"He was portrayed as a spy or a traitor, tell me, what did he get out of it? He chose to open his secrets at a huge price and put himself at risk in order to let the public know that privacy has been violated ." The old Snowden once responded so furiously to those who slandered his son.
In June 2013, Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old American NSA outsourced technician , leaked 58,000 confidential materials to four media including the Guardian , revealing that the United States has passed "Prism", "Star Breeze" ”, “Five Eyes” and other programs to monitor public privacy scandals.
The scope of US surveillance not only affects ordinary people around the world, but even the call records of US ally German Chancellor Angela Merkel will be placed on the desk of then US President Obama on time.
Snowden's actions not only let the world see how far the United States has breached the bottom line for the so-called "safety", but also resurfaced the five-eyes alliance , which has not been mentioned for a long time.
The world's public opinion is in an uproar, and people in the world have condemned the United States no matter how it talks about counter-terrorism, it cannot cover up its scandalous behavior of monitoring public information.
is affiliated to the NSA of the US Department of Defense, and there has never been such a large-scale leak incident. As the current NSA director Keith Alexander resigned, Obama announced to revise the monitoring plan.
Seemingly bookish Snowden, why would he dare to stand up to the world's most powerful intelligence agency? The world's evaluation of Snowden has also become polarized. Some people think that he is a hero who does not fear power, and some people think that he is a traitor who does not keep the principle of confidentiality.
How should we evaluate Snowden, let's start with the past and present of the Five Eyes alliance that he broke out.
In July 1940, the British ambassador to the United States, Philip Cole, proposed that the United Kingdom and the United States should start an information exchange mechanism, but it did not attract the attention of the United States.
At the end of 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. The United States suffered a big loss and put the British-American intelligence cooperation on the agenda. The United Kingdom was responsible for collecting German and Italian intelligence, and the United States was responsible for monitoring Japan, and then all intelligence was shared.
On March 5, 1946, with the opening of the Cold War, the United Kingdom and the United States signed the "United Kingdom-United States Communication and Intelligence Agreement", which stipulated that all foreign communications outside the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom and the United States were within the scope of their intelligence investigation.
In the following years, Canada, Australia and New Zealand and other three countries also joined the agreement one after another. Because of the words "AUS/CAN/NZ/UK/US EYES ONLY" on the files of the intelligence exchange of the five countries, the "Five Eyes Alliance" has become the representative name of the intelligence alliance organization after a long time.
The original main mission of the Five Eyes alliance was to secretly monitor the Soviet Union and its allies. Because the Five Eyes alliance has always been operating in secret, many people believe that the Five Eyes alliance has long since disappeared with the disintegration of the Soviet Union and .
Until Snowden came out, people were surprised to find that the Five Eyes Alliance not only did not dissolve, but instead, with the help of the rapid development of network technology, countless eyes were born to monitor the world.
It turned out that after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the Five Eyes alliance led by the United States did not feel at ease because of the disappearance of its biggest rival, but felt that potential rivals were everywhere, so in order to maintain their hegemonic thinking, they redefined the surveillance area. The leading one is the NSA in Fort Meade, Maryland.
NSA's predecessor was AF founded in 1949The SA (Armed Forces Security Agency), at that time, was tasked with unifying the communications intelligence of the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force.
But at that time, the U.S. Army, Navy, and Air Force did not use AFSA at all. It was not until the U.S. commander, MacArthur, made a misjudgment in the Korean battlefield, because he did not pay attention to the intelligence provided by AFSA, and made the United States fall into a passive state. Then U.S. President Truman decided to revoke AFSA and set up the National Security Agency (NSA).
NSA since its establishment in 1952, after more than 60 years of development and escalation of authority, it can not only issue instructions to any unit responsible for intelligence work in the United States, but also has 38,000 regular employees and 2.5 non-staff employees, responsible for maintaining scattered around the world. of thousands of intelligence stations.
NSA's outstanding performance in the Gulf War not only provided the US military with a large amount of interception information, but also effectively ensured the security of the US military's communication, so it was praised by President Bush Sr. and praised as "the unsung hero in the desert storm."
But It is a pity that the unsung hero in Bush's eyes turned over on September 11, 2001.
In fact, as early as the summer of 2001, the NSA analyst in charge of counter-terrorism affairs had found more than 30 dangerous signs, and had a hunch about what would happen, but they did not find out what those signs meant until September 11th. advent.
On the day of the incident, 19 terrorists hijacked 4 US domestic flights. Two of the planes crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York, and the third plane crashed into the Pentagon.
also has intelligence that the fourth plane hijacked will crash into Fort Meade . Immediately, thousands of NSA employees left their jobs and drove away.
Snowden, who was only 17 years old at the time, was working part-time as a web designer at the Fort Meade base of the NSA headquarters, and witnessed this unprecedented panic.
On the second day, the NSA became a culprit for failing to accurately predict terrorist plots. In order to prove itself, the NSA submitted an application to the US Congress to monitor the Internet, including civilian communication networks. The then US President, Bush Jr., eager for revenge, immediately gave the NSA every conceivable authority.
Since then, the United States has divided the world into "outsiders" and "own family members". In the eyes of the United States, "own family members" only include five-eyes countries. Even European countries with strong friendship with the United States have become "outsiders" that must be monitored. , Even after World War II, the German Chancellor, who has a strong relationship with the United States, was monitored by the United States for 10 years.
According to Snowden's disclosure, the NSA has a project code-named "Prime Class", which is to set up monitoring equipment in more than 80 US embassies and consulates around the world, so as to monitor the communication information of 35 leaders of the world including the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Chancellor of Germany. .
The mystery of American monitoring equipment lies in the white box-like building on the roof of their embassies and consulates in various countries. In fact, in those white attics without windows, the metal material smeared on the surface is the communication antenna, and the office of the agent , who is specially responsible for monitoring, is in it. "white boxes" like
are all over Rio, , Tel Aviv, Moscow, Berlin, … . For example, standing on the roof of the US embassy in Germany, you can see the German Chancellor's office building in the distance, and it is easy to intercept the German Chancellor's mobile phone signal.
After the U.S. surveillance plan was exposed, Merkel called Obama and asked angrily: "It is unacceptable to eavesdrop on friends. Now the Cold War is over."
In 2014, Merkel visited the United States, and she wanted to get rid of her suspicions after getting a public apology from Obama and the NSA. However, the United States only regarded the surveillance incident as non-existent, not only did not give Germany similar treatment as a five-eyes country, but even stopped engaging in surveillance activities in Germany, and did not give a clear attitude.
If the Five Eyes surveillance program is only aimed at leaders of various countries, it is estimated that Snowden will not come forward to expose it all.
Snowden was born in North Carolina, USA, and later moved to Maryland, not far from Fort Meade. Snowden has a high IQ, but his academic performance is not satisfactory. He only has a high school equivalency diploma, but he is very proficient in computer technology.
In 2003, Snowden was drafted into the army. He hoped to participate in the Iraq War, but he felt dissatisfied because the training teacher encouraged the killing of Arabs. Coupled with the fact that Snowden broke his legs in training, he resolutely chose to retire.
After that, Snowden worked as a security guard at a secret NSA facility at University of Maryland , and then went to the US CIA to work in IT security.
Snowden has only a high school diploma, but his talent for the Internet and computer programming was quickly promoted. In 2007, Snowden was sent to Geneva, Switzerland by CIA as a US diplomat, responsible for maintaining computer network security.
Snowden stayed at Geneva for three years. He has been by the side of CIA intelligence officers, and what he has seen and heard has made him seriously question whether what he is doing is right.
Snowden once described such an incident. In order to obtain secret bank information from a Swiss banker, the CIA sent someone to deliberately intoxicate the banker, and then encouraged the banker to drink and drive. After the banker was arrested for drunk driving, the CIA people came forward to settle the matter, took the opportunity to get in touch with the banker and recruited him for their own use.
Snowden has been completely disillusioned with what the US has done ever since. Snowden wanted to reveal the secrets of the United States, but because he was afraid of endangering specific people, coupled with the hope of reform brought by the election of Obama in 2008, he felt that there might be some changes without revealing it.
In 2009, Snowden left the CIA and was employed by Booz Allen 's consulting firm to work at the NSA's base in Japan. In 2013, Snowden moved to the NSA's National Threat Control Center in Hawaii.
The center has a surveillance system, like a search engine described in a science fiction novel, where just type in a person's name and all the information about that person on the Internet can be seen at a glance.
Snowden once wrote in his autobiography "Permanent Record" that the NSA used six "no-nos" to describe its surveillance stance: "smell everything, know everything, collect everything, deal with everything, and have nothing. No use, no partnership."
may be the NSA's vast amount of data obtained by monitoring the network, making Snowden feel boundless guilt, and then becoming the last straw that crushed Snowden's spirit.
Snowden recalled that he was most impressed by a young boy in Indonesia during his surveillance of suspicious elements. The boy's father was just an ordinary engineer. He was screened by the NSA as a suspected target related to an international organization just because he sent a cover letter to a university in Iran.
As an analyst, Snowden's daily task is to look through the suspects' chat records, emails and other personal information. one day,The engineer's father was sitting in front of the computer with his son who was still wearing diapers in his arms. The little boy smiled and typed on the keyboard while staring at the camera.
Snowden never found anything inappropriate in the engineer's browsing history. So when he and the little boy looked at each other across the camera, he suddenly felt suffocated, so he immediately turned off the monitoring equipment and went straight to the bathroom.
Snowden once believed that the Internet was the most important invention of mankind, but when he saw that the value of the Internet and the most basic privacy of the public were destroyed by the ubiquitous monitoring equipment, he felt a strong resistance in his heart. I would like to live in a world without even privacy.
Snowden not only had a stable job with an annual salary of $200,000, but also a girlfriend who was about to marry for four years, and his parents who loved him deeply.
But perhaps from the standpoint of safeguarding his own interests, perhaps out of moral cognition, Snowden resolutely decided to expose the US scam at all costs.
The reason why Snowden did not choose to report is that many NSA employees had reported similar issues before, and they were all suppressed and blocked by the US government. Snowden thought about it, and he didn't want to implicate his family, so he flew to Hong Kong, China, without telling his parents and girlfriends.
Snowden checked into the Miramar Hotel in Hong Kong. He used a pillow to block the door of the house for fear of being monitored. He even covered his entire head and laptop with a red cloth when he entered the computer password.
These behaviors may seem a bit bizarre in the eyes of others, but Snowden is well aware of the ability of the United States to do everything possible to monitor.
In order to make the vast secrets in his possession effectively public, Snowden carefully selected two brave media people: one is the Guardian reporter Greenwald, who has staunchly supported WikiLeaks founder Assange; the other is to let the United States The military are feeling tricky for documentary filmmaker Laura .
's eye-catching headlines, the mysterious content revealed by Snowden quickly spread all over the world, and the most unexpected thing for the American people is that the United States collects phone records through 9 Internet technology companies such as Microsoft and Yahoo, not only foreigners, And Native Americans.
As the incident fermented, Snowden's disclosure of his identity became the focus of global media attention. The U.S. government then charged Snowden with multiple charges and is eager to extradite him to face trial.
Snowden knew he would not be able to get a fair trial by returning to China, so he hoped to find a country that could provide him with political asylum. Just when Snowden didn't know where to go, Assange sent his right-hand man Harrison to help Snowden leave Hong Kong.
once sheltered Assange's Ecuador , and extended an olive branch to Snowden, so the public thought that Snowden would go to Latin America. Harrison cleverly used media speculation to pretend to book a flight to Latin America for Snowden when in fact he booked a flight to Russia three days later.
Snowden's passport was revoked by the United States on his way to Russia and he became an unidentified person. As a result, Snowden was not only unable to transfer to other countries, but also unable to get out of the Russian airport, so he had to stay in a capsule hotel in the F terminal of Sejmereyye.
There is only a short stay here, and Snowden has no choice but to apply for temporary asylum in Russia. Fortunately, the Russian Immigration Service issued Snowden a one-year temporary asylum certificate number 0011330.
Snowden officially entered Russia. After the one-year period expires, Russia has extended Snowden's asylum period for three years. 2020, RussiaSnowden granted permanent residency. On September 26, 2022, then-Russian President Putin granted Snowden Russian citizenship.
Snowden finally has an official identity after years of fleeing to Russia, and the topic of him is back in the public eye again. As for whether Snowden is a hero who pays for everyone or a traitor who betrays the United States, I believe everyone has their own judgment in their hearts. After the
Prism surveillance plan was exposed, the Five Eyes Alliance did not retreat. Instead, they joined forces and more bluntly gave their respective intelligence agencies greater authority, so that they have the right to request the telecommunications department to provide information such as phone calls and emails of domestic users.
Just when Snowden took refuge, the Five Eyes alliance not only developed the secondary intelligence of Netherlands , Norway , Denmark , France and other countries, shared the Nine Eyes alliance, but also pulled Germany, Spain, Sweden , Belgium and Italy's three-level intelligence sharing Fourteen Eyes alliance.
But even if the Five Eyes Alliance develops more eyes, it is no longer the era when the Five Eyes Alliance blinds the world and lets them run wild. Perhaps this is the point of Snowden's desperate risk of abandoning a good living environment.
