Snowden, Ted Rall, Seven Stories Press, 2015

In graphic novel form, this book looks at the life and motivation of Edward Snowden, one of the most famous or infamous people in the world.

Snowden grew up in Maryland, just a few miles from the headquarters of the National Security Agency, or NSA. It was the kind of community where you learn not to ask your neighbor, or your spouse, what they do for a living; it’s probably secret. An attempt to join the army after 9/11 was unsuccessful. As a CIA employee, he was stationed for a time in Switzerland. He was exposed to other value systems and began to wonder if America was really “the good guys.”

He left the CIA and joined the NSA, eventually becoming a systems administrator or systems administrator. He spent some time in Japan, further eliminating the notion that America was on the side of the angels. As a systems administrator, he had access to all kinds of classified files that detailed America’s surveillance plans. Whenever he got the chance, he downloaded file after file onto flash drives.

Here are a couple of examples. An NSA program called “Captivated Audience” allows them to track you through your smartphone and listen to conversations at home, even if the phone is turned off. “Gumfish” allows the NSA to take a photo of you, at any time, using your laptop’s camera. Smart TVs, the ones that allow web content streaming, have a camera that the government can activate at any time to see anyone (like the telescreens in Orwell’s “1984”).

Now working in Honolulu for an NSA contractor, Snowden hopped into a taxi to the airport one day with his flash drives. His next stop was Hong Kong, where he leaked his information to a couple of journalists. After the world bomb, he planned to fly to Latin America to seek asylum. While he was in the air, his passport was revoked. He also knew that if he flew through the airspace of a United States ally, the ally would force the plane to land. Snowden would be arrested, turned over to US authorities, and “disappeared” (as Bradley / Chelsea Manning). Snowden made it to Moscow, where he remains today.

Say what you want about Edward Snowden (is he a hero or is he a traitor), this is an excellent and very easy to read, see why he did what he did. It is highly recommended.