The unprecedented leak of National Security Agency secrets by an intelligence contractor, including bombshells about top-secret programs to collect telephone records, email and other personal data, was probably an inevitable consequence of the massive growth of the U.S. security-industrial complex.
Edward Snowden, the 29-year-old who identified himself as the source behind stories in The Washington Post and The Guardian newspapers, has worked at Booz Allen Hamilton and other intelligence contractors. Before entering the private sector, he held a series of technical jobs at the Central Intelligence Agency.
Snowden was among tens of thousands of private intelligence contractors hired in the unprecedented push to "connect the dots" after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001. They work side by side with civil servants as analysts, technical support specialists and mission managers. An unknown number have access to secret and top-secret material.