- In 2013, Edward Snowden arranges a clandestine meet in Hong Kong with documentarian Laura Poitras and journalist Glenn Greenwald. They discuss releasing the classified information in the former’s possession regarding illegal mass surveillance conducted by the National Security Agency (NSA).
- In 2004, Snowden is undergoing basic training with intentions of matriculating to the Special Forces. He eventually fractures his tibia, and is informed that he will be receiving an administrative discharge and that he may serve his country in other ways.
- Snowden applies for a position at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and subsequently undergoes the screening process. Initially his answers to the screening questions are insufficient, but Deputy Director Corbin O'Brian decides to take a chance on him, given the demands of such extraordinary times.
- Snowden is then brought to "The Hill" where he is educated and tested on cyberwarfare. Snowden and his peers are each tasked with building a covert communications network in their hometown, deleting it, and then rebuilding it in eight hours or less, with five hours being the average time taken. Snowden impresses O'Brian when he completes the exercise in 38 minutes.
- Snowden acquires his first post abroad working with diplomatic cover in Geneva in 2007. He meets Gabriel Sol, who has ample experience in electronic surveillance. Snowden begins questioning the ethical implications of their assignment. After his superior decides to set up their target on a charge in order to leverage information from him, Snowden resigns from the CIA.
- Snowden later takes a position with the NSA in Japan, initially under the pretense of building a program that would allow the government to back up all critical data from the Middle East in an emergency, a program which he names "Epic Shelter". Snowden learns of the practices the NSA and other U.S. Government agencies are using not just in Japan, but in most countries the U.S. is currently allied with, which include planting malware in different computers that manage government, infrastructure and financial sectors so that, in the event that any allies turn against the US, that country can effectively be shut down in retaliation.
- During a hunting trip, O'Brian reveals an operation in Oahu that revolves around counterattacking Chinese hackers. Upon beginning his new job in "The Tunnel", Snowden learns that Epic Shelter is actually providing real-time data that assists U.S. drone pilots in launching lethal strikes against terror suspects in Afghanistan.
- Snowden ultimately becomes disillusioned with what he is a part of. It culminates in Snowden smuggling a microSD card into his office by way of a Rubik's Cube, and loading all relevant data. He then tells his colleagues he is feeling ill and departs. He contacts Poitras and Greenwald to schedule the meeting.
- With the help of journalist Ewen MacAskill, the information is disseminated to the press on June 5, 2013, with additional leaks published in the following days. In the aftermath, with the help of MacAskill, Greenwald and Poitras, Snowden is smuggled out of Hong Kong on a flight bound for Latin America by way of Russia. However, the U.S. Government revokes his passport, forcing him to remain in Moscow indefinitely. Snowden continues his activism.
Movie Maker Intent
Interview with Snowden:
Snowden commented that privacy is the right to the self and without it, citizens lose the ability to be themselves and make mistakes. Considering the rebuttal to his argument, which can be summed up as “I don’t need privacy because I have nothing to hide”, Snowden noted that the saying comes from the Nazi Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels. Snowden said that arguing that one doesn’t need privacy because he or she has nothing to hide is like saying one doesn’t need freedom of speech because he or she has nothing to say. This incredibly effective point had the auditorium clapping in agreement. [1]
[1]. http://www.theeagleonline.com/blog/scene/2016/09/snowden-live-an-interview-with-the-director
Snowden commented that privacy is the right to the self and without it, citizens lose the ability to be themselves and make mistakes. Considering the rebuttal to his argument, which can be summed up as “I don’t need privacy because I have nothing to hide”, Snowden noted that the saying comes from the Nazi Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels. Snowden said that arguing that one doesn’t need privacy because he or she has nothing to hide is like saying one doesn’t need freedom of speech because he or she has nothing to say. This incredibly effective point had the auditorium clapping in agreement. [1]
[1]. http://www.theeagleonline.com/blog/scene/2016/09/snowden-live-an-interview-with-the-director