Deutsche
Welle, 31 October 2013
First it
was mobile phone data to fight terrorism, then the NSA surveillance scandal
expanded to include the German chancellor as well as millions of individuals
around the world. DW reviews how the spy scandal grew.
 |
| This undated photo provided by the National Security Agency (NSA) shows its headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland. (Photo by NSA via Getty Images) |
On May 20,
2013, he left behind his life as he knew it. The 29-year-old IT specialist and
employee at the Booz Allen Hamilton consulting firm Edward Snowden boarded a
plane from Hawaii to Hong Kong with a wealth of information documenting the
espionage and surveillance programs at the US National Security Agency (NSA)
packed in his bags.
By the time
the plane was in the air, the American knew he would probably never set foot in
his home country again, he told journalists with the British newspaper
"The Guardian" a few days later.
In the
interview, which took place in a Hong Kong hotel, he explained how and why he
decided to take such a step by saying his conscience could no longer allow
working for a system that could observe people's communications at any time
regardless of whether the people have done anything to warrant such attention.
The first
publication
On June 6,
journalist Glenn Greenwald wrote the first of many articles in "The
Guardian" based on documents provided by Snowden. The report focused on
the NSA's secret program that collects connection data on millions of
Americans' phone calls. The issue quickly spread beyond the pages of "The
Guardian" to the world's media, including Deutsche Welle. When the first
article was published, it was unclear where the information originated.
 |
| Snowden said he could no longer be part of the surveillance state |
More
reports on secret surveillance by the NSA followed on a nearly daily basis in
"The Guardian" and the US paper "The Washington Post." On
June 7, the first report of a program called PRISM made it to press. The PRISM
data collection program stored digital communication between people in the
United States with people outside the country.
Hunt for
the whistleblower
As new
reports surfaced, the search for the leak continued feverishly in Washington.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, chair of the US Senate's Select Committee on
Intelligence, said the informant needed to be hunted down and brought to
justice. On June 9, Edward Snowden admitted he was the source of the
information on CNN.
He appeared
to feel at least somewhat safe in Hong Kong, even if his hotel was only a few
meters from a CIA office, as he told "The Guardian" in an interview.
Through his work for the American intelligence agency, he knew about the
organization's worldwide network. The media began speculating whether China
would extradite Snowden to the United States to face a trial.
A
diplomatic low point
 |
| Merkel's tone on the NSA changed after learning her own phone was tapped |
On June 21,
a report appeared describing how the British intelligence agency GCHQ ran a
program named Tempora that tapped into fiber optic cables running under British
territory.
Edward
Snowden left Hong Kong for Russia and on June 23 landed in Moscow's
Sheremetyevo International Airport. Speculation emerged that he was planning to
travel to Cuba or a South American country but instead ended up stuck in the
airport's transit area for weeks.
When
Bolivian President Evo Morales left a conference in Moscow on July 2, his
presidential plane was forced to land in Vienna, after France, Spain, Italy and
Portugal reportedly denied access to their airspace. The forced landing also
occurred among rumors, which proved false, that Snowden was on board. On August
1, Snowden was granted a year's asylum in Russia. Shortly after the
announcement, Obama cancelled a bilateral meeting with Russian President
Vladimir Putin.
 |
XKeyscore
collected and saved data
from around the world
|
Details of
the programs continued to be uncovered all summer. Germany was shocked by a
report on October 23 in "Der Spiegel" newsmagazine that said the US
intelligence agency had tapped German Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone
and been listening in for years. By this point, millions of German citizens had
already found out their private communications were being examined.
Tapping
Merkel
The
chancellor, who had been somewhat reserved in her remarks on the series of
spying scandals, expressed her personal anger that her communications were
being monitored. In a phone call, Obama reportedly told Merkel he was not aware
she was under surveillance. The discovery, however, has become a major wedge inGerman-US relations.
The most
recent discoveries to come from Snowden's documents appeared on October 30 in
"The Washington Post." The paper wrote that US intelligence agents
cooperated with Britain's GCHQ to gain access to Google and Yahoo data and
information from millions of users.
The spying
scandals are expected to continue dominating the headlines for some time to
come. European leaders have also discussed ways of protecting their citizens
from surveillance. At the same time, however, the British intelligence service
continues to work closely with the US. Members of the Bundestag, Germany's
lower house of parliament, have said they intend to call for a parliamentary
inquiry into the US surveillance program - an inquiry for which Edward Snowden
may deliver testimony.
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