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How Snowden Got So Many NSA Documents

February 8, 2014 · 6:28 pm ET · Leave a Comment

New York Times: “Intelligence officials investigating how Edward J. Snowden gained access to a huge trove of the country’s most highly classified documents say they have determined that he used inexpensive and widely available software to “scrape” the National Security Agency’s networks, and kept at it even after he was briefly challenged by agency officials.”

“The findings are striking because the N.S.A.’s mission includes protecting the nation’s most sensitive military and intelligence computer systems from cyberattacks, especially the sophisticated attacks that emanate from Russia and China. Mr. Snowden’s ‘insider attack,’ by contrast, was hardly sophisticated and should have been easily detected, investigators found.”

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Taegan Goddard

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Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.

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