OVERLAPPING PHONE CHATTER Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. www.able.co.nz Able 2019 PHONE CHATTER CONTINUES So? This is the only alligator. PHONE RINGS Four minutes past, we walk in one minute. He was clear on that. He's coming. No. Too young to have that kind of access. Er, what time does the restaurant open? Noon. But the food's a little too spicy. This way. Excuse me. LIFT DINGS Right here. It's, uh, really great to finally meet you guys. So, first thing, can I get your cellphones, please? Thank you. We want Laura to be the only one recording, right? As discussed? Thank you. I actually bought this. It blocks UHF frequencies. You've been photographed before, right? Yeah, it's been a while since anybody took a photo of me, so... Try thinking of this as your friend. Take your time. Erm... ..can you start by telling us why you did what you did and, erm, how you came to access such a vast amount of information? All of which I've read on the plane. Erm, and... Glenn. How about we just start with your name, OK? My name is Edward Joseph Snowden. I'm 29 years old. I work as a private contractor for the NSA. I've also worked as a private contractor for the CIA and directly for the agency. I've worked in various jobs in the intelligence industry for the last nine years. I've been a systems engineer, uh, been a solutions consultant... ..uh... ..and a senior adviser for the Central Intelligence Agency. Ranger! ALL: Ranger! So you want to be Special Forces? Sir, yes, sir! I think Special Forces would be ashamed to call you soldiers! Am I right? Sir, no, sir! Your left! Your left, right! Your left! # We're through driving Cadillacs # We're through driving Cadillacs! # To drive in convoys in Iraq # To drive in convoys in Iraq! # Move, soldier! Go! Go! Pick it up, you wastes of space! Now move! Come on, soldier! Go! Come on, darlin'! Snowden! What the hell are you doing? Nothing, sir! Where's your fucking heart? Right here, sir! Now, I want you to reach way down in that pathetic excuse of a chest and you rip it out, you find your heart and then you get your broke ass on my tower! You got that?! Sir, yes, sir! Well, get the fuck out of my face! I need you on my tower, gentlemen! Now, move! Move! Move! Let's go! Rise and shine, maggots! Get your heads off your sheets and get the fuck out of my barracks! You guys got one minute! Fall out! Move! Move! Move! Get down... GASPS IN PAIN Go, go! Let's go! All right, gentlemen, atten-hut! ALL: Hut! FUCK! Help! Snowden! SNOWDEN! Where the fuck is Snowden?! HELP! You know, you've been walking around with two broken legs, best I can tell, for weeks. Now, this is what happens when you put an 80 pound rucksack on a 150 pound body. You get these little stress fractures that... Agh! Easy. Sorry. They build up in your tibias. You don't get off of them and eventually they just bust. Now, you're going to be here for a few weeks and then I'd count another eight weeks or so on the crutches. OK, and then when do I go back? Son, you ever again land on those legs of yours, airborne or not, those bones'll turn to powder. I'm going to authorise an administrative discharge. Plenty other ways to serve your country. MESSAGE ALERT Have you ever committed a crime for which you weren't caught? No. Have you ever cheated on an exam? No. Do you believe the United States is the greatest country in the world? Yes. Why do you want to join the CIA? How would you explain the internet to a child? Grandad, retired as an admiral and joined the FBI. Dad's in the coastguard, 30 year man. What has been the most important day in your life? 9/11. We thought my grandfather was inside the Pentagon. Uh, turned out he was off-site that day. You wanted to be Special Forces? Yes, sir. Yeah, I, uh... I loved their motto. De oppresso liber. Is that what you hope to do with us? Free people from oppression? I'd like to help my country make a difference in the world. Uh, the internet is a technology that has the power to let everyone in the world understand each other. Missed a perfect score on the ASVAB test by a single question. Crushed the language learning tests. Some Mandarin, some Japanese... ..and no high school diploma. So why did you stop attending high school? I had to make money. My parents were divorcing at the time. Any other influences? I'd say Joseph Campbell. Star Wars. Theroux. Ayn Rand. "One man can stop the motor of the world." Atlas Shrugged. Yes, sir, I believe that. Let's try again. Why do you want to join the CIA? Uh... Well, frankly, sir... ..sounds really cool to have top security clearance. Hm. It's not enough... ..ordinarily. But these are not ordinary times. Bombs won't stop terrorism, brains will, and we don't have nearly enough of those. I'm going to give you a shot, Snowden. Thank you, sir. Thank you very much, you won't regret this. My name's Corbin O'Brian. I have many titles, among them senior instructor. You'll be joining my class at the Hill. Stop the vehicle. Turn off the engine. Need to see your ID. DOG SNARLS All right, using your left hand only, pop the trunk. Now, place your hands through the steering wheel, on the dashboard. THROUGH the steering wheel! On the dashboard. Do not exit the vehicle. Excuse me? You'll be looking for Corbin's class. End of the hall. Keep going through the second set of doors. Thank you. Is that Enigma? No. Enigma was broken, this is the follow-up. The SIGABA. Never broken. Cold War's greatest encryption machine. Tides of history tick with this motor and these rotors. One day everyone's going to want a machine like this. Wow. I always wanted to learn cryptography. What's this one? The hotline. First direct link between Washington and Moscow. Probably prevented World War Three. You got a name? How do I know you're not the enemy? Oh, sorry, uh, Snowden. Ed Snowden. Hank Forrester. Where'd you study, Snowden? Mostly I'm self-taught. You can tell me if you're busy, but is that a Cray-1? Why, yes. Yes, it is. The first supercomputer. You get all of this on a cellphone now. Yeah. So you're, um, an engineer? Am I an engineer? Instructor and counsellor, too. I'm supposed to keep an eye on you CTs. Make sure you don't buckle under the pressure, turn to drugs and booze. Well, you won't have that problem with me, I don't drink or do drugs. What is your sin of choice? Er, computers. Wow, that's noted. You've come to the right little whorehouse. The front lines in the global war on terror are not in Iraq or Afghanistan. They're here... ..in London... ..Berlin... ..Istanbul. Any server, any connection, the modern battlefield... ..is everywhere. Which means you don't have to the sit in the ditch eating MREs or dodging mortar fire. It means that if there is another 9/11, it'll be your fault. Just as the last one was my generation's. Believe me, you do not want to live with that burden. We're going to start with an aptitude test. INTENSIVE TYPING Each of you is going to build a covert communications network in your home city. You're going to deploy it, back up your site, destroy it and restore it again. The point of this exercise is to keep your infrastructure up and running securely. The average test time is five hours. You take more than eight, you will fail. Mr O'Brian? I'm done, sir. You don't have to tell me when you've completed a stage. No, I, uh, finished the whole thing. It's been 40 minutes. 38. What? 38 minutes. OK. Let's see where you screwed up. You didn't say we had to do it in order, sir, so I, erm... I broke the sequence to save time and I automated the backup process to run as I built the site. Eyes on screens. INTENSIVE TYPING Sir? What should I do now? Whatever you want. Hey. Hi. Finally. Yeah. Um, sorry. Do you want, um, anything? No. Let's go for a walk. You could use some sun. Yeah. You mentioned that earlier. Sorry it took me this long. I just... You didn't want to see me on crutches. I was not so agile. And then this new job hit. So... Oh, yeah, what was it you were doing again? I'm doing analysis for the State Department. Right. Congratulations. Thanks. You're welcome. Hey, can you do me a favour and, um, point in the direction of the State Department? Uh... Yeah, it's that way. Where? Are you sure? I mean, I'm not that great at orienting myself... Not that great at lying, either. You're gonna have to work on both if you wanna be a spy. Where I came from, everyone's parents worked for the "State Department". Plus, every time you visited my website this week, which was quite often, it was from an IP in Virginia. You know how to run an IP trace? Yeah. I'm pretty sure that the State Department has no offices in Virginia. HE CHUCKLES Huh? All right, let's see you strut it. Let's see what? Let's see you strut it. Show me what you got, you know. Your best catwalk. Don't be shy. Come on. You got this. Uh... All right. I don't know. PROTESTOR: Drop Bush, not bombs! OTHERS JOINING IN: Drop Bush, not bombs! Excuse me. Would you mind signing our petition, please? Yes, absolutely. Thank you. Thank you so much. Sir? No, thank you. Excuse me, ma'am. Would you like to sign? I actually just signed. Yeah. OK. Thank you very much. Thank you. Too much independent spirit for you? Uh, no, I just don't really like bashing my country. It's my country too and, right now, it has blood on its hands. Sorry, I just... I have friends who are over there right now. I'm not talking about the troops. I'm talking about the moron sending them to war. Moron? You mean our Commander-in-Chief? Yeah, whatever you want to call him. He's still wrong. How do you know he's wrong? You're just lashing out. No, I'm not lashing out. I'm questioning our government. That's what we do in this country. That is the principle that we were founded on. OK, but how about questioning the liberal media? I mean, you're just buying into what one side is saying. Maybe I am, cos my side is right. See, that's funny, cos my side's right. Oh, really? Yeah. Uh... Why is it smart conservatives always make me so mad? Probably because you don't like hearing the truth. You are a very frustrating individual, you know that? How am I going to make you see? I can see just fine, thank you. That help at all? Nope. No, that did nothing for me. Tastes like liberal. It's not my thing. "Bush lets US spy on callers without courts." Is it constitutional to bypass the courts? No. The Fourth Amendment prevents searches and seizures without a warrant. That's absolutely right, Rio. Which means your Commander-in-Chief, the President of the United States, is breaking the law. That is what you're saying, isn't it, Rio? Well, I guess it depends on who you talk to. And if you talk to journalists? Who, more often than not, don't have the full picture, or neglect to report it, you only get a partial truth. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The FISA Court. We do respect the Fourth Amendment in this country, and we issue warrants based on suspicion. But sometimes these warrants have to be issued by secret courts, so we don't alert the suspects we're spying on. And these court proceedings are classified, which means, surprise... They don't appear in papers such as The New York Times. Did you see my test scores? Yes. Top of my class. Like you. What, here? NSA. They liked me plenty. They put me on all the best teams. Soviet frontier. Desert Storm. And then the big new challenge, find the terrorist in the internet haystack. Hell of a haystack. Hundreds of terabytes a minute. I mean, it would take you 400 years to read the emails. Then you have to analyse them. Sometimes, the more you look, the less you see. What'd you come up with? Something beautiful. In house. For $3 million. A programme that could differentiate between foreign and domestic, encrypt every signal we weren't targeting, so it would remain private. It was elegant, streamlined. It was the best work I ever did. Have a seat. What was it called? Ed, rising to the top in our world can sometimes be hard on a man. I mean... You think you're making strides, you think you're taking the initiative. And then, the next minute, they grind your work out of existence. They didn't use it? Why not? Well, they never tell you why. Two years later, after 9/11, a friend of mine tells me about this new contractor programme they're using. Costs $4 billion to deploy. Modelled after mine but with no filters, no automation. Ingested everything. They were drowning in data. It was a fucking disaster. OK, but there must have been some bigger picture, right? I mean, spending that kind of money? They're not stupid. You would think intelligence would count for something in the intelligence business. Right. But you wanna know what it really is? What really sets the agenda? Military industrial happiness management. You keep the coffers open in Congress, you keep the money flowing to the contractors. Efficiency, results? They go out the window. Not to mention... All right. Well, you're late for class. BELL RINGS OK. Thank you. Can I take another one? Sure. Did you ever say anything to anybody? Yeah. I went to legal. We filed complaints. Now here I am, tucked away, teaching you. Maybe that's more important, in the long run. You're getting better. * My favourite spot on campus. You hunt, Ed? Uh... Did some skeet shooting with my dad a few times, but, no, I never went hunting. We'll go one day. That'd be great. Mr O'Brian, can I ask you a question? How about just calling me Corbin? OK. Thank you, sir. Uh, Corbin. I was talking with Hank Forrester, and I wanted to know are all of our SIGINT programs specifically targeted? Of course. What good would they be if they weren't? Hmm? Yeah, I don't know. You have a girlfriend, Ed? Uh, nothing serious. What's her name? Lindsay. Lindsay. She going with you? No, I wouldn't want to put her in any danger. Well, you won't have to. We're not sending you to the Middle East. Sir, I'm your best student. Doesn't that count for something? In 20 years, Iraq will be a hellhole nobody cares about. Terrorism's a short-term threat. The real threats will come from China, Russia, Iran, and they'll come as SQL injections and malware. Without minds like yours, this country will be torn apart in cyberspace. I don't want to risk losing you for some horseshit war over sand and oil. Sir, I'm surprised to hear you say that. You don't have to agree with your politicians to be a patriot. PHONE RINGS Sir, where are you sending me? Take a moment. Enjoy the view. Hey. OVERLAPPING ELECTRONIC CHATTER KNOCKING This is Laura. Hello. Hello, nice to meet you. Hello, I'm Ewen MacAskill from the Guardian. It's nice to meet you. Nice to meet you, too. Um, if you don't mind, uh, I'd like to record some of... Uh... Cell phones go in the microwave. Dare I ask why? We'll get to that. After you ask your questions. Yeah, before... Before we get on to the stories, I need to know more about you. Your career, by Glenn's account is very varied, but the Guardian needs evidence that... Yeah. This is my diplomatic passport for friendly countries, my tourist passport for everywhere else. You can check the visa stamps. This is my NSA badge with Booz Allen, my CIA badge with Dell, and this is my DIA instructor's badge. This is a photo of me with Michael Hayden, who's a former head of the NSA and the CIA. When can you publish? OK, um, do you mind if I sit down? No, please. Uh, Glenn says you want to, uh... You want to tell people your identity. How do you think your government's going to react? Well, they'll charge me under the Espionage Act. And they'll say I endangered national security, and they'll demonise me, and my friends and family. And they'll throw me in jail. That's the best-case scenario. And the worst? Well, if I don't have any media cover, then I'll be rendered by the CIA and interrogated outside of the law. And they have a station right up the street. But how would they know what you did? Because I left a digital footprint in my logs, so they'll figure it out. I did not want a manhunt. I know what they would do to my colleagues. Look, Mr MacAskill, uh, this is not about money or anything for me. There's no hidden agenda. I just wanted to get this data to established journalists like yourselves, so that you can present it to the world, and the people can decide either I'm wrong or there's something going on inside the Government that's really wrong. So... This one is everything I have on your British intelligence agency, the GCHQ. An encryption key will follow. You're gonna want your technical people at the Guardian to look through that thoroughly. There's a lot of stuff there. Listen, they're gonna investigate, and they're gonna figure out what I've done. And then they're gonna come for me. And now that we've made contact... ..they're gonna come for all of you, too. Uh... Um... Do you mind if I go look in the microwave? Ewen. I'm on with Stuart. Hi, Ewen. Hi, Stuart. Look, I've got one thing to say. The Guinness here is great. Wonderful... Oh, absolutely the genuine article. Good. But shockingly different from what you'd expect. So... Now we have the lawyers to deal with. And no doubt the White House. I got the go-ahead. That's great. Oh, good. Let's get started. We have a lot to go through here, and it's not easy reading. We can start by showing him XKeyscore. Good idea. Ed, can you bring it up again and walk us through it? Yeah. Do we all get under there now? He's protecting his passwords. OK. So... This was introduced during my first deployment at the CIA in Geneva. XKeyscore. What does that do? It's like a search interface. What does it search for? Anything you want. What was your assignment in Geneva? Well, I was assigned with diplomatic cover to the UN mission to maintain the CIA's computer security network. I spent almost two years around CIA field officers. MAN: I don't see a time stamp on any of this. MAN: We have a confirmation on the GSS. I'm sorry, sir, I don't understand. Sherman says you hacked the Human Resources site. Yeah, it's my job to find flaws. The security of the HR site is not your problem. You went outside the wheelhouse. OK, but just to clarify, I did not hack it, I showed that it could be hacked. You told me to find a patch. You have that in writing? Yes, I do. Remember, I sent you the proof of concept. Doesn't matter what you did, Snowden. Right or wrong, you need to let these things be someone else's problem. He's also put a derog in your file. Excuse me? Let that be a lesson. I don't want him calling me again about another Ed Snowden moment. OK? Why don't you take it easy the rest of the day. Go work on the scrubbing pile. That didn't look like it went well. Oh, hey, man. Uh, yeah. No, I just got a derog for doing my job. Politics, man. The culture of fear wins again. I can't get anything done here. Yeah. Hey, um, what about that idea that we were talking about? I'm working on it. I'm waiting for a call back from our friend at the Hill. Who, Corbin? You called Corbin? Hmm. You think he can do something? We'll see. Maybe some limited field ops under my supervision. Yes, that would be amazing. I would love... Easy, Ed. I've gotta see a cleric in Milan. We'll talk after. OK. Thank you. Damn, CIA does not like to leave a trace, huh? Can I help you? You get curious to check one out? See what kind of crazy-ass covert kill mission you might be erasing from history? I'm sorry, who are you with? No Such Agency. I'm Gabriel Sol. I'm the 50-pound brain from the Council of Wizards and Warlocks. Excuse me? Giving you your Intel for Bucharest, dude. Oh. Unless there's another Dave Churchyard. No. That's me. Right this way. I'll be right outside. Stay if you want. Uh, no, I don't have authorisation to use NSA programs. Well, if you're the messenger to Bucharest, you must have a PRIVAC clearance to see the finished Intel, yes? Yeah... Yeah, so what difference does it make if you see how it's put together? Well, it's up to you, man. Uh, you're giving me just names? Uh, and a lot more than names. What I will be providing you and the fine gentlemen of the Secret Service is a list of every threat made about the President since February 3rd. And a profile of every threat-maker. And these are, like, existing targets? 99% are gonna come from the bulk collection programme, so... Upstream, Muscular, Tempora, PRISM. PRISM? You got a little Snow White in you. Which makes me feel like the witch bringing you a poisoned apple. Here. Exhibit A. Oakland resident Justin Pinsky posted on a message board, "Romania has a storied history of executing their leaders, "couldn't they do us a solid and take out Bush?" Now, this looks juicy. This is from a G-chat. "...with the biggest python you've ever seen." Hmm. How is this all possible? Um, keyword selectors. "Attack," "take out Bush." So think of it as a Google search, except instead of searching only what people make public, we're also looking at everything they don't. So... Emails, chats, SMS, whatever. Yeah, but which people? The whole kingdom, Snow White. Which ambassador was he again? De La Hoya, with World Trade Organisation. Right. HUBBUB, CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYING So... O'Brian came through for you. He agrees your talents are being wasted. You ready for a little action? Really? What, you mean right here? Yeah. Now. See the woman in the pink number? Credit Suisse. JP Morgan's on her arm. Grandma's with Deutsche Bank. Ten thousand bankers in this town. All you need to turn is one. OK, now, I have to go to Bucharest tomorrow on official business. That's fine. Start slow. It's like dating. You don't have to fuck on the first night. Unless you're feelin' it. Socialise. Meet a few. Preferably ones sitting on a pile of dirty Saudi money that's funding bin Laden. It's been nice talking to you, Mr Church. Church. Sure. Churchyard. So, then, as an exile, what are your views on the present government? Um, I didn't actually say anything about exile, but, um... You know what? I need to pop to the loo, so maybe I'll catch you later? Oh, OK. Bye. Well, I work for the IT department, and I'm fascinated with Russian history. (SPEAKS RUSSIAN) (SPEAKS RUSSIAN) Mr Debrinin asks your business card, please. You don't know any bankers, do you? Bankers? Are you on some kind of assignment or something? Um, "relationship cultivating". And not well. Let me help you. No. Yeah. No, this is serious. I know it's serious. Trust me. Any luck? No, no bites. I too have failed. Is there some kind of trick to it? Getting laid? Sure. Dozens. No, I mean turning someone. It's all about finding the pressure point. Everything else is just pushing on it. Looks like you're being summoned. ..we have to pay extra... Marwan? May I interrupt? This is my boyfriend, Dave. Hello, Dave. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Marwan works at Monfort. We were talking, and after last week, he may be able to give you some tips. Gentlemen, I'll see you inside. Last week? He's embarrassed. It was a lot of money for us. Day trading is a perilous sport. You shouldn't be ashamed of it. Yeah. I'm gonna grab some food. See you guys inside? Sure. You have a lovely girlfriend. Thank you so much. You know, I work in IT, and so I just figured I could crack the market like a weak network. May I ask, how precipitous were your losses? Well, I told Lindsay it was 20,000, but between you and me, it was closer to 45. Tried to recoup, but that was a mistake, and now without any real grounding, I feel like I'm just sliding out of control. Oh, I have seen it many times. And I'm always happy to help a man break a bad habit before it gets going. Oh, thank you. I really appreciate that. This is the cleanest Pakistani I've ever seen. We got no first-degree ties to government or ISI, no shady family. I mean, second-degree contacts are off the charts, but that's... I mean, that's everyone in the Middle East with a six-figure income. Well, it's not dirt that we need necessarily, it's a pressure point. Something intimate, some kind of weakness. Can we look through his family? Mmm-hmm. How about his sister-in-law? Yeah. What is that, is that some video that she sent somebody? No, this is live. Out of Paris. What do you mean, live? Optic Nerve. It's camera and mic activation. I wish we could take credit, but the Brits wrote it. Activation? Yeah, her laptop's off. Or was, she just forgot to close it. Of course, how would she know? This shit is so sly, the webcam light doesn't even turn on. Hmm. I always wondered what was under those. OK, look, let's stick to family in Geneva. All right? OK, Snow White. Uh... 15-year-old daughter at the International School. Yeah. Uh, Facebook? Is that possible? Dude, Facebook's my bitch. Seriously? Like, she fights with her parents, or... Don't worry, don't worry. I know all the hooks for this kind of fishing. Uh, query name. So email, keyword, whatever selector you want. And justification is where I write... In other words, turning your daddy into a CIA informant. Wait, that's it? That's it, bro. You don't have to get a FISA court order? Mm-mm. No, not here. XKeyscore's under 702 authority, which means no warrants. OK, but US targets, then, you'd have to get the court order? You mean FISA? Yeah, they're just a big-ass rubber stamp, dude. I mean, FISA judges are all appointed by the Chief Justice, who's like, you know... ..Darth Vader when it comes to national security. Boom. Here we go. OK, OK. And the boy at third base is... ..Nadim. OK. He's 18. Salma says she wants to marry him, but is scared of telling her parents. What she doesn't know is that his other name is Nicolas. And he's currently banging Geraldine and Julie. And... He and his Turkish mother are here illegally. That's it. * Hey. Sorry I'm so late. How was work? It was, uh... It was all right. You know... I have to wake up in, like, three hours. My flight's at 7. Well, we'd better be quick, then. UNSETTLING MUSIC DANCE MUSIC PUMPS DANCER: Ah, you like that? I love these. How was Bucharest? Well, President didn't get shot, so... Man, what are we doing here? You're making people very happy. Mr Marwan's bank handles serious Saudi money and a whole bunch of Russian billionaires. What about any Al-Qaeda money? Anything promising? Ed, I'm up for a promotion soon. I will not forget my friends. Thank you. This is all going kind of fast, though, right? I mean, I just sent some initial background. There he is! The man! Hey, Marwan! Dave. How wonderful to see you. Good to see you, too. Uh, I was counting, Marwan ` you snuck in an extra half hour back there. I'm afraid she was merely listening to an old man's woes. Oh, I see. So, how are you, Marwan? I must tell you, Dave, since we met, my life has gone somewhat topsy-turvy. Oh, no, I'm sorry to hear that. But your colleague Charles here has graciously offered his help. So I owe him and you a great deal. Can I ask what happened? My daughter had an... Marwan's daughter took too many sleeping pills. She's all right. It had something to do with her boyfriend, who was recently deported. We're trying to secure a visa for him. And even so, I'm afraid that Salma will... I'm sorry. I won't trouble you with such matters. No, no, you... Hey. You talk as much as you want. All right? Family comes first. MARWAN LAUGHING Whoa! Oh! There's my beauty. I'm never like this before. Oh, sure. No, of course. You sit down, huh? Sit tight. You sit tight. What the fuck's going on? I have been acting swiftly and effectively on the very good signals intelligence you've provided. And if his daughter had died? We could have used that too. Are you serious? What, in the name of a promotion? Marwan can't be away from his family right now. So in the morning, when he's facing a week of jail, we're going to offer him a deal and he won't turn it down. Wait, jail? For what? Drunk-driving. Now, I want you to call the police. Tell 'em you saw a Mercedes headed north... No, he's not driving right now. Look at him, he'll kill himself. OK. I'll call 'em. Hey! He's not driving. Remind me, are you authorised on any of the NSA programs you used? So we're both doing a little fucked-up shit here, huh? Watch yourself, Ed. I will tell him who you are. You reveal the identity of an undercover officer, you're going to jail for a lot longer than Marwan. Hey! I will provide our intelligence and law enforcement agencies with the tools they need to track and take out the terrorists without undermining our Constitution and our freedom. (DOOR OPENS) That means no more illegal wire-tapping of American citizens, no more ignoring the law when it is inconvenient. That is not who we are. Hey, hon. Hey. What happened to the London trip? Uh... Turns out I'm not going. Oh. What's going on? Who's winning? ..and Michelle Obama voted this morning in Chicago. I voted. In Arizona... Still early. ..John and Cindy McCain voted, and then they landed in Colorado to defend a traditionally Republican state that has turned into a battleground. Hey. Let's see. Obama ahead 67% to 32%... Come on, big ears. Check out Florida. Holy shit, he's gonna win it! What, Florida? Yeah! That's big. It's huge! You can act all nonchalant, but I know you were starting to root for him. I've been watching your inner liberal grow. For which I will take a modest percentage of the credit. And you deserve it. What is this? ...in Missouri. 56% for McCain, 43% for Obama. Oh, yeah, that. Just... Leave that there. That's, uh... Russian hackers. The Agency says they can activate webcams now. So... That's creepy. Yes. It's really bothering me. Whatever. It's not a big deal. You shouldn't let it bother you. It's not a big deal? No. What, that someone could be watching you right now? No, I'm not hiding anything. That's such a bullshit line. What is? "I have nothing to hide." I don't. Everyone does. OK, well, then, what do I have to hide? Forget it. No, what do I have to hide? No, never... Let's just drop it. Well, apparently you think that I'm hiding something, so... OK, the other day, your computer was open, and I happened to notice you were on the site where we met, and you were looking at other guys. You just were looking at my computer? I wouldn't have even brought this up. You asked me, "What do I have to hide?" That's something you're not telling me. Well, it's not... I don't do anything, I don't meet any of those people. You're gone for weeks at a time. So it's like I'm peering into other peoples' lives because my own is just temporarily on hold. That sounds like an excuse. It's the truth. I should have told you. And I didn't. I'm sorry. But it's not a big deal. Hey. Look at me. I don't want anyone else. I don't want any other life. OK? Listen, uh... I didn't go to London today cos I resigned. What? It was personal differences, and it was a matter of principle. Can you tell me anything else? Do you get reposted, or... No, no, I resigned from the CIA. So what does that mean? What do we do? I don't know. I'll figure it out, but, listen, I... This is a good thing. Trust me. I do. Hey. He's gonna win. TV: 52% for Obama, 48% for McCain. Yeah, he'd better. CNN can now project that Barack Obama, 47 years old, will become the President of the United States. Every agency and department should know that this administration stands on the side not of those who seek to withhold information but those who seek to make it known. * We need to establish that we're not compromising national security by publishing. The longer you sit on this, the less chance you have of getting it out. We need to have alternatives. This is not the moment to start exercising your vendetta against corporate media. Actually, I think it's the perfect moment. Ed has thousands of documents. We need to publish story after story on our own terms until there's real change. Is corporate media gonna do that? Listen, Ed, the real issue here is that they, the White House, are aware that Janine has a leaked top secret FISA court order. Anything could happen. They could subpoena the Guardian and, for that matter, they could break through that door any minute, ending all of this. We are running out of time. We seriously have to think about doing this on our own website. We have no choice. Wait, you can't just start dumping articles on the internet, Glenn! Be serious. Look at WikiLeaks. It destroyed their credibility. Look, Ed, you said it yourself, if this isn't done properly, the world isn't gonna take notice. You need experienced journalists to lead the public through some very, very complicated stories. We are experienced journalists. My feeling... PHONE RINGS Has anyone called here before? Not once. Not in three weeks. Well, I'll... Shall I answer it? I'll tell 'em it's the wrong number. Yes? No, I don't. OK. Thank you. Asking if I want turndown service. She said the "Do not disturb" sign was off the door. So? Do we wait or...go on our own? Look, I said from the beginning that how you publish is your business, and I trust you. The only thing I ask is you study the data, you be responsible, no names, no specifics, anything ongoing that's critical, you don't release. You just stick to the issue of mass surveillance and let the people decide. You have our word on that, but that's not the question. We have to ask... Look, Ed, Ed, right now the White House is arranging a conference call between Janine and the intelligence services. Now that's gonna happen in a few hours. Let's at least wait for that, see what they say to her. I'd say we pause a moment. Yeah, I think we should reassemble in this room after the call takes place, so that's around midnight. Be noon in New York. All right. I'll take another pass at the PRISM story in the meantime. OK. We'll be in our hotel room if you need us, OK? Thanks, Ewen. Yeah. OK. Uh, do you mind maybe we take a break from that? For a second? Oh, yeah. Sure, sorry. You wanna take a look? Might make you feel better. Oh. It's not recording, just on standby. OK. When did this start for you? Not wanting your photo taken? Uh, probably in Japan. I remember every time a camera got pointed at me, it was like... Couldn't breathe. Why was that? I probably, uh, spent too much time looking at other people through cameras. Japan was your first NSA job, right? Yeah, well, as a contractor with Dell. Had a lot of access. Why'd you go back after Geneva? Cos of the money, and cos I wanted to live in Japan. And because of Obama, actually. You know, I thought things were gonna get better with him. I was wrong. What was it like there? Well, in the first part of my day, I was building this round-the-clock backup system called Epic Shelter. So, if there was some catastrophe, say, uh, terrorists burned down every embassy and NSA post in the Middle East, this programme would ensure we wouldn't lose any of that data. But then I would have to put it aside when visitors would show up. Hi, Ed. NSA wanted to impress the Japanese, show them our reach. They loved the live drone feeds. This is over Pakistan. Right now. They were not as thrilled to learn that we wanted them to help us spy on the Japanese population. They said it was against their laws. 'Course, we tapped the entire country anyway. And we didn't stop there, cos once we owned their communications systems, we started going after their physical infrastructure. We'd slip these little sleeper programmes into power grids, dams, hospitals, and the idea was if the day came when Japan was no longer an ally, it'd be lights out. And it wasn't just the Japanese. We were planting malware in Mexico, Germany, Brazil, Belgium. I mean, China I can understand, or Russia, or Iran, or Venezuela, OK. But Belgium? You're also being ordered to follow most world leaders and heads of industry. You know, you're tracking trade deals, sex scandals, diplomatic cables to give the US an advantage in negotiations at the G8, or leverage over Brazilian oil companies, or helping to oust some third-world leader who's not playing ball. And ultimately, the truth sinks in that no matter what justification you're selling yourself, this is not about terrorism. Terrorism is the excuse. This is about economic and social control. And the only thing you're really protecting is the supremacy of your government. Were you thinking about going to journalists then? No. No, that wouldn't have occurred to me back then. I just thought, you know, the system will self-correct and the President will keep his promise that got him elected... That's actually when I first started reading about you and your films. It was in Glenn's blog. You were being detained in airports for hours. 37 times. For investigating your own country's wars. That's why I'm going back to Berlin to edit. You can trust me with this. I do. Yeah. I haven't trusted anyone in... ..years. It was a welcome change when they put me on terrorism watch duty. Every day, I'd go in and I'd get starting points for SIGINT, which is signals intelligence. A lot of them were American, which felt strange, but you just keep reminding yourself, I could stop a dirty bomb attack and save thousands of lives. The thing is you're not just following your bad guy targets. You're also following their metadata, which is basically all the phone numbers that they're in touch with. Let's say your target is a shady Iranian banker operating out of Beirut, OK. So you're watching his stuff, but you're also watching all the people that he talks to. Including, you know, his cousin, who's just some dentist living in Buffalo. And then you have to watch all of that guy's contacts. And by the time you go a third hop out from the original target, you're watching this bartender chat with her mother about Botox. Cos three hops from anyone with, say, 40 contacts, you're looking at a list of 2.5 million people. And there's that moment when you're sitting there and the scale of it hits you. The NSA is really tracking every cellphone in the world. No matter who you are, every day of your life, you're sitting in a database just ready to be looked at. And not just terrorists or countries or corporations, but you. Was Lindsay with you in Japan? Japan was... ..difficult for us. I guess you couldn't talk about your work. No. There was this one night, uh, towards the end, when, uh... ..we were supposed to go climb Mount Fuji the next day... Wow. Are you going to post that on Twitter? No. They're just for me. What do you think? You should delete those. That's not quite the artistic critique I was going for. I'm sorry. You just... You should... You can't have stuff like that on your hard drive. Yes, I can. Can you just please... I'm asking you, can you delete them? Russian hackers again? No... Is it us? It's classified. Am I a target? Of course not. Clearly someone is looking at my nude portraits. OK. I shouldn't have brought it up. All right? It's issues of national security. Well, I am flattered that my boobs are considered an issue of national security, but you're going to have to do a lot better than that. I'd rather not talk about stuff that could land us in jail. So that's what the Band-Aids are about, then? And your camera phobia? Because of work? Are they watching us? Who are they watching? No-one, OK? Let's just stop talking about it. Let's go to bed and wake up in the morning... ..and go climb this fucking mountain. All right? Of course we're not going to talk about it. What is that supposed to mean? It means that we don't talk about anything any more. You work 12-hour days, you come home depressed, you play fucking video games, and then you fall asleep. Yeah, I'm tired cos I have a job. That's what pays for this apartment in the most expensive city in the world. Which you asked me to come to knowing that I did not have a work visa. OK, what if you had one? Would you really give up your beautiful life of eating and sleeping and going out all the time? You think you'd really want a career? A career like yours? Where I'm miserable all the time? No. That's called responsibility. Fuck this. You know what? You have no fucking idea what it's like to be accountable for other people's lives, because you live in a fairy tale land where just there are no consequences and no-one ever gets hurt. No. No, you, you don't get hurt. I get fucking crushed. Fucking bullshit! I've done nothing to you! That's exactly right. You have done nothing! You don't hang out with me, you don't laugh with me, you don't even fucking touch me any more. I'm sorry. Stop! No! We, uh, never made it to Mount Fuji. And Lindsay left pretty soon after that, and... ..I was really lonely there. But after three months, I left too. I went back to Maryland. DOORBELL RINGS And I promised her I'd change. And, uh, we moved back in together. Make sure your knees stay bent and then you can fully extend once you feel stable. Ready? One, two, three. All the way up. And you want to clench between your knees. It'll burn, but it's a good burn! Perfect. Twirl around. Perfect! Oh, my God, I'm so proud of you! When you're really happy, there's a large part of you that just wants to stay happy. And you start to think, what could be more important than this? What?! Is it OK? Oh, my God. It's so beautiful. You know, lots of people cruise happily through life. Why can't I? But every time I felt like I was finally letting go of all the anxiety and all the questions that used to keep me up at night, I'd learn something else, and I just couldn't ignore it. Like there were these three high-level officials at the NSA ` Bill Binney, Ed Loomis and Kirk Wiebe. They'd been filing complaints about abuse and overreach for years. That's all they did. They just filed complaints. And the FBI raided their homes. Then there was Thomas Drake. Like the other three guys, Drake was trying to change things from the inside, but when nothing worked, he did go to the press. So they hit him with the Espionage Act, and we were shocked. The whole intel community. Why do you think you were charged? To send a chilling message. To whom? To other whistle-blowers, to others in the government not to speak out. 'Do not tell truth to power; we'll hammer you.' I'd gone back to work for the CIA, and my official title was Solutions Consultant. Basically, I was hawking overpriced hardware for a living. But I thought you had resigned? Yeah, well, it was all contract work after Geneva. You know, it's Booz Allen Hamilton or Dell, in partnership with CIA or NSA, DIA. That's the intelligence community's revolving door. How was it? Being back in the States? It was, uh... It was really good to be home. But Maryland was where things started to turn for me. * There's a new programme being developed at the NSA's op centre on Oahu. You'd be going up against Chinese cyber divisions. You interested? Won't be the vast sums of money you're making now, but you'd be performing a critical service for your country and I know that's important to you. You mean service like in Geneva? Matt was a mistake. Shouldn't have pushed you into that. You didn't push me into it. I asked for exposure to field ops, you gave it to me. I won't hold that against you. Is there something you do hold against me? You didn't tell me we were running a dragnet on the whole world, Corbin. GUNSHOTS GUNSHOT Great shooting, Ed. Thank you. That's terrific. It's the one thing in the Army I was good at. You ever think, Ed, since the Second World War, it's been 60 years and still no WWIII. Why? Because we've used our power, generally, for the good of the world. For prosperity, order. How can we defend ourselves against nuclear war, terror attacks, cyber-attacks without a centralized Intel factory working around the world night and day? So we should catalogue billions of people's lives? Most people already catalogue their lives for public consumption. Well, they catalogue part of their lives, and they do it by choice. We're not giving them the choice. We're just taking everything. Most Americans don't want freedom; they want security. It's a simple bargain. If... Good girl! Good girl! If you want to play with all the new toys and be safe, you pay the price of admission. Yeah, except people, they don't even know they've made that bargain. Where's the modern battlefield, soldier? Everywhere. What's the first rule of battle? Never reveal your position. And if one unauthorised person knew? If Congress knew? Then so would the enemy. That, Mr Snowden, is the state of the world. Secrecy is security, and security is victory. Thank you, sir. There's someone I want you to meet. Beautiful day for it, wasn't it? Perfect weather. Mr Lowell. Jim. How are you? Dorian. Alan. Nice to see you. Welcome to the US. How'd you make out today, Corbin? Uh, very mediocre. Nothing like Ed here. Apparently the Army's training people to shoot straight. So this is Ed Snowden. Yes, sir. Pleasure to meet you. The brains behind Epic Shelter. That's right. That's brilliant work. Thank you, sir. Yeah, I had a few questions I wanted to ask you. Uh, Jim. Will you excuse me, gentlemen? Excuse me, Alan. Nice to meet you. Sure. Yeah, it's proving very useful to our UAV programme. Yes, I heard. With foreign site Intel transfer. Transfers happen on collection now. They go straight to the Pentagon, Mossad if they need it. Actionable immediately. No-one sees it. It's improved the response time of our drone pilots by a factor of ten. Tell me, Ed. You worked signals intelligence in Japan too, yes? Yes, sir. How'd you like it? It was a very empowering job, sir. With this new job in Hawaii, you'd have even more access. I asked Corbin to start the conversation, but the offer is mine. Take your time. It's going to take a few months to get this programme on its feet. If you'll excuse me, gentlemen, I see dinner. Beer, sir? Thank you. Sir, for you? Uh, no, thank you. Epic Shelter was meant as a backup programme. Lowell is creating this position for you, Ed. You'd be the first contractor outside Fort Meade working counter-cyber. It's your ticket to the top. Do you believe the United States is the greatest country in the world? Yes. Have you ever used any programmes you were unauthorised for? No. We're not usually supposed to submit our own work, but my editor said she'd make an exception. Pretty neat, huh? I get to submit an entry. You ignoring me on purpose or what? No. Sorry. Sh... Uh... I was just thinking. About what? I wanted to talk to you about it at dinner, but let's just... Will you come sit down? Is everything OK? Yeah. Um... The, uh, Deputy Director of the NSA... Hmm? He offered me a new position. And, uh, that was a while back, and now they need an answer. Well, is it something you want to do? I'd be good at it. Can you tell me anything about it? You know I can't. I know. Mission first. Well, are there social perks? White House galas, maybe? The position is... ..in Hawaii. We worked really hard to get where we're at. And you're willing to just rip it all up again? Like, we finally have a house that we love, and a job that I like and real friends, and we're close to our families. I understand. And if you want to stay, then we're staying. That's it. Don't just say that cos I want to hear it. I'm not. I let you go once, I'm not going to do it again. METAL RATTLES Shit. I'm sorry. The pasta. It's going to... One sec. You know, I think I actually came pretty close to getting it right this time. I'll get some candles. Oh, my God! Ed! Ed! Ed! INAUDIBLE I know Tegretol. I know it slows you down, cos I've seen it in my mom. She's taken all kinds of medications her whole life. Well, they work in 70% of cases. Ed, epilepsy is a serious condition. If you have a seizure driving yourself, or with someone else in the car, or you're in a place where you could fall, this is not something to be lightly regarded. It's essential you commit yourself to this medication. OK? Yeah. After you. Oh, thank you! I've been thinking about what the doctor said. About less stress. A warmer climate could help. If Hawaii is something that we decide would be better for you... ..I'll go. Janine, how'd the White House conversation go? I made it quite clear that we were in possession of an authentic FISA court order. They wanted to see it. We refused. Now I just pray that it's actually authentic. Are you actually questioning that? Glenn, no-one has ever seen a FISA court order. There's no precedent here. Our source risked his life for that document. It's real. Tell us, did the White House make any specific claims about national security that would prevent you from publishing? No. I asked them repeatedly, and they had no substantive answer. Then there you go. What more do you want? You can go out and know that you're safe. Glenn, I'd like to talk to Alan before we go any further. When does he land? In six hours. No. Absolutely not. We're sitting ducks here, Janine. It's 1pm in New York. If you don't get this out in the next four hours, you'll miss the Evening News on the East Coast. But we can post later tonight. I'm sorry, Glenn, but Alan's our editor in chief, and I really think that... Bullshit! The government knows that we have these documents now. The CIA could barge through this door any minute and you want more time! Act like a fucking journalist and stop stringing us along! I just stood my ground with the goddamn White House. I've risked my career. How dare you question my commitment to this story? OK, let's just keep our voices down... No, you're right. I am questioning it. This is absolutely inappropriate. We are publishing ourselves. You're out. All right, Glenn. We'll have it ready by 4:00 p.m. I have to go over the story once more. Why? Because it still needs editing, damn you. All this fucking intelligence jargon is hurting our brains. This PRISM story is still incomprehensible. PRISM is the second story, Janine. Verizon is the first story. Have it ready to post by 4:00 p.m., 5:00 at the latest. Ugh... No games, or we're gone. * So, my new job was counter-spying on the Chinese at the NSA Regional Cryptological Centre on Oahu. You mind placing your bag down there, sir? No personal laptops, no USB sticks, no cellphones, no electronic devices of any kind? No, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Snow White! Is that you? Gabriel? Dude, what the hell are you doing here? Wow! That's amazing. Oh, man. What, do you work here? Yeah, yeah. Uh, three years, two months and five days. But who's counting, right? Yeah. It's like who knew a secret underground World War II-era base would become munchie heaven for a thousand geeks, right? So there's good pizza? Good pizza, yeah. That's important. Elevator's slow as shit, though. Jesus. It's something else, huh? Yeah. So, uh, what deck are you working on? You NTOC or ROC? Between you and me? NTOC. Cool. You get to hack the hackers. You're coming up in the world. Fresh brains for you, Trevor. Trevor James, Interactive Ops Division Chief. Ed Snowden. I've been briefed. Next door is NTOC. Defence. That's where you'll be working. Over here we have ROC, our offence. Now, I move between the two. We run a tight ship here, Snowden. Yes, sir. You'll be working with Haynes. Hey. Patrick Haynes. Hey. Nice to meet you. Good to have you. You watch out for him. That's the smartest guy in the building right here. Come on! Bro, how many languages you speak, again? I mean, seven in code, six spoken, two signs. That's cool. Great. Another language I can't understand. Uh, I'll check you later, Ed. OK. See you. Wait for it. Any moment. We got 'em. Lights over Waziristan, gentlemen. Way to go. So, what exactly do we contribute to this? The underside of that Reaper drone is fixed with a big-ass antenna, snarfing the hardware ID of anything that broadcasts. We do the geolocator. My friend Tasha here at the Air Force rains hellfire. There she is now. Hey, Trev. You likin' the show? You know it. We track 'em, you whack 'em. And who did we just track? Not who, what. We're targeting bad guys' cellphones. Sometimes the SIM card. OK, and how do we know the bad guy is in possession of the bad cellphone when we strike? Well, we don't... Course we do. JSOC and CIA have their people in the field. What's the programme name? Epic Shelter. It was originally some backup programme for, um... Catastrophic site failure. Yeah. How did you know that? I built it. You? Yeah. You know I've actually... I've been thinking about, uh, another use for Epic Shelter. What'd you have in mind? Well, I was chatting with Jim Lowell about how there's so many programmes... Deputy Director Lowell? Yeah. Yeah. And we were saying there's so many programmes nowadays, it's kind of impossible to keep track of them any more, right? So why not create a centralized database? Ah. Like an index. Yeah, exactly. Something that updates in real time. you know, we've already got Epic Shelter collecting our finished Intel. We just need a web portal to catalogue it, make it searchable. Let me think about it. In any case, I'd have to run it past Fort Meade. Of course. Did you have a name? Yeah, if it's not taken, I'd call it Heartbeat. Heartbeat. DRONE PILOT: Six, five, four, three, two, one... Engage target. You OK down there? Yep. See, this is why I keep saying we need to hike more. You're right. Hey, can you look at me? Oh! Come on. It's been years! By social media standards, you don't even exist any more. Just one. OK, smile. Show me your teeth! My elusive E, finally captured. So now I'm a viable boyfriend? Yes. Such a shame, you used to be such a cute little model. Little? Yeah. Was I little? Wait! SHE LAUGHS Stop! Oh, my God. What? Think you got some sun! I'm serious, it looks good! Well, that's impossible. Hey, um, I've been meaning to ask you, by the way. Did you switch pharmacies? Cos I tried to pick up your prescription and... ..I couldn't. Why did you do that? Uh, because I was there and thought it would be helpful. I stopped taking the Tegretol. What? When? A couple months ago. And you're just now telling me? I wanted to tell you. I did, I just... I can't take that stuff, it makes me groggy, and I need to be sharp for work. I need to be on the ball all the time. What is it about this fucking job that makes it more important than your life? I don't understand. Our government... Our government what? Our government is haemorrhaging billions of dollars every year to Chinese hackers. And I've been hired to shut them down. A lot of people... ..are depending on me. More so than anyone else? Yes. No, this... This is bullshit. We didn't come to Hawaii for you to heal, did we? There was never going to be a less stressful job out here. Look, I feel like I'm made to do this. And if I don't do it, then I don't know anybody else that can. It's like I'm on a trajectory that I can't turn back from. You can always turn back. What I wanted to see is if you could give me a yes or no answer to the question, "Does the NSA collect any type of data at all "on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans?" No, sir. It does not? Not wittingly. There are cases where they could inadvertently, perhaps, uh, collect, but not wittingly. Oh, really? Thank you, and I'll have additional questions to give you in writing on that point. OK, so, uh, what I wanted to show you guys is, um, the slide I ran across while building this indexing programme. And what is this? OK. So, this is data collection for the month of March worldwide, e-mails and Skype calls. So, France, 70 million. Germany, 500 million. Brazil, two billion. Inside the US, 3.1 billion e-mails and calls. That's not including any of the telecom company data. OK, so what's the collection in Russia? Russia is 1.5 billion. Wait, so we're collecting twice as much in the US as we are in Russia? Yeah, I figured it was a lot, but... This shit is out of hand, man. Wait. Have you shown this to anyone else? No, you guys are the first. Yeah, yeah, you know, I'd be careful about that. You know, it could seem like you're rocking the boat. Yeah, you're right. No, I just, uh, I needed to know if I was the only one that thought this was crazy. What the fuck's going on? Hey, Trev. What are you doing in here? It's nothing. I was just showing them this one slide, I needed some input. Why the heat map? It's my bad, Trev. I made a bet with Ed about which country we were collecting the most signals from. He said Iran, I said Pakistan. Who won? Ed. Yeah, I need to head out. I'll see you guys. You're going down next time, man. Yeah, OK. No more bets. And I don't want anyone unauthorised in here again. Especially not with Heartbeat. You're right. Won't happen again. Happy birthday! ...in Vegas, looking at Afghanistan. So we're running late hours. So this blurry object comes wandering into the strike zone. We all knew that it was a kid. Poof! He's gone. We called in for clarification, and the report came back that it was a dog. OK. Fine. Shift's long, day and night. I don't remember. But same village, two, three days later. We see the funeral party. We knew it was a kid that they were burying. Moms and dads wailing. And then the order comes down. Pretty clear. Hit 'em. Poof! And they are gone in a cloud of dust. I mean, all of them. The whole fuckin' family. But the crazy thing is you come home after work, kiss your wife, your kids, back to work the next day. Pretty soon, you know, it just all becomes routine. Fuck that. You make it sound criminal, man. It's war. It's a job. Oh, I don't know, man. You saying jobs can't be criminal? Not if you're working for the government. You ever hear about the Nuremberg trials, Trev? They weren't that long ago. Yeah. And we hung the Nazi big shots, right? Yeah, well, the big shots were the first trial, but then the next trial were just the judges and lawyers and policemen and guards and ordinary people just doing their jobs, following orders. That's where we got the Nuremberg principles, which then the UN made into international law, just in case ordinary jobs become criminal again. Just sayin'. CLAMOURING You OK? See, I told you not to grab my hand. ...fucking touch me any more. Dude! Dude, are you OK? Oh, my God. Ed, are you OK? Are you OK, man? I think he's having a... Get away, don't touch him. Don't touch him, don't touch him. Don't... Hey, Ed. How are you? How's your health? Hey, Corbin. Uh, it's... It's fine. Thanks for asking. Must be nerve-wrecking living with that condition. You wouldn't know it to look at your numbers. Two hundred Chinese IPs down in your first four months. Those are, uh, internal numbers. Your colleague, Trevor, comes out of the CIA like you. He's been, uh, keeping me informed on your progress. It's outstanding work. Heartbeat as well. Thank you. Thanks. That means a lot. Lowell is very pleased. He, uh, sends his regards. That's great to hear. He, um... ..he doesn't know about your heat map conversations or some of the ideas you've expressed to your colleagues. And he's not going to. Yeah. Uh... You know, Heartbeat is proving a tricky project. Collating from multiple agencies, and knowing where to pull from. It has helped to talk it over with colleagues. I believe in you, Ed. Which is why nothing happened to you after the derog in Geneva. And I'm very grateful you've looked out for me. Or after you, uh... ..omitted the truth in your last polygraph. What was it you were withholding, exactly? Hmm? You remember that day in class, you were talking to us about the FISA Court? You said that they approved Bush's wiretapping programs. Sometimes we're restricted from telling the whole truth. Doesn't give us permission to lie. Come on, Corbin, the Director of National Intelligence just lied to Congress! Sorry. Look at me. Did you access an unauthorised program that I did not know about? Yes. It was, uh... It was at Geneva. It was Lindsay. I was jealous. And I'm sorry. I never did it again. Listen, Ed. I know it's been up and down with you and Lindsay since Geneva. It's tough to keep any relationship going. Few of us do. So if it'll give you any peace of mind, I can assure you she's not sleeping with that photographer friend of hers. If that's what you're thinking. DISTANT: 'I have to go to a Five Eyes conference in Sydney in a couple of weeks. 'I'll stop off in Hawaii on the way back.' OK? OK. Thank you. I'll see you soon. * Hey, Dad. Good. Did you get the e-mail that I sent you with the photos? Uh-huh. Well, I was hoping that you could give me some... What are you doing? Sit down. Your e-mail's being monitored. So? No, it's different now. It's not passive collection, it's full-take surveillance. It's all of your e-mails, calls, texts, social media, everything. It's also possible that the house is bugged. I'm not sure. By who? By a senior officer at the CIA. You in trouble? Is it the Chinese thing? Look, there's things that I wish I could tell you, but I can't, because you could get very hurt. What's keeping you safe is that you don't know anything. I'm sorry, I really am. I didn't want any of this for you. But I know you would think I was doing the right thing. So just listen to me for a sec, OK? When we go back in the house, everything has to appear normal. We're gonna act like nothing has changed, but if you do notice something that's weird, you need to tell me right away. And you're gonna use an encrypted e-mail that I'm setting up for you. Oh, my God, I don't think I can do this. Yes, you can. I know you can. Do I even have a choice? I'm asking you to trust me. And, Linds, I think it'd be best if you went back to Maryland for a while. Tell your parents that I'm away on a business trip and that you're homesick. Are you going away? Yes. But just for a little while. No. No, I can't go. Please. Just until I get back. I can't go. You just said that we have to appear like nothing's changed. If both of us left at the same time, wouldn't that seem suspicious? I will do this for you. But it is the last time. Yo! Yo, you hear about Trevor, bro? No, what? You remember that op to own the internet in Syria? Yeah. Yeah. Trevor and his TAO team crashed the core router. Bro, the whole country's gone dark. Jesus Christ. Figure it out! Poor bastards. OK, I'm gonna, uh... I gotta get to work. Yeah. Yeah, me too. Oh, Ed, how's, uh... How's Heartbeat coming? It's close. It's very close. Pull it up on this monitor. I'm still trying to access... Don't tell me you're involved in this too? Well, Trevor fucking roped me into going through their zero-day exploit codes. This thing is a fucking mess, man. Why did I agree to this? Good luck. This is Patrick... What you're gonna do is you're gonna... INAUDIBLE OK. Get back to work, guys. No, Patrick, show me. Talk about getting hung out to dry. Yeah. Are we set? Trouble with the Navy? One of those idiots ripped some bullshit piece of Israeli code and jammed it down our payload. Can you fucking believe that? Script kiddies. I know, I know. I should have listened to you. God damn it. Is this it? Here. Yeah, this is it. I'm gonna make the goddamn Israelis take the fall for this. Come on. Got it? I'm not taking the fall for this. Patrick. < Still working on it, Trev. Hold on. < Nothing. Still nothing. Yeah, but... You, uh... You headed home already? Yeah. I'm not feeling so well. Might not be in tomorrow either. You know, Trevor's kind of busy, maybe you could let him know for me? Yeah. Yeah, man. It'd be my pleasure. You know, if you're, uh... If you're really not feeling well, dude, maybe you should, uh, go back to the States and see your doctor. I think that, you know, folks would understand that. That sounds like a smart thing. Take care of yourself. Yeah, you too, bro. Hey. Hey. You ever play with one of these? Yeah, when I was a kid. Yeah. You should try it. It's hard. I can't figure this out. I don't know about this. Yeah, you gotta start with the white cross, actually, and then you do the corners. Oh, man. Look, I love these things. Hey, have a good weekend, man. You too, buddy. All right. It's live. There's a link to the FISA court order. Well done, Janine. I told you she wasn't a pushover. Well, it feels so goddamn good to be wrong. * Breaking news tonight. Reports that through a secret court order, the Obama administration is collecting the phone records of millions of Verizon customers. That's been reported by the Guardian newspaper in the UK. The specific court order shows that all the information is going to the National Security Agency... THEY LAUGH How's that for mainstream media, Glenn? They can't shut this down now. And we've got four more days of it. They have no idea what they're in store for. That's fantastic! '..former Speaker of the House is on the grill tonight and joins me now.' 'Another explosive article has just appeared, 'this time in The Washington Post. 'It's breaking news that it reveals 'another broad and secret US government surveillance program. 'The Washington Post and the Guardian in London reporting 'that the NSA and the FBI 'are tapping directly into the central servers 'of nine leading Internet companies, 'including Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, 'Facebook, AOL, Skype, YouTube, and Apple. 'The Post says they're extracting audio, 'video, photographs, e-mails, documents, 'and connection logs that enable analysts 'to track a person's movements and contacts over time.' OBAMA: 'In the abstract, you can complain about Big Brother 'and how this is a potential program run amok. 'But when you actually look at the details, 'then I think we've struck the right balance. ANCHOR: 'US President Barack Obama staunchly defends 'US government programs, 'insisting that they were conducted with broad safeguards 'and to protect against abuse.' GREENWALD: 'He reached the conclusion that what was happening 'inside this really secretive agency was very threatening and menacing 'to privacy rights, to Internet freedom, 'to basic political liberty, not only in the United States, 'but all around the world. 'And he felt it was his duty as a human being to disclose it.' If you stay anonymous for a while, let the magnitude of our stories resonate, public support for your cause will grow. Listen, laddie, you're looking at a possible death sentence, for God's sake. Once people know your identity, they're gonna drag you through the mud. They're gonna call you a terrorist, a traitor, a spy. All the bullshit media spin around your personal life will distract from the real issues. That's exactly why I have to come out now ` so that I can explain my motives and so the world knows I'm acting alone. Look, people like me have been bullied into hiding and making anonymous tips for too long. These are public issues, and I shouldn't have to hide. I'm not going to. But at least let us connect you with lawyers, civil liberties, human rights groups. People that are already on your side. Yeah, we could start talking to the UN Commission for Refugees on your behalf, and then wait a few days and then tell people who you are. What is it? Ed? Uh... Before I left, I installed some motion-activated cameras at the house, and there's two NSA agents there right now. Maybe it's just a routine check for an absent employee. And if it's not? I think if they knew what you were doing, they'd more likely send a SWAT team. No, I disagree. It'd be only two people. They'd make it appear routine. Where did you leave her? She refused to leave. Does she know anything? No. No, nothing specific. OK. OK. They're leaving. HE EXHALES Excuse me. THUNDER RUMBLES * Uh, my name's Ed Snowden. I'm 29 years old. I work for Booz Allen Hamilton as an infrastructure analyst for NSA in Hawaii. COMMENTARY IN VARIOUS LANGUAGES The identity of the man who sent the Obama... 'You can't come forward against the most powerful intelligence agencies 'in the world without expecting to have some risk. 'They're just such powerful adversaries. 'So no one can meaningfully oppose them.' He did it. 'You know, if they want to get you, they will get you, in time.' The kid did it! 'And it's just gonna get worse for the next generation, 'as they extend the capabilities 'of this sort of architecture of oppression. 'And you realise that you might be willing to accept any risk, 'as long as the public is able to make their own decision 'about how this is applied. 'Because even if you haven't done anything wrong, 'you're being watched and recorded. PHONE RINGS 'Look, I had access to the entire intelligence community. 'So if I had wanted to harm the US, 'you could shut down the entire surveillance system in an afternoon. 'But that was never my intention. 'And I think anybody that's making that argument, 'they have to think, if they were in my position, 'living in Hawaii, in paradise, making a ton of money, 'what would it take to make you leave everything behind? 'The fear that I think I have most in regards to the outcome 'for America of these disclosures is that nothing will change. 'In the coming months and the coming years, it'll just get worse. 'And then eventually, at some point, some new leader will be elected 'who flips the switch, 'and the people won't be able to do anything, 'by that point, to oppose it. 'And it'll be turnkey tyranny.' How you holding up? Yeah, I'll be fine. It's you guys that have to start watching out for yourselves now. You know, if you have any reason to believe that you're about to be raided or intercepted or breached in any way, you format and destroy all the data immediately. You have the encrypted backups. And now I... I no longer have any access to these files myself. You guys have them all. Uh... Keep the focus on the stories, that's all that matters. If you'll excuse me, it's... I think we should all get some rest. We can use it. Yeah. I should probably lay down on a soft bed while I still have one available, right? You rest well. Thank you. See you tomorrow. Good night. Can you at least tell me where you're going? Listen, I know that I'm... Shh. Ewen, I'm on the second floor. I don't see Tibbo. No. No, no, wait. OK. I think I see him. Shit! There's press swarming all over the hotel. Yeah, I don't know. I'll figure it out. I'll stop them with a press conference or something. Hey, I'm Glenn. Look, we really appreciate this. We understand you're one of the best lawyers in Hong Kong. We'll do our best. We're gonna take him to the UN first, then I prefer not to reveal. I understand. Shit. They spotted me. You guys get going. OK, I'll take questions in an orderly fashion. Where is Snowden? Do you know where he is? Come on, please let us know! Did you get them? Yeah, this is the best I could do. You're meeting Tibbo in five minutes, on the skybridge opposite the large mall. I've met a lot of astonishing people in my life, but you... OK, laddie. Off you go. I won't let you down. You'd make a shitty journalist without a camera. Are you sure? Yeah. OK. That's a great idea. Thanks. Oh! You don't want to leave your luck behind. Oh. I think I'd like you to have that. Thanks for everything. Thank you. I have a van on the street. NEWS: 'NSA leaker Edward Snowden has now been charged formally 'with espionage, theft and conversion of government property. 'US officials have asked Hong Kong to detain the former contractor 'on a provisional arrest warrant. 'Snowden has been in Hong Kong since May...' OTHER REPORTS: '..remember, that was back reportedly on May 20th...' '..Snowden has checked out of the luxury hotel in Hong Kong 'where he had been holed up.' You might turn your eyes away. '..not likely take action against him without a US arrest warrant...' 'The Justice Department had to go to Interpol so Snowden, if he tried 'to cross a border, could be intercepted and detained...' 'Snowden is still in hiding. 'So again... 'But the Americans are now closing in. 'They almost certainly know where he is, 'they just need Hong Kong's approval to get him.' 'The Hong Kong government does have an extradition agreement 'with Washington. But the ultimate decision... 'So the big question here is where is he now?' KNOCK AT DOOR Thank you. This is Ed. Ed, Mayana. Hi, Ed. Welcome. Thank you. SHE GREETS HIM Thank you. These are good people. They won't talk. I've been handling their cases for years. They're like you. That's so nice. They're stateless. Yeah. So we're waiting on the UN application for refugee status. Yeah. Just in case you're arrested, this is where you can call me. Yeah. Good. Thank you so much. You may not feel it, Ed, but you're not alone. Thank you. '...his long-time girlfriend, Lindsay Mills, 'an amateur photographer, has not been heard from. 'It's believed she's in seclusion in her parents' home in Maryland 'and has been questioned by the FBI and remains under investigation.' 'Ten days have now gone by, as the world looks for Edward Snowden. 'Rumours have surfaced that a rich supporter is hiding Snowden 'somewhere in the Hong Kong hills in a private mansion.' 'It is now confirmed that Edward Snowden 'has boarded a flight from Hong Kong to Moscow. 'The State Department is very disappointed 'in the authorities in Hong Kong for letting Snowden go.' 'He was accompanied by a representative from WikiLeaks. 'Snowden is trying to make his way from Russia to Cuba, 'and then to Ecuador for political asylum. 'Moscow airport officials say he won't be permitted 'to make his connective flight 'because the US government has revoked his passport. 'The United States Secretary of State, John Kerry, 'outraged that Russia is refusing to arrest the American fugitive...' '..Now a man without a country stranded inside the Moscow airport.' No, I'm not gonna be scrambling jets, uh, to get a 29-year-old... hacker. 'The President of Bolivia's plane 'was forced down in Austria airspace today 'following US suspicions that Snowden may have been on board.' 'after 39 days in the airport hotel, he's left with his Russian lawyer 'and a legal advisor from WikiLeaks, Sarah Harrison.' 'He can now enjoy all of the sweet, sweet liberty 'allowed under the regime of President Vladimir Putin. There is still a thing called execution. Mr Snowden actually deserves asylum and protection around the globe. But he does have asylum in Russia at least. He can engage in the debate he started. And the world now has an example that you can do the right thing and you don't have to end up in a cage, one room, a prison. 'After more than a year in the country under temporary asylum, 'Edward Snowden has received 'a three-year residency permit in Russia.' And now, here live from Moscow, Edward Snowden. APPLAUSE Hi, Ed. How you doing? Thank you. Uh, forgive me if I get my bearings a little bit here. People always said I was kind of a robot. How is it that you came to be in Russia? Well, I never intended to come here. You know, my passport was revoked en route to Latin America. So when people say, "Why are you in Russia?" I say, "Ask the State Department." Does that mean you're willing to go back and face trial? Absolutely, if it was a fair and public trial. Unfortunately, that's not what would happen right now, as long as the Espionage Act is being used against whistle-blowers. Do you still think it was worth it? Yes, I do. Without the information to start a public debate, we're lost. You know... The people being able to question our government and hold it accountable, that's the principle that the United States of America was founded on. So if we want to protect our national security, we should be protecting that principle. What if your argument falls on deaf ears? What if our leaders don't act? I believe that if nothing changes, more and more people all over the world will come forward. Whistle-blowers and journalists, but also regular citizens. And when those in power try to hide by classifying everything, we will call them out on it. And when they try to scare us into sacrificing our basic human rights, we won't be intimidated, and we won't give up, and we will not be silenced. You're alone in a foreign country, you'll be extradited if you try to leave. That must be hard. When I left Hawaii, I lost everything. And I had a stable life. A stable love. Family. Future. And I lost that life, but... ..I've gained a new one... ..and I'm incredibly fortunate. And I think... ..the greatest freedom that I've gained is the fact that I no longer have to worry about what happens tomorrow, because I'm happy with what I've done today. Live from the internet, Edward Snowden! CHEERING AND APPLAUSE MUSIC: The Veil by Peter Gabriel 'Has your mindset changed about him? 'Is he now more whistle-blower than he is a, uh, hacker?' # Underneath the sky where the cold winds cross # There is an ocean where data flows # One man in a boat out on the sea # Sea of little bits of you and me # Let it all go, set it all free # You let the whole wide world see # Exactly what is going on # Exactly who is looking on... # 'What is going to happen to Edward Snowden?' He's going to die in Moscow. He's not coming home. # Stories start to leak They colour your name # While up above, cloud turns to rain # You can feel the touch of a hand you know well # It's a very long way from Neverland # In the heart of the free world # In the home of the brave # You gave up everything # To bring down the veil... # 'Edward Snowden, is he a traitor or a hero?' 'He stole very important information. # There's no safe place to go # Now you've let that whistle blow # Show exactly what is going on # Show exactly who is looking on 'We have breaking news tonight... 'Among the reforms, 'work with Congress to change how the NSA collects phone records. 'Mandate more transparency by the secret court 'that regularly approves the surveillance.' # Set it free... # 'Well, is it a victory for Edward Snowden? 'That's gonna depend on the eye of the beholder.' # Let it all go... # 'The American government was acting illegally.' 'I don't think he should be brought home without facing the music.' 'Snowden played a very important role 'in educating the American people to the degree in which 'our civil liberties and our constitutional rights are being undermined.' # Set it free # Come, come, come, # Come # Information flow # Information flow # Information flow. # Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. www.able.co.nz Able 2019