Inside the Largest Intelligence Leak in U.S. History

In this episode, we talk about how Edward Snowden leaked nearly one million top-secret National Security Agency documents and exposed the full scale of mass surveillance programs like PRISM and XKeyscore. We cover his escape from Hong Kong, the role of WikiLeaks, Russia's decision to grant asylum, and how global tech giants like Google, Apple, and Microsoft were implicated. We examine the diplomatic fallout, including the forced grounding of a Bolivian presidential jet, the transformation of the tech industry’s privacy posture, and how the U.S. government applied pressure worldwide to capture him. We break down the Espionage Act charges, the Five Eyes intelligence alliance, and how Snowden’s actions reshaped laws, digital privacy tools, and the global understanding of state surveillance. 

 

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