Friday, February 7, 2014
Code Name "VERAX": Edward Snowden Uncovered
"I've been a spy almost all of my adult life." - Edward Snowden
“the most massive and most damaging theft of intelligence information in our history.” -Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper
The first principle of creating any cover story is to keep it simple: K.I.S.S. Include as much truth as possible. It is easier to remember and, if there are any minor discrepancies, they will be dismissed as that: minor discrepancies. That is often easier said then done for some subjects. Once the subject begins to embellish parts of the story, he might reveal actual details of his real intentions or parts of the operation.
Worse, having embellished the story, the subject often feels it necessary to continue to do so. Particularly if he believes he might have revealed information that he needs to obfuscate, if there is another incident that may come to light or if he believes that part of his story is receiving positive feed back.
This is the case of Edward Snowden, code name "VERAX". Had Mr. Snowden kept to the simple line of his story, that he had worked for a United States intelligence agency and contractors and realized that there was massive surveillance of it's own citizens, breaking the fourth and fifth amendments, he might have remained an enigma. His possible relationship with a foreign intelligence agency forever obscured behind the façade of a patriot whose life was at risk from his own government for telling "the truth". A heroic figure who had to sacrifice his life and freedom for that of others by escaping into enemy hands.
For some, that myth may remain inviolable to the bitter end. It will not be the first time that this has occurred. Neither is he the first to have claimed to have acted on principles while giving secrets to Russia.
But, Mr. Snowden, while competently carrying out the technical aspects of the operation, failed to maintain the first principle of creating and maintaining a cover story. He embellished, liberally and often. It may be due to the "catastrophic success" he achieved at Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH) in Hawaii after long years of variable success at collecting intelligence. Having "accomplished his mission", he had to leave and quickly. It could have been stress, fear or any number of reasons.
In any case, Mr. Snowden provided an extensive interview and then went on with another, where his claims became increasingly paranoid and volumnous. One, which in hindsight, appears to have been poorly managed by his contacts as Mr. Snowden's actual personality, a young man who could not resist bragging or embellishing his escapades, bled through his scripted talking points. Fortunately, Mr. Snowden was whisked off to a private residence, guarded by Hong Kong police and then, per reports, the Russian Consulate in Hong Kong.
Finally arriving in Moscow, well insulated from the public, Mr. Snowden's interviews have become further and far between, almost all carried out through encrypted chat and only given to sympathetic reporters.
If it had not been for his statements regarding alleged events in Geneva, the key moment that Snowden claims to have "hardened him" to the decision to steal information, other events would have passed with little public notice. Snowden alleges:
“the most massive and most damaging theft of intelligence information in our history.” -Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper
The first principle of creating any cover story is to keep it simple: K.I.S.S. Include as much truth as possible. It is easier to remember and, if there are any minor discrepancies, they will be dismissed as that: minor discrepancies. That is often easier said then done for some subjects. Once the subject begins to embellish parts of the story, he might reveal actual details of his real intentions or parts of the operation.
Worse, having embellished the story, the subject often feels it necessary to continue to do so. Particularly if he believes he might have revealed information that he needs to obfuscate, if there is another incident that may come to light or if he believes that part of his story is receiving positive feed back.
This is the case of Edward Snowden, code name "VERAX". Had Mr. Snowden kept to the simple line of his story, that he had worked for a United States intelligence agency and contractors and realized that there was massive surveillance of it's own citizens, breaking the fourth and fifth amendments, he might have remained an enigma. His possible relationship with a foreign intelligence agency forever obscured behind the façade of a patriot whose life was at risk from his own government for telling "the truth". A heroic figure who had to sacrifice his life and freedom for that of others by escaping into enemy hands.
For some, that myth may remain inviolable to the bitter end. It will not be the first time that this has occurred. Neither is he the first to have claimed to have acted on principles while giving secrets to Russia.
But, Mr. Snowden, while competently carrying out the technical aspects of the operation, failed to maintain the first principle of creating and maintaining a cover story. He embellished, liberally and often. It may be due to the "catastrophic success" he achieved at Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH) in Hawaii after long years of variable success at collecting intelligence. Having "accomplished his mission", he had to leave and quickly. It could have been stress, fear or any number of reasons.
In any case, Mr. Snowden provided an extensive interview and then went on with another, where his claims became increasingly paranoid and volumnous. One, which in hindsight, appears to have been poorly managed by his contacts as Mr. Snowden's actual personality, a young man who could not resist bragging or embellishing his escapades, bled through his scripted talking points. Fortunately, Mr. Snowden was whisked off to a private residence, guarded by Hong Kong police and then, per reports, the Russian Consulate in Hong Kong.
Finally arriving in Moscow, well insulated from the public, Mr. Snowden's interviews have become further and far between, almost all carried out through encrypted chat and only given to sympathetic reporters.
If it had not been for his statements regarding alleged events in Geneva, the key moment that Snowden claims to have "hardened him" to the decision to steal information, other events would have passed with little public notice. Snowden alleges:
In an attempt to learn secret financial information, Snowden alleged that undercover CIA agents would get the banker drunk and "encourage" him to drive home in his car. When the banker was eventually arrested for drunk driving, the CIA operatives offered to help him out of the jam, paving the way for recruitment as a source.
"Much of what I saw in Geneva really disillusioned me about how my government functions and what its impact is in the world," Snowden told The Guardian. "I realized that I was part of something that was doing far more harm than good."
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