Greenwald’s gripping tale of breaking Snowden leaks

In June 2013, Edward Snowden was sitting in his room at the Mira hotel in Hong Kong, watching the world react to the first of his explosive leaks about the NSA's out-of-control surveillance, when he was tipped off that the NSA might be closing in on him.

Snowden's identity as the source of the documents was still unknown to the public. But through a "net-connected device" he installed at his now-abandoned home in Hawaii to watch out for the watchers -- presumably an IP surveillance camera with microphone -- he knew when two people from the NSA showed up at the house looking for him, an NSA "police officer" and someone from human resources.

This is one of the new details revealed inNo Place to Hide, the much-anticipated book by journalist Glenn Greenwald, who worked with Snowden and documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras to publish a number of blockbuster stories about the NSA.

Snowden had known it would only be a matter of time before the NSA was on his trail -- he had intentionally left electronic footprints behind that would help the agency identify him as the leaker.

Though he could have covered his tracks -- the NSA's internal security was so poor the agency failed to catch him downloading thousands of documents over many weeks -- he hadn't wanted his colleagues to be subjected to needless suspicion or false accusations during the inevitable investigation that would follow the leaks. Snowden in fact intended to reveal his identity with the first story that was published, but Greenwald convinced him to wait so that the public's initial reactions would be focused on the NSA leaks and not the leaker.

The book, which is being released today, provides an extensive look at Greenwald's earliest encounters -- online and in person -- with the mysterious whistleblower who for months would only identify himself as Cincinnatus. It also expands on existing reporting about the agency's spy operations through the publication of more than 50 previously unpublished documents.

Although there may be little in the documents that's startling to anyone who has carefully followed the leak revelations over the last year, the book does a good job of providing an overview of what the documents and stories have revealed until now, while adding fresh detail. [One complaint with the book, however, is the lack of an index. Greenwald has said he plans to publish it online today, but this won't likely satisfy readers with print copies who don't want to jump on their computer or phone each time they want to find something in the book.]

Among the fresh details he reports -- the NSA routinely intercepts networking devices such as routers, servers, and switches as they're in transit from US sellers to international customers and plants digital bugging devices in them, before repackaging them with a factory seal and sending them on their way. Although it's been previously reported that the NSA, CIA and FBI intercept laptops to install spyware, the tampering with network hardware would potentially affect more users and data.

He also reports that US telecoms partnering with foreign telecoms to upgrade their networks help subvert foreign networks for the spy agency.

"The NSA exploits the access that certain telecom companies have to international systems, having entered into contracts with foreign telecoms to build, maintain, and upgrade their networks," he writes. "The US companies then redirect the target country's communications data to NSA repositories."

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Greenwald's gripping tale of breaking Snowden leaks