notes to pages 232-252 | 325 228 127-page Standard Form 86: David Larter and Andrew Tilghman, “Mili- tary Clearance OPM Data Breach ‘Absolute Calamity,’” Navy Times, June 18, 2015. 229 Under Putin: Nicole Pe