Nick Pateras | The Snowden Files
BOOK REVIEW
The Snowden Files: The Inside Story of the World’s Most Wanted Man – Luke Harding
Journalist puts a Guardian-branded magnifying glass to the NSA and GCHQ leaks
Anyone who followed the Edward Snowden revelations in 2013 will be familiar enough with the general story of how the former NSA computer guru blew the whistle on the massive surveillance programs run by both the US and UK governments. In this effort Luke Harding blows out the full story into far more detail. This was my first time reading a book based on such a recent event – so recent some could argue the dust hasn’t even settled – but I found it rewarding to delve deeper than the tweets and short news articles I had absorbed at the time.
Harding is a Guardian employee so he was evidently able to speak to some of those around the story, such as the paper’s editors in both London and New York, but it becomes blatantly clear within thirty pages that he didn’t spend much, if any time at all, with Snowden himself or the three journalists who actually broke the scoop. That doesn’t detract from a well-painted picture of Snowden’s upbringing and worldview, despite it initially sounding amateurish that he toiled through the ex-girlfriend’s old Instagram pictures for any insights.
"It began with an email. 'I am a senior member of the intelligence community...'"
Particularly enjoyable about this read was that Harding bounces between Snowden’s personal thriller-like story and the socio-political significance of the surveillance programs. He details how Snowden escaped Hong Kong following the leaks and his subsequent hideout in Moscow’s Sheremetyovo airport for weeks while he solicited asylum from basically any nation who would have him. This while praying the Russians didn’t give him up willingly to the US, who at one point forced the Venezuelan presidential plane to land in Austria so they could search it to ensure he wasn’t onboard. It’s a fascinating story in itself but even more so when meshed with the backdrop of a wider debate around the ethics of mass, unchecked surveillance of a country’s citizenry. Without revealing the details within the pages, I will admit I often found myself shocked at the UK’s and US’s unashamed disregard for privacy and willingness to circumvent several laws (all ostensibly in the name of combatting terrorism of course). I’d definitely tout this as a book that would satisfy both the adventure-craving reader as well as the politically active mind.
-NP, Dec. 2014