prevented the safe upgrading of the software. This auditing software was scheduled to be installed after the backup system was completed in 2013. The Kunia base was one of the last NSA bases that did not monitor suspicious transfers of files on a real-time basis. Snowden was aware of this deficiency; he

ns in the Pacific region and was able to monitor the ballistic missile tests and submarine activities of China, North Korea, and Russia. By 2013, the Kunia base had a vast array of state-of-the-art technology, including ninety Cray supercom- puters arranged in a horseshoe configuration, used to decipher

ters storing these electronic files by working at Booz Allen Hamilton, a hedge-fund owned consulting firm, that helped manage computer systems at its Kunia base in Hawaii. On his application to Booz Allen in March 2013, Snowden claimed to be in the process of completing a master’s degree at the Universit