Edward Snowden

Edward Snowden is a 35 year old US citizen, former Intelligence Community officer and whistleblower. The documents he revealed provided a vital public window into the National Security Agency (NSA) and its international intelligence partners’ secret mass surveillance programs and capabilities. These revelations generated unprecedented world-wide attention on privacy intrusions and digital security, leading to a global debate on the issue.

Edward Snowden worked in various roles within the US Intelligence Community, including serving undercover for the CIA overseas. He most recently worked as an infrastructure analyst at the NSA, through a Booz Allen Hamilton contract, when he left his home and family in Hawaii to blow the whistle in May 2013.

After travelling to Hong Kong, Edward Snowden revealed documents to the public on the NSA’s mass surveillance programs, which were shown to be operating without any public oversight and outside the limits of the US Constitution. The US administration has charged Edward Snowden with theft of government property and two further charges under the 1917 Espionage Act. Each charge carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence.

With the US pursuing his extradition, Snowden is now in Russia, where he was formally granted three years’ residency from 1 August 2014, after a year of temporary asylum in Russia ended on 31st July 2014. Journalists continue to publish documents from Edward Snowden that reveal the secret and unaccountable systems of modern global surveillance.

The dialogue with Edward Snowden will take place via digital means.

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As the Congress Center is fully booked-out, we are happy to provide a LIVESTREAM which is globally available in collaboration with APA Austrian Press Agency at: http://go.apa.at/3alaHgOF .

The event will include the opportunity to discuss with Robert Tibbo, the lawyer who helped Edward Snowden to secure his safety and status as an asylum seeker in Hong Kong and facilitating his successful exit from Hong Kong to Moscow. Mr. Tibbo will be present on stage and be available for a press dialogue after the event. Journalists are invited to register at rector@mci.edu.