Epstein Secrets

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

A’s using built-in back doors in its software to read their encrypted messages. Such people were not difficult to find on the Internet. The donors to Ron Paul’s libertarian election campaign (including Snowden) were a matter of public record. Even if there was no shortage of hacktivists who believed the sur-

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”:

“Law is a lot like medicine”: David Weigel, “Edward Snowden and Ron Paul Kick Off Libertarian Student Conference,” Bloomberg News, Feb. 13, 2015. For Ron Paul’s position on “secret government,” see http://www.presstv.ir /Detail/2015/06/02/413952/US-Ron-Paul-CIA-NSA-secret-government. 39 “The [American] gover

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

o the NSA using built-in backdoors in their software to read their encrypted messages. They were not difficult to find on the Internet. The donors to Ron Paul’s Libertarian election campaign (including Snowden) were a matter of public record, for example. Even if there was no shortage of hacktavists who beli