Epstein Secrets

The most sensational of them was a purported document attrib- uted to Snowden concerning the NSA hacking of the cell phone of the German chancellor, Angela Merkel. The story was published on October 23 on the Der Spiegel website. Appelbaum was the co- author of the story. Even though Snowden had by now been in

istent with @ Kucherena’s assertion that he had access to the archive. @ Adding to the intrigue, Poitras was apparently caught by surprise when the Merkel story broke in Der Spiegel. She urgently texted Snowden on what she called “background” (which ordinarily means that a journalist will not attribute

to the crime scene: the NSA’s base in Hawaii. | | Epst_9780451494566_2p_all_r1.z.indd 133 @ 9/29/16 5:51 Pa | | HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_019621 CHAPTER 14 The Crime Scene Investigation Any private contractor, not even an employee of the government, could walk into the NSA building, take whatever they wanted, and walk out with it an

s expose purported U.S. government actions in foreign lands, including the alleged tapping of friendly government officials’ con- versations, such as Angela Merkel’s, these are implicitly conflated with the NSA’s domestic surveillance program, around which a | | Epst_9780451494566_2p_all_r1.indd 303 @ 9/30/16 8:1

ficial who requested anonymity, inter- view with author. 183 German federal prosecutor: Theodore Schleifer, “Germany Drops Probe into U.S. Spying on Merkel,” CNN Politics, June 13, 2015. 184 “Russian planners might have”: Adam Entous, Julian E. Barnes, and Siobhan Gorman, “U.S. Scurries to Shore Up Spy

3, 2013. 131 “had an enormous interest”: Morell, Great War of Our Time, 284. 131 the Enigma machines: Sebag-Montefiore, Enigma, 286-94. CHAPTER 14 The Crime Scene Investigation 133 “Any private contractor”: Snowden, interview with Williams. 133 Fifteen miles northwest: U.S. Navy Information Operations Command, “History @ of

ve...”—Author’s interview with Source B 30. “German federal prosecutor concluded. ..”-- Theodore Schleifer, “Germany drops probe into U.S. spying on Merkel,” CNN Politics, June 13, 2015 HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_020412 261 31. “ NSA lost sight of. ..”-- Adam Entous, Julian E. Barnes and Siobhan Gorman, “U.S. S

—Hugh Sebag-Montefoire, Enigma: the Battle for the Code (John Wiley and Sons, New York), 2001, pp 286-294 HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_020383 BA 8: CHAPTER TWO The Crime Scene Investigation 10. 11. 12. 13 14 1S. . “Something is not right,” Alexander... “Any private contractor. ..”—Snowden Interviewed by Brian Williams, NBC, May 2