My article in Wall Street Journal Tomorrow: Did Snowden Act Alone (part I)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100014241278873238739045785733826495361=0.html
Wall Street Journal, June 29
Who Helped Snowden Steal State Secrets?
By Edward Jay Epstein
In March 2013, when Edward Snowden sought a job with Booz Allen =amilton at a National Security Agency facility in Hawaii, he signed =he requisite classified-information agreements and would have been =ade well aware of the law regarding communications intelligence.
Section 798 of the United States Code makes it a federal crime if a =erson "knowingly and willfully communicates, furnishes, transmits, or =therwise makes available to an unauthorized person, or publishes, or =ses in any manner prejudicial to the safety or interest of the United =tates" any classified information concerning communication =ntelligence.
Mr. Snowden took that position so he could arrange to have published =lassified communications intelligence, as he told the South China =orning Post earlier this month. The point of Mr. Snowden's penetration =as to get classified data from the NSA. He subsequently stated: "My =osition with Booz Allen Hamilton granted me access to lists of =achines all over the world the NSA hacked, that is why I accepted that =osition."
My question would be, then: Was he alone in this enterprise to =isappropriate communications intelligence? Before taking the job in Hawaii, Mr. Snowden was in contact with people =ho would later help arrange the publication of the material he =urloined. Two of these individuals, filmmaker Laura Poitras and =uardian blogger Glenn Greenwald, were on the Board of the Freedom of =he Press Foundation that, among other things, funds WikiLeaks.
In January 2013, according to the Washington Post, Mr. Snowden =equested that Ms. Poitras get an encryption key for Skype so that they =ould have a secure channel over which to communicate.
In February, he made a similar request to Mr. Greenwald, providing him =ith a step-by-step video on how to set up encrypted communications.
So, before Mr. Snowden proceeded with his NSA penetration in March 2013 =hrough his Booz Allen Hamilton job, he had assistance, either =ittingly or unwittingly, in arranging the secure channel of encrypted =ommunications that he would use to facilitate the publication of =lassified communications intelligence.
On May 20, three months into his job, Mr. Snowden falsely claimed to =is employer that he needed treatment for epilepsy. The purpose of the =over story was to conceal his trip to Hong Kong, where the operation =o steal U.S. secrets would be brought to fruition.
Mr. Greenwald and Ms. Poitras also flew to Hong Kong. They were later =oined by Sarah Harrison, a Wikileaks representative who works closely =ith Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder. Mr. Snowden reportedly =rought the misappropriated data to Hong Kong on four laptops and a =humb drive. He gave some of the communications intelligence to Mr. =reenwald, who had arranged to publish it in the Guardian, and Mr. =nowden arranged to have Ms. Poitras make a video of him issuing a =tatement that would be released on the Guardian's website. Albert Ho, = Hong
Kong lawyer, was retained to deal with Hong Kong authorities.
This orchestration did not occur in a vacuum. Airfares, hotel bills and =ther expenses over this period had to be paid. A safe house had to be =ecured in Hong Kong. Lawyers had to be retained, and safe passage to =oscow—a trip on which Mr. Snowden was accompanied by WikiLeaks' =arah Harrison—had to be organized.
The world now knows that the misappropriation of U.S. communications =ntelligence began appearing in the Guardian and other publications on =une 5, and Mr. Snowden left Hong Kong for the Moscow airport on June =1. A question that remains to be answered: Who, if anyone, aided and =betted this well-planned theft of U.S. secrets?
Mr. Epstein's most recent book is "The Annals of Unsolved Crime" =ublished in March by Melville House.
The 2nd part next wek
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