Edward Snowden Had Contact With The NSA Before 2004

[Da Servant]

By:  Marshall Ramsey II, Worthy News U.S. Correspondent

 

MOSCOW, Russia -- (WorthyNews) Edward Snowden is the man of the hour.  Love him, hate him, it doesn't matter.  He clearly has center stage after his interview on NBC's Nightly News with Brian Williams.

 

Edward Snowden is the man accused by the NSA of leaking classified government secrets to the public.  But what else do we know about him?

 

Edward Joseph Snowden was born June 21, 1983 to Lonnie and Wendy Snowden in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.  Lonnie was a member of the United States Coast Guard and his mother is currently a clerk at the United States District Court in Maryland.

 

He went to high school at Arundel High School in Anne Arundel County, MD until he dropped out in his sophomore year.  After getting his GED, he attended Anne Arundel Community College, where, according to ABC News, he didn't take any cyber security or computer science classes.

 

According to news reports and, I believe, statements from the government Edward Snowden never had contact with the NSA until 2004 or 2005.  However, Edward Snowden himself says that he has had contact with the NSA, especially on September 11, 2001, the date of the infamous World Trade Center attack in New York.

 

In his interview with Brian Williams, Brian Williams asks Edward Snowden if he took patriotism seriously.  Mr. Snowden replied that he was on Fort Meade on the day of the attacks, that he could remember the tension of that day, and that he took patriotism very seriously.

 

I did some checking and discovered that Fort Meade refers to Fort George G. Meade in  Maryland.  It was named after George G. Meade, a major general in the Union Army during the Civil War who received the nickname "Old Snapping Turtle."  Fort Meade is also the headquarters for the United States Cyber Command, the National Security Agency (NSA), the Defense Courier Service, and Defense Information Systems Agency headquarters.

 

I looked up NSA youth programs, thinking there might be a connection.  The NSA does have a internship programs for college students.  While I cannot confirm that Edward Snowden was enrolled in one of these programs, it does lend considerable weight to Mr. Snowden's assertions that he was there.  It also debuffs media reports that Mr. Snowden did not have any contact with the NSA until 2004/2005.  Edward Snowden would have been 19 at the time of the September 11 attacks.

 

 

Source and related articles:

 

http://time.com/134428/snowden-id-like-to-go-home/

http://time.com/137530/nsa-to-release-snowden-email/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/timeline-edward-snowdens-life/story?id=19394487

http://www.nsa.gov/careers/opportunities_4_u/students/index.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_George_G._Meade

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Meade

[OakWood]

I can't work out whether he is a hero or a traitor. I suspect that history will show him in good light.

[Guest]

I'll say this.

 

I wasn't sitting on the man's shoulder and I don't know his heart. I'm not God.

 

I do know this: he seems to have tried to take things "up the chain of command" about the things he says were going on. He tried doing things by the book -- but was blown off by the bureaucrats who were abusing the system according to him. I think sometimes you get into a position where something in your conscience forces you to do something about it. I'm not going to judge the man because that's not my job. I am glad that he kicked the log over and exposed all those wriggly things to the light of day however. I personally think that needed to be done, if not by Snowden, then by someone else.

 

I tend to agree with you about history showing him in a good light.