Permanent Record

Permanent Record is the memoir of Edward Snowden, released in 2019. Snowden is a former intelligence contractor who worked for the CIA and NSA. In 2013, he became a world-famous whistleblower, leaking highly classified documents which detailed how American intelligence agencies were conducting secret mass surveillance of their own citizens.

The book begins with a description of Snowden’s childhood. He is raised by parents who work for the government and eventually move to the Beltway, the area surrounding Washington, D.C. His father buys a home computer, spurring the young Snowden’s interest in computing. Around age 12, he grows increasingly obsessed with the internet and spends a huge amount of time online. He plays games, learns how to build a computer, and teaches himself coding. On one occasion, his rudimentary hacking reveals a security flaw in the website of a nuclear research facility, which he dutifully reports.

His ever-increasing computer use harms his grades and causes insomnia. His parents divorce, and he wonders whether his computer obsession contributed to their break-up. At the college, he meets a woman named Mae who runs a web design company, and he begins to work for her in while going to school. After 9/11, he joins the Army, to his parents’ chagrin.

Although a qualified computer expert, he enlists and attends basic training; an accident forces him to accept discharge. He decides to serve in the intelligence services and begins the process of obtaining a security clearance. He meets a woman named Lindsay Mills through an online dating site and the two become a couple.

Snowden takes a job at the CIA is eventually posted to Geneva. He maintains the embassies’ security networks and systems and, a few years later, moves to a similar position in Tokyo. Lindsay follows him throughout. In 2009, he attends a conference about the Chinese intelligence services. While researching his presentation, he realizes that the American government, in possession of the same technology, is likely surveilling its citizens in a similar way as the Chinese. The idea becomes an obsession. He eventually comes into accidental possession of a highly classified report which confirms his fears. This realization, coupled with his failure to integrate into Japanese culture, leave him feeling depressed and isolated.

Snowden moves back to America and returns to working for the CIA. He experiences stress-related seizures and is diagnosed with epilepsy. He transfers to Hawaii, partially to help with his medical condition. There, he works for the NSA and begins to covertly research mass surveillance as much as he can. He collects documents and schematics through Heartbeat, a program that he creates, and considers becoming a whistleblower. Slowly, he begins to smuggle in SD cards so he can transfer every file he collects through Heartbeat onto a highly encrypted drive in his house.

After switching to a new position, he learns even more about the NSA’s capabilities and what he views as their abuses of power. He reaches out to journalists, including Laura Poitras and Glenn Greenwald, hoping that they will report on what he has learned. When Lindsay leaves on a camping trip, he takes medical leave from work and flies to Hong Kong. There, he stays in a hotel and nervously waits for the journalists to arrive. When they eventually show up, his employer and his girlfriend are already suspicious. The journalists publish his discoveries, and Snowden records a video that reveals his identity.

The United States charges Snowden with espionage when the NSA’s mass surveillance program, PRISM, is revealed to the public. Snowden attempts to flee to Ecuador to avoid extradition. During his long flight, he makes a stopover in Russia. He learns that his passport has been revoked by the US government, so he remains in Russia. After 40 days in the airport, Russia grants him asylum. He works for a foundation, promoting online privacy and developing new tools to circumvent mass surveillance. After a long separation, Lindsay eventually joins Snowden in Moscow, where they marry.