title: Beyond Snowden: Privacy, Mass Surveillance, and the Struggle to Reform the NSA
author:  Timothy H. Edgar 
description: <div>The privacy-security debate is not about the forces of darkness vs. the forces of light, but rather a free people debating the right balance between two things they would like to have in full measurebut cannot. Tim Edgars <i>Beyond Snowden</i> is an important contribution to that debate. Its as thoughtful as the first conversation I had with Tim in 2005 as he was preparing to join the director of national Intelligences privacy office. Id sometimes argue with a few of Tims points but wed both be the better for it. Thats why serious people should read this book!Michael Hayden, retired general, U.S. Air Force, and former director of the National Security Agency and the CIA</div><br /><br /><div>A former civil rights lawyer considers changing attitudes regarding personal privacy within the National Security Agency following the disclosures by Edward Snowden. Formerly a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union and then a civil liberties protection officer for the Director of National Intelligence and the Obama White House, Edgar (International and Public Affairs/Brown Univ.) is well-versed in, and sympathetic to, the concerns of both civil liberties advocates and the national security establishment.<i>Kirkus Reviews</i></div><br /><br /><div>
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  ![Permanent Record by Edward Snowden](image_17.jpg)
  
  
  [Begin Reading](part0003.xhtml)
  
  
  [Table of Contents](part0040.xhtml)
  
  
  [About the Author](part0039.xhtml)
  
  
  [Copyright Page](part0041.xhtml)
  
  
  To L
  
  
  [Preface](part0040.xhtml#y6pPiJpLS2eeZ1o94UubXQ1656)
  
  
  My name is Edward Joseph Snowden. I used to work for the government, but now I
  work for the public. It took me nearly three decades to recognize that there
  was a distinction, and when I did, it got me into a bit of trouble at the
  office. As a result, I now spend my time trying to protect the public from the
  person I used to be—a spy for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and
  National Security Agency (NSA), just another young technologist out to build
  what I was sure would be a better world.
  
  
  My career in the American Intelligence Community (IC) only lasted a short
  seven years, which I’m surprised to realize is just one year longer than the
  time I’ve spent since in exile in a country that wasn’t my choice. Dur