On May 20, 2013, Edward Snowden, who was living and working in Hawaii, told his supervisor that he needed to take a two-week leave of absence to return to the mainland for epilepsy treatment. He vaguely told his girlfriend that he was going to be away for a few weeks on a work trip. Then, Snowden flew to Hong Kong, carrying flash drives containing an estimated 1.7 million classified intelligence documents and four laptop computers containing zero classified documents that served as a diversion.


When taking the documents from the NSA’s computer systems, Snowden left a trail of clues meant to direct investigators to the documents that he copied. His intentions were for the U.S. government to see that he was only acting as a whistleblower, not as a spy for a foreign national government. However, federal investigators missed all of Snowden’s clues in their investigation following the Guardian’s release of the first wave of classified documents on June 5^th, 2013.

Even if the government had perceived Snowden as a whistleblower, his future in America would still look bleak. The Obama administration alone has used the Espionage Act more than all of the preceding presidential administrations in U.S. History combined to prosecute government-employee whistleblowers who leaked internal government information to journalists.

Snowden acknowledged his ill fate in a note that he included with the first set of documents he released: “I understand that I will be made to suffer for my actions, [but] I will be satisfied if the federation of secret law, unequal pardon and irresistible executive powers that rule the world that I love are revealed even for an instant.” This explains why he was already safely in Hong Kong, a city he describes as having “a spirited commitment to free speech and the right of political dissent,” by the time the classified documents were released.

This also justifies Snowden’s extreme, proactive decision to provide several people with highly encrypted access to the full archive of classified documents, which he arranged to be accessible only if something happens to him. Because there are an estimated 1.5 million files that have yet to be released, this insures the public’s inevitable access to them while also protecting Snowden’s life.

The Guardian exposed Snowden’s identity to the world—upon his request—on June 9^th, 2013. Shortly after this revelation, U.S. federal prosecutors charged Snowden with Theft of Government Property, Unauthorized Communication of National Defense Information, and Willful Communication of Classified Communications Intelligence Information to an Unauthorized Person; the latter two charges are crimes under the Espionage Act. The U.S. government requested that Hong Kong—which retains autonomy from China over its laws—return Snowden to America so he could be prosecuted. Snowden’s extradition request was based in part on the espionage charges; because the extradition agreement between the U.S. and Hong Kong makes an exception for political crimes, such as espionage, Hong Kong authorities denied the request, allowing Snowden to depart for Moscow shortly thereafter. The authorities claimed to lack a legal basis under Hong Kong law for detaining Snowden, but many believe that Snowden’s release was orchestrated by China—which retains supremacy over Hong Kong in matters of foreign affairs—in an effort to maintain a stable relationship with the U.S. government. Also, Hong Kong and China were keen on protecting Snowden after he revealed that the U.S. government’s Internet and telephone surveillance activities extended to Hong Kong facilities.

With the help of Wikileaks, Snowden left Hong Kong for Moscow, where he planned on staying only one night in the Russian airport, boarding a plane to Cuba the following morning, and subsequently flying from Cuba to Caracas, Venezuela. Snowden’s ultimate goal was to seek asylum from Ecuador, which he had requested before heading to Moscow. However, the U.S. revoked his passport while he was in-flight to Moscow, forcing him to remain in the transit zone of Sheremetyevo International Airport for forty days.

Realizing that he could not safely travel to Latin America without being intercepted by the U.S. government, Snowden requested temporary asylum in Russia, which was granted for a renewable one-year term. On August 7^th, 2014, six days after the expiration of his temporary asylum, Snowden received a three-year residency permit from Russia and remains there to this day.