1. His name is Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old former technical assistant for the CIA.
2. He didn't finish high school but later received his GED.
3. He joined the U.S. Army in 2003, broke his leg in a training exercise, and was discharged. He then started working as a security guard at a covert NSA facility at the University of Maryland.
4. He then began working for the CIA in IT intelligence. He said during this time he became disillusioned with how the government functions.
5. He voted for a third-party candidate in 2008.
6. He appears to have donated to Ron Paul in 2012.
...you can't wait around for someone else to act. I had been looking for leaders, but I realised that leadership is about being the first to act.
8. He says he's currently an employee of the defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton.
9. Booz Allen confirmed he was an employee for less than three months in Hawaii.
10. The Guardian revealed his identity at his request. Snowden said, "I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong."
11. He was also a source of leaks about the NSA to The Washington Post.
I understand that I will be made to suffer for my actions," but "I will be satisfied if the federation of secret law, unequal pardon and irresistible executive powers that rule the world that I love are revealed even for an instant.
13. He copied the last set of documents he planned to leak three weeks ago in the NSA office in Hawaii.
14. He then told his NSA supervisor he had to be away for several weeks for an epilepsy treatment. He also told his girlfriend he had to leave but was vague about why. On May 20, he boarded a flight for Hong Kong where he remains.
They have a spirited commitment to free speech and the right of political dissent.
16. He says the U.S. Consulate is "just up the road" and he said, "I am sure they are going to be busy for the next week. And that is a concern I will live with for the rest of my life, however long that happens to be."
I've left the room maybe a total of three times during my entire stay ... Yes, I could be rendered by the CIA. I could have people come after me. Or any of the third-party partners. They work closely with a number of other nations. Or they could pay off the Triads. Any of their agents or assets.
I carefully evaluated every single document I disclosed to ensure that each was legitimately in the public interest," he said. "There are all sorts of documents that would have made a big impact that I didn't turn over, because harming people isn't my goal. Transparency is.
19. He isn't on social media right now.
Any Twitter or Facebook accounts purporting to be Edward Snowden are fake.
Glenn Greenwald
@ggreenwald
Any Twitter or Facebook accounts purporting to be Edward Snowden are fake.
Any analyst at any time can target anyone ... I sitting at my desk certainly had the authorities to wire tap anyone.
21. He'll be on the front page of Monday's Guardian.
22. Snowden and his girlfriend moved out of their home in Waipahu, Hawaii on May 1, reports AP.
