Biography
Edward Snowden is a former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor who in June 2013, revealed classified information about global surveillance programs conducted by the United States to journalists Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras of The Guardian. The documents shared by Snowden exposed extensive and widespread surveillance programs conducted by the NSA, including the bulk collection of telephone calls and internet data from nearly all Americans. In the wake of the leaks and fearing prosecution, Snowden fled the United States to Russia where he was granted political asylum.