Edward Snowden (1983 - )

Tue Jun 21, 1983

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Image: Edward Snowden speaks about the NSA leaks in an interview with reporter Glenn Greenwald at the hotel The Mira Hong Kong. [Wikipedia]

Edward Snowden, born on this day in 1983, is an American whistleblower who leaked highly classified information from the NSA in 2013 when he was working as a CIA employee, exposing multiple governments’ widespread surveillance programs.

Snowden’s disclosures revealed numerous global surveillance programs, many run by the NSA and the Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance with the cooperation of telecommunication companies and European governments, prompting a cultural discussion about national security and individual privacy.

In 2013, the United States Department of Justice unsealed charges against Snowden of two counts of violating the Espionage Act of 1917 and theft of government property, revoking his passport. Two days later, he flew into a Moscow Airport, where Russian authorities noted that his U.S. passport had been canceled, and he could not leave the airport terminal for over one month.

Russia later granted Snowden the right of asylum with an initial visa for residence for one year, and he continues to reside there on extension today.

“Being called a traitor by Dick Cheney is the highest honor you can give to an American.”

- Edward Snowden

  • halcyoncmdr@lemmy.worldEnglish
    433·
    19 hours ago

    Reminder that the reason is in Russia is because the US trapped him there, that was not his intended destination. The US was leveraging every country they could to prevent Snowden flying anywhere. They ended up cancelling his passport while he was on a flight from Hong Kong to Moscow in transit to a final destination somewhere in Latin America.

    So he ended up being stuck in the international terminal in Moscow and not able to even leave the airport since he had no valid passport. Russia and the US do not have an extradition agreement, and the US has always refused to send criminals back to Russia, so they did the same, also citing that his actions would not have even violated Russian law. Eventually over a month later they processed a temporary one year asylum request since he was stuck in Russia anyway. And that was extended until he was granted permanent residency in 2020.

    In short the only reason he ended up in Russia is because the US trapped him there.

    • UsernameHere@lemy.lolEnglish
      52·
      16 hours ago

      I’ve seen what Russia does to American citizens they detain (atheletes, reporters, teachers, etc.).

      It’s telling that Edward Snowden, a former CIA agent, would not get the same or worse treatment in Russia.

        • UsernameHere@lemy.lolEnglish
          31·
          14 hours ago

          I find it hard to believe that Russia is just being nice to Snowden. Snowden was a former CIA agent. There are many examples of double agents in espionage throughout history, let alone between Russia and the US.

          If Snowden isn’t working for Russia then you can guarentee Russia would be torturing him for any information he has. Which they don’t show any signs of doing.