Fort Meade, Maryland

Fort Meade is an army base in Maryland where Edward Snowden’s mother was employed by the NSA during his childhood. Later, Snowden began working for a friend named Mae who lived on the base with her husband who also worked for the NSA. Snowden writes at one point that “I can’t stress this enough, for outsiders: this type of employment was normal” (36). Snowden’s relationship with Fort Meade demonstrates how connected he was to the concepts of both public service and national security from an early age.

CIA Headquarters, Virginia

One of Snowden’s first jobs in the Intelligence Community led him to move to Virginia, away from Lindsay who was still a student living in Maryland. Snowden’s reminiscences about his time at CIA Headquarters demonstrate how drastically his life has changed as a result of his decision to become a whistleblower...