Many people underestimate Edward Snowden. In 2004, Snowden enlisted in the United States Army because he wanted to fight in the Iraq War; he "felt like [he] had an obligation as a human being to help free people from oppression." His stint in the army was cut short, however, when he was discharged after breaking both legs in a training accident. Soon after, he got his first job as a security guard at the University of Maryland’s Center for Advanced Study of Language, a top-secret facility, and later went on to work for the CIA in IT security. His excellent computer skills and knowledge of networks propelled him through the ranks quickly, and in 2007, Snowden was stationed with diplomatic cover in Geneva, Switzerland, where he was responsible for maintaining computer-network security. In 2009, Snowden resigned from the CIA to work for Dell, and he subsequently went on to work at the National Security Agency as an employee of Booz Allen Hamilton for 4 years.
After making the necessary preparations to disclose the classified information that brought him to fame, Snowden applied for leave from work and flew to Hong Kong from Hawaii on May 20, 2013 to hideout in a hotel. When he left the United States in May 2013, he was working as a system administrator at a facility of National Security Agency in Hawaii for less than three months. He had an annual salary of USD200,000 and lived a comfortable life with his girlfriend, but he was willing to sacrifice all of that because the secret surveillance work of the US government was against his principals. Snowden’s project, “Prism”, generated a huge impact in the United States, because the information that he had disclosed contained great intelligence value.
The first place that Snowden landed in was Hong Kong, and it is said that China made brief contact with Snowden at that time, but it was clear that his application for political asylum request was not approved. On June 23, 2013, the government of Hong Kong SAR made a statement on the Snowden incident, thereby confirming that Snowden had left Hong Kong. Snowden said in a video interview with The Guardian that he had chosen to hideout in Hong Kong because Hong Kong was committed to the protection of freedom of speech. Snowden also pointed out that the Hong Kong government was rather independent even though it worked closely with many major Western national governments. Unlike China, Russia was quick to identify Snowden’s value, and by July 2013, Russia had approved Snowden’s application for political asylum.
The difference in China’s and Russia’s attitudes towards Snowden is not simply a matter of diplomacy, rather, it concerns these two world powers’ ranking and position in the intelligence community.
A deputy director of the KGB said in his memoirs that, if we were to draw any conclusions from the Second World War, we can say that the Second World War was a wireless war in which the nations with the most advanced wireless-technology emerged as the winners. It is common knowledge that the British cracked Germany’s code and sent abridged intelligence to the Soviet Union, but the Soviet Union had actually established its own radio intelligence network and had managed to retrieve the same intelligence independently, and through comparison, subsequently realised that the British had cracked Germany’s code.
According to information theory, wars will be waged on and through the Internet in the future. If World War II was a "wireless war", then future wars will be “cyber wars”. “Prism” provides a rare opportunity for a world power to gain dominance, but it is a shame that China has lost this opportunity while Russia has grasped it. What happens next is easy to understand; the U.S. accused Russia of influencing its general elections via the Internet, and " Twitter President" Donald Trump created unprecedented tension within his homeland, but the U.S. had to accept this. France also took urgent security measures as they found out that Russia had also tried to influence French general elections.
Russia and Putin have obviously gradually gained the upper hand in the future "cyber war" because of Snowden, or at least from Snowden!
Unlike China, there are a lot of people in this world who understand how valuable Snowden is. On December 11, 2013, Snowden was listed as the leading Global Thinker by Foreign Policy. On January 2, 2014, the New York Times commented that Edward Snowden played the role of a prosecutor, and that the information he disclosed had great importance. On January 29, 2014, Snowden was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Perhaps all this seems to be irrelevant in the eyes of some people. But one thing is certain, that is, Snowden’s real value will be further proved in the Internet world in the future. At present, his values are only understood by some information theory experts and pundits, but the world will certainly be shocked in the future.
