Edward Snowden’s Whistleblowing Journey

This set covers key terminology, people, and locations regarding Edward Snowden's whistleblowing on mass surveillance programs as detailed in Chapters 19 through 27 of his notes.

Kunia Regional SIGINT Operations Center

An underground NSA facility in Hawaii, originally an airplane assembly plant from the Pearl Harbor era, where Snowden was deployed.

Booz Allen Hamilton

The contracting firm Snowden joined to obtain system administrator privileges at the NSA's Threat Operations Center.

The Tunnel

The nickname for the underground facility where Snowden worked, symbolizing his physical isolation and internal alienation.

Heartbeat

An automated aggregation system created by Snowden to pull intelligence from various IC network servers into a consolidated newsfeed.

PRISM

A mass surveillance program identified by Snowden that collected data directly from American tech companies.

UPSTREAM

A surveillance program confirmed via Heartbeat that collected data directly from fiber-optic internet cables.

Fourth Amendment

The section of the U.S. Constitution that protects citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures, which Snowden believed was being subverted.

Leaking

The transactional release of information for political or personal gain, as distinguished from whistleblowing.

Whistleblowing

An act of civic duty involving the exposure of institutional wrongdoing for the public good, regardless of personal cost.

Fourth Estate

A term referring to the press, which Snowden utilized to ensure his findings would not be dismissed or buried.

Laura Poitras

The documentarian Snowden selected as one of his messengers for the leaked documents.

Glenn Greenwald

The journalist Snowden chose for his willingness to challenge the U.S. government and expertise in digital security.

Citizenfour

The alias Snowden used to communicate with journalists through encrypted channels.

Tor

The Onion Router; an anonymizing software used by Snowden for encrypted communication.

Read, Write, Execute

The three basic computing permissions Snowden used to title his plan: find the truth, copy the truth, and get the truth to the world.

Rubik's Cube

The object used to smuggle micro SD cards containing classified data out of the NSA facility.

Cryptography

The mechanics of encryption that Snowden describes as the only true defense against mass surveillance.

Mira Hotel

The hotel in Hong Kong where Snowden hid and first met with Poitras and Greenwald.

Sarah Harrison

The WikiLeaks representative who accompanied Snowden during his flight from Hong Kong to Moscow.

Sheremetyevo International Airport

The Moscow airport where Snowden was stranded in the transit zone for 40 days.

Stateless

The legal status of Snowden after the U.S. State Department canceled his passport while he was in transit.