Who is Edward Snowden, the self-styled NSA leaker?
June 14, 2013
US Justice Department charges Snowden with theft, "unauthorized communication of national defense information"and "willful communication of classified communications intelligence information to an unauthorized person" — the two charges are violations of the 1917 Espionage Act.
June 23, 2013
Snowden leaves Hong Kong for Ecuador, with a planned stopover in Russia. But he gets stranded at Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow after US authorities rescind his passport. He spends the next month living in limbo in the airport's transit center.
Aug 1, 2013
He is granted temporary asylum by Russian authorities as they consider his application for permanent political asylum.
Oct 2, 2013
At a Senate hearing on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper tells lawmakers that Snowden's leaks have aided the US' enemies and "done great damage"to its allies.
Oct 14, 2013
The Washington Post reports the NSA has collected over 250 million email inbox views and contact lists a year from online services, such as Yahoo, Gmail and Facebook. The documents are provided by Snowden.
Dec 16, 2013
US District Judge Richard Leon rules that the NSA's gathering of data on all telephone calls made in the US appears to violate the Constitution's protection against unreasonable searches. But Leon, an appointee of former president George W. Bush, puts his ruling on hold to allow the government to appeal.
Dec 17, 2013
Snowden posts an open letter to Brazil, offering to help investigate US surveillance of Brazilian citizens.
Feb 7, 2014
NBC News reports, based on Snowden documents, that British spies have developed"dirty tricks"for use against nations, hackers, terror groups, suspected criminals and arms dealers that include releasing computer viruses, spying on journalists and diplomats, jamming phones and computers, and using sex to lure targets into"honey traps".
March 6, 2014
The Pentagon might need to spend billions to overcome the damage done to military security by Snowden's leaks of intelligence documents, Army General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, tells members of Congress at a hearing on the defense budget.
