Summary

Part 3 deals with the build-up to, execution of, and fallout from Snowden’s decision to go public with his findings about the NSA’s secret mass surveillance systems.

In Chapter 19, Snowden moved to Hawaii with Lindsay to begin a new job for the NSA that could more easily fit around the demands of his epilepsy diagnosis. Snowden remained committed to informing himself about the NSA’s mass surveillance program but insists that at this stage he had no intention of going public.

Chapter 20 details Snowden’s creation of a “readboard” (220) ostensibly designed to provide a news service for NSA staff about developments in different sections of the agency, but which Snowden ultimately used as a pretext to gather information about mass surveillance without raising any suspicion about his activities.

Snowden explains the PRISM program, which allowed the NSA to collect data from a variety...