In 2013, a CIA agent reported that the United States has carried out ugly surveillance of politicians in various countries in the past 6 years, and not only that, after the upgrading of technical means, the United States even considered monitoring everyone on the planet. As soon as this statement came out of the world, there was an uproar, because the United States was not only spying on veteran opponents such as Russia, but even the British allies who trusted them the most, and the United States was not soft on its tactics.
This is the famous "Prism Gate" incident, and the protagonist of this revelation, Snowden, has become the most wanted man in the United States while making the United States the target of public criticism. Because of this, after his escape, because of the jealousy of the strength of the United States, few countries were willing to take him in, and at this time, Russia stepped forward, they not only provided snowden with political asylum, but also approved snowden's naturalization application not long ago.
So far, Snowden has also changed from a well-established American agent to an ordinary Russian. Today, I will talk to you about how Snowden exposed the "Prism Project" in the first place. And in the years that Snowden was taken in, what did Russia get?
Snowden was born in North Carolina in 1983 to the son of a U.S. Army father and a local judge. Growing up in such a family, Snowden had the impulse to serve the country from an early age, and under his handsome appearance, he buried a sufficient sense of justice.
In 2004, Snowden joined the U.S. Army, and at that time, he was so eager to make a career that he even asked his superiors to send him to the Battlefield in Iraq. However, not everyone is suitable for the battlefield, and in a selection training, Snowden accidentally broke his leg, because of the serious injury, so he had to choose to retire after he recovered.
Snowden was frustrated at first, but just a few months later, the arrival of a letter of appointment soothed his frustration of not being able to report to the country. It turned out that although Snowden's physical fitness was not outstanding, his achievements in the field of electronic information were few people who could achieve it, and as early as middle school, he was already a computer master in the block.
Because of this, the National Security Agency specially hired Snowden to work as a technical security guard in a secret agency inside the University of Maryland, and after working for several years, he was also promoted to the CIA as a security consultant because of his strong professional ability. However, after joining the CIA, Snowden's worldview gradually collapsed.
It was 2007, and then-US President George W. Bush proposed a notorious plan to use mobile devices such as hacking webcams and mobile phones to spy on politicians, even the United Kingdom, France and other US allies, which is the famous "Prism Project".
Of course, Snowden was only a peripheral security officer at this time, so he was unaware of the Prism plan. But even without the plan, Snowden gradually discovered that the CIA had a lot of shady actions, and on the other hand, the CIA's internal factions were full of deceitful power struggles, which was undoubtedly too dangerous for Snowden, who was obsessed with technology.
At first, Snowden had spoken out against his leadership, saying that everything he did was for the sake of the tiger, not only could not guarantee national security, but many black-box operations were also despised. But how can Snowden's personal strength compete with the "American will" represented by the CIA? In the eyes of the CIA leaders, Snowden's behavior is becoming more and more excessive, and he has realized that he is about to lose control of him, and simply kicked Snowden out of the establishment.
But the Americans seem to have forgotten that Snowden was a top hacker who fired Snowden without hiring more powerful technicians to upgrade the cybersecurity system. At this time, Snowden was vaguely aware that there were darker secrets inside the CIA, so he used technical means to quietly sneak into the interior of the CIA system.
After Snowden crossed the CIA's network security system, the most shocking thing for him was the "Prism Plan", which is different from other plans, the Prism Plan is mainly to listen to all the news through network means, in other words, if you want to not be monitored, you can only use electronic devices such as mobile phones.
In fact, before that, Snowden knew that there were many surveillance plans in the United States, however, even if the means were illegal, the targets of those plans were anti-American forces in the Middle East, and today's Prism plan is aimed at everyone in the world, so it is naturally unacceptable to Snowden, so he immediately made a bold decision when the three views were refreshed.
In June 2013, Snowden, who had the inside scoop on The Prism Program, interviewed a reporter in which he dragged out the C.I.A.'s surveillance of politicians and uncovered an instance of a Gulf War veteran being secretly detained for telling the truth. This interview is tantamount to a bombshell, which instantly makes the United States the target of public criticism, and allies of the United States like britain never dreamed that the United States was superficially harmonious and angry, and shared the information of the Prism plan with them, but behind the scenes, it was "treated equally"
After Snowden broke the news, he of course understood that the United States could not stay, so he immediately fled the country before the U.S. government could react. At first, he wanted to take refuge in developed countries such as Germany and Finland, but for various reasons of interest, these countries did not dare to accept Snowden, and he had no choice but to choose Ecuador in South America.
Ecuador, though poor, is one of the few third world countries to dare to confront the United States, and just a year before Snowden broke the news, they even protected an entrepreneur who posed a "threat" to the United States. Because of this, Snowden can only retreat to the second place.
However, there were no direct flights to Ecuador where Snowden was hiding at the time, and he had to fly first through Moscow and then to Quito, the capital of Ecuador. However, even as Mr. Snowden stopped in Moscow, the United States had imposed sanctions on him, not only canceling his passport, but also issuing a warrant for his arrest.
In the face of such a situation, Snowden was once disheartened, and the cancellation of his passport meant that he could only be trapped in Russia, and Russia had no attitude on its own security at this time, so once the extradition treaty came into force, he would be sent back to the United States without hesitation.
Although he did not go to Ecuador, President Vladimir Putin said that as long as Mr. Snowden no longer made statements that hurt the United States, Russia agreed to take him in. Why does Putin say that?
Originally, because of Snowden's righteous words, although many countries did not have the courage to take him in, some international organizations used various ways to protect Snowden, and Russia, as a country targeted by the United States, can also obtain effective intelligence while taking In Snowden.
Let's go back to the original question, what did Russia get after taking In Snowden?
In fact, although Snowden was a former CIA agent, he was at best a peripheral agent, and he did not have deeper classified information in the United States except for the Prism project. In other words, what Snowden had previously exposed was already the full value of his stay in Russia.
Because of this, the outside world once believed that Russia's admission of Snowden was more than worth the loss, not only did not obtain very useful information, but also attracted the United States to launch sanctions against him. But is this really the case?
Judging from the current situation, even if Russia did not take in Snowden in the first place, the United States, which is accustomed to being the king, will also look for Russian stubble in other fields, so Snowden is only a marginal agent of the CIA, and his influence on the two countries is not as great as the Western countries think.
But even though Mr. Snowden did not bring much substantial help to Russia, Russia did not mind at all, not only agreeing to bring his parents and wife to live in Russia, but also inviting him to give lectures at universities. Just last year, Snowden, who had been exposed for 7 years, finally obtained Russian citizenship, which means that he is now a well-versed Russian, and as an American who has been exposed, even if he hates him, he can't help it.
I have to say that although Snowden is a traitor to the CIA, he is very admirable. Because from the beginning, his ideal was true justice and equality, even if he had very good hacking skills, he gave up a very superior life and chose to speak out for justice. From this perspective, Snowden is indeed a hero who bravely stands up for his own faith.