Editors Note: We have recognized Jon Rappoport as a solid Truth seeker since we became familiar with his work in 1995, when he quickly recognized the false flag-appearance of the OKC (fake ANFO) bombing and published the first book about it. After all of the smoke has cleared these two decades later, it is fascinating to see how “right on” he was before anyone else had figured it out. The title of his website is also his brief character sketch: “No More Fake News.” It is always refreshing to read Jon’s take on any controversial subject. Pat Shannan
The Mysterious 36 Days of Edward Snowden and the NSA Leaks by Jon Rappoport
First, a comment about the number of documents Snowden took from the NSA. Estimates have ranged from 20,000 to 1.2 million. Snowden explicitly stated he had vetted all of them, to make sure their release would aid transparency, his goal, rather than harm individuals.
Whether the number is 20,000 or 1.2 million, it’s impossible to accept that Snowden carefully perused each doc. If you want to test this out, go to your local library and read 20,000 pages of anything. Never mind making notes. Just get to the end of it.
All right, let’s move on to the timeline of Snowden’s mysterious 36 days and explore what it means for the NSA, the smartest, largest, richest spy agency in the world. (The source for this timeline is The Guardian.)
- May 20, 2013: Snowden arrives in Hong Kong from Hawaii. He’s just taken medical leave from the NSA. This is not troubling to his employer, despite the fact that, as AFP now reports, Snowden worked briefly at the US Embassy in New Delhi (2010) and abruptly left India, citing medical problems on that occasion as well.
- Both times, Snowden didn’t seek medical help in the country in which he was employed.
- June 1, 2013: Three reporters connected with The Guardian—Glenn Greenwald, Ewen MacAskill, and Laura Poitras—fly from New York to Hong Kong, and begin their week-long interview of Snowden. If this raises red flags, it doesn’t lead to intercepting Snowden.
- June 5, 2013: The Guardian publishes its first article containing NSA leaks. The next three days see more NSA revelations, but there is no mention of Snowden.
- June 9: The Guardian goes public about Snowden for the first time. According to Reuters, the NSA started an “urgent search” for Snowden several days before June 9—perhaps as early as June 1.
- June 10: Snowden checks out of his hotel, but remains in Hong Kong. The US intelligence apparatus still can’t find him.
- June 12: The South China Post publishes an interview with Snowden, who says he’ll stay in Hong Kong until he’s told he has to go.
- June 14: The UK Home Office orders airlines to deny passage to Snowden, if he tries to come to the UK.
- June 20, 21: The Guardian publishes more top-secret documents from the Snowden cache.
- June 23: Free and unencumbered, Snowden flies to Moscow with Wikileaks’ Sarah Harrison.
During this entire period (May 20-June23), the NSA, and other agencies of the US government, have been unable to locate Snowden?
They’ve been unable to get hold of, or disable, his famous four laptops, which presumably contain all the documents he took from the NSA? Instead, Snowden transfers the documents to Greenwald and Poitras in Hong Kong, hides out successfully, and makes his flight to Moscow.
You can attribute all this, if you want to, to the sheer incompetence and stupidity of the entire US intelligence community.
There are other possibilities, if you take into account the fact that all intelligence personnel are trained to lie and deceive. It’s their staple.
Perhaps the NSA was aware of Snowden, as he was taking the documents, and they embedded a host of false trails and lies in his cache.
Perhaps some greater and more damaging revelations about the NSA were on the verge of exploding, and Snowden’s leaks functioned to conceal much deeper harm to NSA.
Perhaps the CIA, Snowden’s former employer, was still his employer, in their ongoing turf war with the NSA. And the CIA helped protect Snowden between May 20 and June 23, when he flew to Moscow.
In any case, believing that the NSA and other US intelligence operatives were unable to find Snowden in Hong Kong is like trying to eat metal.
It just doesn’t go down.
Snowden’s mysterious 36 days of freedom, as well as other elements of Snowden’s questionable bio, which I’ve covered in previous articles, suggests the NSA-Snowden saga is more than it seems to be.
And don’t forget, despite the uproar about Snowden’s revelations, so far the NSA and the Surveillance State remain fully functional. The NSA’s reputation may have taken a large hit, but their work goes on unabated.
Jon Rappoport
The author of two explosive collections, THE MATRIX REVEALED and EXIT FROM THE MATRIX, Jon was a candidate for a US Congressional seat in the 29th District of California. He maintains a consulting practice for private clients, the purpose of which is the expansion of personal creative power. Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, he has worked as an investigative reporter for 30 years, writing articles on politics, medicine, and health for CBS Healthwatch, LA Weekly, Spin Magazine, Stern, and other newspapers and magazines in the US and Europe. Jon has delivered lectures and seminars on global politics, health, logic, and creative power to audiences around the world. You can sign up for his free emails at www.nomorefakenews.com