Edward Joseph "Ed"[3][4] Snowden (born June 21, 1983) is an American computer specialist, a former CIA employee, and former NSA contractor who disclosed up to 200,000 classified documents to the press.[5] Details released from the cache have revolved primarily around the United States' NSA mass surveillance program, and to a lesser extent, its counterparts such as the British GCHQ,[6] Israel's ISNU,[7] and Norway's NIS.[8] Snowden is considered a fugitive by American authorities who have charged him with espionage and theft of government property.[9][10] He is currently living in Russia under temporary asylum.
Snowden's release of NSA material was called the most significant leak in US history by Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg.[11][12] A series of exposés was published in May 2013 revealing Internet surveillance programs such as PRISM, XKeyscore, Tempora, STORMBREW and MUSCULAR, as well as the interception of US and European telephone metadata.[13][14] The reports were based on disclosures Snowden leaked to The Guardian and The Washington Post while employed by NSA contractor Booz Allen Hamilton.
A subject of controversy, Snowden has been variously called a hero,[15][16] a whistleblower,[17][18][19] a dissident,[20] a traitor,[21][22] and a patriot.[23][24] Response from US officials has been similarly varied; Director of National Intelligence James Clapper condemned Snowden's actions as having done "huge, grave damage" to US intelligence capabilities, while United States Secretary of State John Kerry stated that the NSA had gone "too far" in some of its surveillance activities and promised that it would be stopped.[25][26]
In Snowden's own words, his "sole motive" for leaking the documents was "to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them."[27] The disclosures have fueled debates over mass surveillance, government secrecy, and the balance between national security and information privacy.
links:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm5722984/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Movie_Database
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_of_the_Director_of_National_Intelligence
