President obama leaned on this order in defense of his handling of snowden saying, “i signed an executive order well before mr Edward snowden stole hundreds of thousands of highly classified secrets and handed them to journalists while holed up in a hong kong hotel room. What did edward snowden do Edward snowden, a former nsa contractor, leaked classified information in 2013 revealing global surveillance programs conducted by the nsa and its international partners, sparking worldwide debates on privacy and government transparency. With that simple message, sent in december 2012 from former nsa contractor edward snowden to guardian reporter glenn greenwald, the biggest leak of government secrets in history was set in motion.
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