Edward Snowden
1983 – ? American NSA contractor, whistleblower
US contractor who exposed NSA mass surveillance in 2013.
- Religion
- Buddhist (per his own statements).
- Affiliations
- Former CIA and NSA contractor; asylum in Russia since 2013 and Russian citizenship since 2022.
Edward Snowden worked as a contractor for the CIA and NSA before copying a large archive of classified documents on US surveillance programs. In 2013 he gave the material to journalists, revealing bulk data collection through programs such as PRISM and XKeyscore. He fled to Hong Kong and then Russia, where he has lived since.
Connections
- influenced Chelsea Manning — Cited Manning's disclosures as part of his motivation.
- influenced Chelsea Manning — Snowden cited Manning's case among his motivations.
- associate of Julian Assange — WikiLeaks aided Snowden's 2013 departure from Hong Kong.
- associate of Julian Assange — WikiLeaks helped arrange his travel out of Hong Kong.
In the timeline
- 2001 NSA mass surveillance of Americans after 9/11 mentioned
- 2013 Snowden NSA surveillance revelations mentioned
- 2013 Edward Snowden reveals NSA mass surveillance central figure
- 2013 Edward Snowden exposes mass surveillance central figure
- 2013 Snowden reveals mass surveillance mentioned
- 2013 Edward Snowden leaks begin central figure
- 2013 Mass leaks reopen the fight over classification mentioned
- 2013 Snowden reveals PRISM and Big Tech's ties to the NSA mentioned
- 2013 Edward Snowden reveals PRISM and mass metadata collection central figure