Epstein Secrets

[DECEMBER DRAFT--- 287 pages] THE SNOWDEN AFFAIR A Spy Story in Six Parts By Edward Jay Epstein HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_020153 Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Ch

[TK] HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_020156 HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_020157 Chronology 1: Snowden Thriller: From Honolulu to Moscow in 82 Days. April 8, 2013, Honolulu. Edward Snowden begins working as an infrastructure-analyst in training at the National Threat Operations Center for outside contractor Booz Allen Hamilton. June 5,

secution. To be sure, the view of those on the Snowden side of the divide is not grounded in legal definitions, but in a broader notion of morality. Snowden‘s supporters do not accept that the law should be applied in this fashion to Snowden. They argue that Snowden had a moral imperative to act, even if it

lebrated by his supporters as a courageous whistle-blower. The Snowden interview in the video subsequently was expanded by the documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras into the two-hour movie CitizenFour, which won the 2015 academy-award for the best documentary. Poitras said in accepting her Oscar in the Academy Aw

s expanded by the documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras into the two-hour movie CitizenFour, which won the 2015 academy-award for the best documentary. Poitras said in accepting her Oscar in the Academy Awards Theater in Hollywood on February 22" 2015, that Snowden acted as a whistle-blower not only to “expo

insights. Through the eyes of the KGB, a penetration of American intelligence was clearly opportunistic. If these practices continued, they put the Snowden case in a new light for me. If Russian intelligence considered it worthwhile to send an ex-civilian worker at the NSA, such as Ronald Pelton, from Wa

ebruary 19, 2015 HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_020402 21 CHAPTER THIRTEEN Enter Assange 1. “Thanks to Russia ...”--Julian Assange, “How 'The Guardian' Milked Edward Snowden's Story,” Newsweek, April 20, 2015 “Julian Assange had made...”-- David Leigh and Luke Harding, “Julian Assange: the teen hacker who became insurgent

hor’s Interview with former CIA officer who requested anonymity (Hereinafter Source E.) 3. “The only person there to...”—Mavanee Anderson interview, “Edward Snowden's Friend Mavanee Anderson Exclusive Interview,” MSNBC,’Last Word,” www.youtube.com/watch?v=beQUMdolBWE 4. “He received an unfavorable evaluation,,,”—Er

ining. His motive was not money, as it was a lower- paying position. At the time, he made this choice he had already set up an encrypted channel with Laura Poitras for the purpose of sending her secret material. But he did not have to change jobs to send her secrets. So what was his purpose in making this fatefu

hed, before switching jobs Snowden had already taken most of the documents pertaining to the NSA’s domestic operations that he could have supplied to Poitras and Greenwald for whistle-blowing purposes. Indeed, while still at Dell, it will be recalled, he had he had told Poitras he had a copy of Presidentia

From: Ed la To: "Epstein, Jeff' [email protected]> Subject: Was Snowden alone: a Timetable Date: Thu, 27 Jun 2013 22:06:08 +0000 Snowden' s Penetration Edward Snowden was well aware of the law in March 2013 regarding c

To: "Epstein, Jeff' [email protected]> Subject: Was Snowden alone: a Timetable Date: Thu, 27 Jun 2013 22:06:08 +0000 Snowden' s Penetration Edward Snowden was well aware of the law in March 2013 regarding communications intelligence when he sought a job with Booz-Allen Hamilton at a NSA facility in Haw

people who, 5 months later, helped arrange the publication of the COMINT. In January 2013, according to the Washington Post, Snowden requested that Laura Poitras, who is making a film about Wikileak, get an encryption key for Skype so that they could have a secure channel to communicate. In February, he conta

ate. In February, he contacted Guardian columnist Glenn Greenwald and provided him with a step-by-step email and video to get an encrypted key. Both Poitras and Greenwald are on the Board of the Press Freedom Foundation that, among other things, funds Wikileak. So before Snowden proceeded with his penet

1 Pa | | HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_019479 | | Epst_9780451494566_2p_all_rt.zindd 2 @ 929N6 5:51 Pa | | HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_019480 HOW AMERICA LOST ITS SECRETS Edward Snowden, the Man and the Theft Edward Jay Epstein AR ALERED A. KNOPE NEW YORK | 2017 | | Epst_9780451494566_2p_all_rt.zindd 3 @ 929N6 5:51 Pa | | HOUSE_O

| Epst_9780451494566_2p_all_rt.zindd 8 @ 929N6 5:51 Pa | | HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_019486 Contents Prologue Snowden’s Trail: Hong Kong, 2014 000 part onE SNOWDEN’S ARC CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 2 CHAPTER 3 CHAPTER 4 CHAPTER 5 CHAPTER 6 CHAPTER 7 CHAPTER 8 CHAPTER 9 Tinker 15 Secret Agent 22 Contractor 28 Thief 3

en a year earlier, Unfortunately, that room was occupied, but I was given a nearby room that served my purpose. Snowden had told Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras, the Guardian reporters he met in Hong Kong, that he had hidden out at the Mira hotel since his arrival in Hong Kong because he feared that the CIA m

t necessary), Bolivia, and Ecuador. Yet he did not apply for visas during this time period. Even as late as June 8, after meetings with Greenwald and Poitras, his name had still not been revealed, no criminal complaint had been issued against him, and there was no Interpol red alert for his deten- tion. He

led comprehensively, and each level of oversight, each level of re- sponsibility that should have addressed this, abdicated their re- sponsibility. —EDWARD SNOWDEN, Moscow, 2013 Wi SNOWDEN in Hong Kong was attempting to reel in the journalists, Lindsay Mills returned to Honolulu from her “island-hopping” trip t

as attempting to reel in the journalists, Lindsay Mills returned to Honolulu from her “island-hopping” trip to find their house partially flooded and Snowden nowhere to be found. In a brief note Snowden left her, he said he was away on a business trip and indicated that, at least tem- porarily, their eight

ournal. Snowden was certainly aware that he would soon be the object of a manhunt that could involve those with whom he was acquainted. He instructed Poitras to mask their e-mail communications in cyber- space “so we don’t have a clue or record of your true name in your file communication chain.” Such prec

eedoms. Within hours of the release of that video on the Guardian website, Snowden was known throughout the world as a courageous whistle-blower. In Laura Poitras’s remarks in accepting her Academy Award for Citizenfour on February 22, 2015, she said that Snowden acted as a whistle-blower not only to “expose a th

dopamine jump who were chasing machines with a blind addicts urgency. It infects governments too. “Surprising realization (at least for me) after the Snowden leaks,” Dullien observed. “Hacking is so addictive that entire organizations can become addicts and show addict-style behavior.”!55 This was the NSA

ability. “I remember what the Internet was like before it was being watched and there had never been anything in the history of man that is like it,” Edward Snowden once observed, nostalgic for the datascape he saw melt away during his time at the NSA. 157 I realize now that there is a whole new generation of you

as like”: Snowden interview in CITIZENFOUR, Laura Poitras (2015) 158 The black boxes: Nikos Virvilis, Dimi

atics and Telecommunications Engineering, (Berlin: Springer), 112-119 157 “J remember what the Internet was like”: Snowden interview in CITIZENFOUR, Laura Poitras (2015) 158 The black boxes: Nikos Virvilis, Dimitris Gritzalis, Theodoros Apostolopoulos, “Trusted Computing vs. Advanced Persistent Threats: Can a

entation of more sophisticated secu- rity procedures, such as the polygraph examination and extensive background checks. In 1995, eleven years before Snowden joined it, the CIA’s inspector general completed a study of the KGB’s use of false defectors to mislead the U.S. government from the end of the Cold

sses of a nation’s potential adversaries. The most impor- tant of these in peacetime is communication intercepts. It was just such state secrets that Edward Snowden took from the NSA in the spring of 2013. Before that breach, America’s paramount advantage in this subterranean competition was its undisputed domina

h as putting their cell phones in refrigerators, remain visible to a sophisticated intelligence service such as the SVR. All the defensive tactics of Laura Poitras, including PGP encryption, Tor software, and air-gapped computers (computers that have never been connected to the Internet), did not keep secrets ab

rets about her sources entirely to herself. Snowden, at a time when he was stealing NSA secrets in February 2013, went to great lengths to impress on Poitras the need for operational security about his contacts with her, but that injunction did not prevent her from telling at least five people about her so

oward NSA surveillance. It there- fore seems entirely plausible that he found a co-worker willing to cooperate or, vice versa, a co-worker found him. Snowden might not have been aware of his new accomplice’s true motives or affili- ations, but without some co-worker’s providing him with entry to the sealed

ith author. | | Epst_9780451494566_2p_all_r1.indd 308 @ 9/30/16 8:13AM | | HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_019796 Notes to pages 23-25 | 309 23 The only person: “Edward Snowden’s Friend Mavanee Anderson Exclusive Interview,” Last Word, MSNBC, June 12, 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v= beQUMdolBWE. 25 “was trying to break into”:

vidently did not want to expose himself to prosecution or defect from the NSA. That was Snowden’s role. By accepting the sole blame in the video that Poitras made about him in Hong Kong, Snowden shielded anyone else from suspicion, which was, as he told Poitras, his purpose. Whoever helped him may still be

“Mini Documentary Reveals Full Extent of ‘Stellarwind’ Domestic Spy Program,” Infowars, Aug. 28, 2012. 62 Poitras had other impressive credentials: “Laura Poitras: Secret No Longer,” New School News, Aug. 14, 2013. 63 “I didn’t. You chose yourself”: Snowden’s e-mails to Poitras were extracted from her film Cit

101 Even though Snowden had greatly exaggerated the positions he held with the CIA and DIA, no effort was made to check them by the team of journalists. Instead, MacAskill w

t does those sorts of things.” He had succeeded in defining himself for the public. The Guardian story accompanying the video carried the headline, “EDWARD SNOWDEN: THE WHISTLE BLOWER BEHIND THE NSA SURVEILLANCE REVELATIONS.” Snowden’s identity as a whistle-blower was now established in the media. Overnight, Sno

illance Under Obama.” Along with it was the FISA warrant to Verizon. The PRISM story broke hours later in the Washington Post. Written by Gellman and Poitras, it claimed that the NSA and FBI were tapping directly into the central servers of nine leading U.S, Internet companies which were knowingly particip

ding such well known activists as Runa Sandvik (who he supplied his true name and address via email), Micah Lee, Jacob Appelbaum, Parker Higgins, and Laura Poitras. “It is not statistically improbable that members of this circle were being watched by a hostile service,” a former NSA counterintelligence officer t

Wall Street Journal, December 30, 2016 The Fable of Edward Snowden As he seeks a pardon, the NSA thief has told multiple lies about what he stole and his dealings with Russian intelligence. EDWARD JAY EPSTEIN Of a

to engage in espionage, and was only a “whistleblower” seeking to expose the overreach of NSA’s information gathering. With the clock ticking on Mr. Snowden’s chance of a pardon, now is a good time to review what we have learned about his real mission. Mr. Snowden’s theft of America’s most closely guarde

one’s 2016 movie, “Snowden,” is demonstrably false. This narrative began soon after Mr. Snowden arrived in Hong Kong, where he arranged to meet with Laura Poitras, a Berlin-based documentary filmmaker, and Glenn Greenwald, a Brazil-based blogger for the Guardian. Both journalists were longtime critics of NSA su