Epstein Secrets

with his still-valid passport to go to almost any country in the world, includ- ing Cuba (for which a U.S. passport was not 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 be

ndations for his work. He was threatened with a punitive investigation unless he agreed to quietly resign from the CIA. “It was not a stellar career” Drumheller, the former CIA station chief, told me in 2014. Snowden blamed his career-ending “derog” on an “e-mail spat” with a superior. From Moscow, he wrote

me ‘Verax.’” 104 “I can’t help him evade”: Gellman quoted in Burrough, Ellison, and Andrews, “Snowden Saga.” 105 asked Fidel Narvdez: Juan Forero, “Ecuador’s Strange Journey from Embracing Snowden to Turning Him Away,” Washington Post, July 2, 2013. 106 “My only comment”: Lam, “Post Reporter Lana Lam Te

Through the Cracks.” 26 explained the discrepancy: Former CIA officer who requested anonymity, inter- view with author. 26 “It was not a stellar”: Drumheller, interviews with author. 26 “e-mail spat”: Snowden was interviewed via the Internet by Risen, “Snowden Says He Took No Secret Files to Russia.” 26

have been a more certain place to meet Greenwald. If some consideration by Snowden precluded Brazil as a destination, Snowden could have also gone to Ecuador, Bolivia, Cuba, Iceland, or Venezuela, which are also countries that do not have active extradition treaties with the United States. Yet, instead of

m and from seizing him. Tyler Drumheller, a former CIA station chief, told me that Snowden was correct in his assessment of that Hong Kong advantage. Drumheller said that Hong Kong was “home court” for the Chinese intelligence services. It played a: dominant role” in running the police, airport passport contr