The constitution of the United States is not the people, but it serves the people. This is a crucial distinction and one that explains his actions from then on. At the beginning of his training he swore allegience to protect the constitution of the United States from all enemies both foreign and domestic. Snowden however still felt the need to serve his country with his skills and crossed over from contractor to ‘govvy’ and became a fully fledged employee of the CIA. IT was the land of Oz and was quickly filled by contractors who could ask for whatever price they wanted, (as Snowden found when he asked for a very moderate raise which he felt was unachievable at the time) and receive it from a black budget without limits. Tasks that required specialisation in a rapidly changing world. Snowden describes how in an effort for the government to look like they were being efficient, and the private sector to make obscene amounts of money from the bottomless pit of government, tasks began to be outsourced. He began to work as a contractor and was introduced to the vast opportunities that contracting with government could bring him. Snowden decides that IT is the way forward and obtains his security clearances and qualifications in networking languages and computing. With two leg stress fractures he was benched and discharged, feeling the stigma that only those of us who are ‘unfit’ but really want to be ‘fit’ will understand. His experience in the military post US 9/11 acutely demonstrated the braun and the terror culture that lurked there. Arguably born at the right time, with the right parents, he was able to maximise his opportunities by getting to know computers early and programming them when most of us were – not. Edward Snowden gives us a brief view of his childhood, his parents divorce, and his emerging genius in the way he short cuts or ‘hacks’ his life.

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