Cool stuff to know at cocktail parties: The Snowden affair

Ex-CIA and National Security Agency (NSA) computer guru Edward Snowden hit the headlines after he leaked details of top secret US and UK Internet and phone surveillance programmes. He fled to Hong Kong but left for Moscow where he spent more than a month in a transit zone in the city’s Sheremetyevo airport before being given temporary asylum.

The leaks have been described as the most significant security breaches in the history of the NSA. Snowden has been charged in the US in his absence with theft of government property, unauthorized communication of national defence information and willful communication of classified communications intelligence, which carry jail sentences of up to ten years on each charge. 

Who is Edward Snowden?

The 30-year-old high school dropout was born in North Carolina, the son of a US Coast Guard officer. Despite his lack of formal qualifications, he joined the CIA in 2004 to work in IT security. He left the CIA in 2009 to work for a private contractor at an NSA facility in Japan. This year, he moved to consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton and worked at a NSA signals intelligence centre in Hawaii. He spent three months there before leaving the US for Hong Kong in May, shortly before his revelations were published.

What is he accused of doing?

Snowden has admitted being the source of a series of leaks on US and UK surveillance programmes involving the monitoring of phone data and the Internet. With his consent, The Guardian revealed his identity. He said: “I don’t want to live in a society that does these sort of things… I do not want to live in a world where everything I do is and say is recorded.”

Good guy or bad?

Snowden has been hailed as hero by some civil rights campaigners but condemned as a traitor by others. The US Director of National Intelligence described the leaks as “reckless”. His actions were condemned by US Speaker of the House of Congress John Boehner, who called Snowden “a traitor”.

But Amnesty International said: “What he has disclosed is patently in the public interest and as a whistleblower his actions were justified. He has expsed unlawful sweeping surveillance programmes that unquestionably interfere with an individual’s right to privacy.”

Where is he now? 

After being granted temporary asylum of one year in Russia last month, he is now living at a secret location in the former Soviet Union.

Why should I care?

The leaks have exposed a huge programme of surveillance of phone data and internet usage, which the US and UK claim is vital to protect the world from further terrorist outrages, but which supporters of Snowden say is evidence that the US has gone too far in restricting the right to privacy under the guise of the war on terror.

Why is President Obama involved?

He weighed in after Snowden took an Aeroflot flight from Hong Kong to Moscow in June. Speaking on NBC’s Tonight show last week, President Obama said he was disappointed that Russia had granted Snowden asylum rather than sending him back to the US to face trial.

He also cancelled a summit meeting with President Putin which was due to be held next month, a symptom of the deterioration in relationships.

What is likely to happen to Snowden?

His year-long temporary asylum in Russia could be extended indefinitely — the US has revoked his passport, but he has applied for asylum in more than 20 countries — most refused Venezuela and Nicaragua, however, have both offered to take Snowden.

Research: Raymond Hainey