It's Official: There Is a New Edward Snowden
The U.S. government has confirmed that there is another leaker of surveillance secrets, according to CNN.
Edward Snowden is not alone.
Authorities have concluded there is at least one other leaker spilling classified secrets about the government's surveillance programs, according to CNN reporter Evan Perez.
Close observers of the surveillance leaks have for months speculated that there may be another leaker besides Snowden. The Intercept, a channel of First Look Media launched by journalist Glenn Greenwald, has routinely published leaks from Edward Snowden since it formed earlier this year. But two recent stories, including one published Tuesday about the government's terrorist watch database, cited unnamed sources.
One document is from August 2013, months after Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor, downloaded documents while employed at Booz Allen Hamilton in Hawaii and fled to Hong Kong, where he met Greenwald.
Greenwald himself said in July that it "seems clear at this point" there is another leaker besides Snowden.
Snowden became an household name overnight last summer when his leaks revealed intimate details of the NSA's secret phone and Internet surveillance programs. A seemingly endless deluge of revelations continued throughout the year and into 2014.
Since gaining international notoriety, Snowden has been living in Russia, where he was granted a one-year temporary asylum that expired last week.
When asked about CNN's report, an intelligence agency spokesman declined to comment.
While certainly the most known, Snowden is not the only person in recent years to leak sensitive government information. The Obama administration has charged more people with violating the Espionage Act than all previous presidents combined.