A Summary of Edward Snowden's Actions

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Purpose Statement: This paper offers a summary of the key decisions that led to Edward Snowden leaking files the National Security Agency violating the constitution and this abuse becoming public knowledge in the summer of 2013. BLUF: After September 11, 2001, the United States government began illegal surveillance on US citizens via the National Security Agency. June 5, 2013, Edward Snowden made the decision to leak classified government files to the public. These files showed that the NSA had been conducting surveillance on American citizens in the United States, on top of foreign persons of interest. This led to public revelations of cooperation between the US government and worldwide corporations, a nationwide distrust in technology, and violations of the constitution. Background: Edward Snowden was a contractor from Booz Allen Hamilton with experience working for the Central Intelligence Agency. He was contracted through Booz Allen Hamilton for the NSA at the Kunia Regional SIGIT Operations Center in Hawaii. He claims to have been an infrastructure analyst. Snowden had complete access to all the data the NSA had collected because he was such a skilled employee. He went to coworkers and superiors multiple times about his concerns about the scale of the NSA's surveillance program. None of these people wanted to risk their job and life to make changes. Snowden decided to make the information public after continuously watching the abuse of power (Snowden). Consequences of the Event: Edward Snowden took it upon himself to become a "martyr" in the war for privacy. He claims that he did not release this information to harm the United States government or to make a profit, as cited in his interview in Appendix A. Snowden aimed to ... ... middle of paper ... ...e make a change. Works Cited Groll, Elias. "Snowden's Butterfly Effect." Foreign Policy. Foreign Policy, 5 Aug. 2013. Web. 29 Mar. 2014. . Snowden, Edward. "NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden: 'I Don't Want to Live in a Society That Does These Sort of Things'" Interview by Glenn Greenwald. The Guardian. Guardian News and Media Limited, 9 June 2013. Web. 30 Mar. 2014. . United States. Department of Homeland Security. Management Directive Systems. US Department of Homeland Security. DHS, 17 Sept. 2004. Web. 30 Mar. 2014. . The Washington Post. NSA Secrets: Government Spying in the Internet Age. New York: Diversion, 2013.

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