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NSA revelations: A timeline of what's come out since Snowden leaks began

Since Edward Snowden's first published leak about National Security Agency surveillance techniques appeared in The Guardian on June 5, new revelations have been steadily trickling out. Here's a look at what we've learned since June, broken down by 16 key dates. 

Oct. 10, 2013

Glenn Greenwald/Laura Poitras/Courtesy of The Guardian/Reuters
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, an analyst with a U.S. defence contractor, is seen in this still image taken from video during an interview by The Guardian in his hotel room in Hong Kong June 2013.

Two senior American officials told The New York Times that Snowden’s supervisor at the CIA had in 2009 put a note in Snowden's file alleging that Snowden might be attempting to hack into classified computer files. Those suspicions were not communicated to the NSA, to which Snowden soon transferred. He later fled from the NSA with a trove of top secret files in hand. 

Why is this important? The revelation rung alarm bells about gaps or inconsistencies in the government’s granting of top security clearances, and Congress launched a formal investigation into how high-level background checks are conducted. One company, USIS, to which the government outsources some of its background checks, fell under particular suspicion. Two of the people it has vetted are Snowden and Aaron Alexis, the murderer of 12 people at the Washington Navy Yard this fall. 

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

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