| ® || Notes PROLOGUE Snowden’s Trail: Hong Kong, 2014 3, “No Such Agency”: The best description of the birth of the NSA can be found in Bamford, Puzzle Palace, 1-4. 4 the NSA learned: General Keith Alexander, interview with author. 4 twelve-minute video: This video can be seen at http://www.theguardian.com /world/video/2013/jun/09/nsa-whistleblower-edward-snowden-interview -video. All of the dozens of videos Snowden made after this initial one can be viewed in chronological order at https://nsa.gov1.info/dni/snowden-html. © 5 Ihad written several books: My book Inquest examined the failure of the FBI, © the Secret Service, and the CIA to establish the context of the John F. Kennedy assassination. This interest continued in other books of mine, including Decep- tion, in which | investigated the vulnerability of intelligence services involved in espionage during the Cold War, and Agency of Fear (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1977), in which I explored intelligence failures of domestic intelligence in the war on drugs. 5 extradite Trent Martin: The FBI press statement on this case was released on March 27, 2013, less than two months before Snowden bought his ticket for Hong Kong: https://www.fbi.gov/newyork/press-releases/2013/australian -research-analyst-extradited-on-insider-trading-charges. 6 “It’s very mysterious”: Hayden, interview with author. 6 My first surprise: I interviewed six members of the Mira staff, all of whom asked me not to identify them. Te-Ping Chen, a journalist for the Asian edition of The Wall Street Journal, received similar replies when she interviewed Mira hotel employees the day Snowden left the Mira. Chen and Brown, “Snowden’s Options for Refuge Narrow.” 6 to send Greenwald: Greenwald’s description of his encounters with Snowden is taken mainly from chapter 1, “Contact,” and chapter 2, “Ten Days in Hong Kong,” in Greenwald, No Place to Hide, 7-32. 7 Snowden also contacted: Gellman, “Code Name ‘Verax.’” 7 He proposed we meet: Bra