Freedom of Expression

In June 2013, Edward Snowden leaked a large amount of classified information to The Washington Post and The Guardian (a popular British daily newspaper). Snowden worked as a system administrator for the Central Intelligence Agency and as a counterintelligence trainer at the Defense Intelligence Agency before being employed by Booz Allen Hamilton, a subcontractor to the National Security Agency (NSA). Some experts have estimated that Snowden has in his possession more than 1 million documents involving foreign nationals and U.S. citizens’ intelligence reports, many of which have not yet been exposed. Snowden explained his actions for disclosing highly sensitive information as an expression of his First Amendment rights: