HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_019519.jpg

Contractor | 31 But Snowden found diversions in Japan. In July 2009, Lindsay Mills joined him there. She had become an amateur photographer, specializing in arty self-portraits. She also saw herself as a global tourist, writing in her blog after arriving in Japan that she had trav- eled to seventeen countries. Like Snowden, she also deemed herself, tongue in cheek, a “super hero.” In this sense, her Internet avatar was a match for Snowden’s Wolfking Awesomefox. In Japan, Mills and Snowden spent time with another Ameri- can couple, Jennie and Joseph Chamberlin, who also worked at the Yokota base. Jennie, a sergeant in the public affairs section of the U.S. Air Force, had been at art college with Mills and called herself in her blog the Little Red Ninja. Joseph Chamberlin was a decorated U.S. Navy pilot who now flew highly sensitive intelligence-gathering missions from the Yokota base. Jennie described Lindsay in her blog as her “super-model friend.” The two couples also went on expedi- tions in Japan together. As far as is known, the Chamberlins were the only Americans at the base with whom Snowden socialized. On August 17, 2009, the foursome attempted to walk up Mount Fuji, ® but they got lost en route and wound up in the Mount Fuji gift © shop. Jennie described the misadventure in her blog: “Our adven- ture started off a little rocky with our attempts to find the interstate. Alas, our iconic mountain was obscured by cloud. A short stop at the Mt. Fuji combination soba noodle stand/gift shop was enough to whet our appetite for the further exploration that is to come.” Pho- tographs taken that day show Snowden wearing Hawaiian shorts and a black tank top emblazoned with an eagle and the letters USA. They also show Mills wearing safari shorts, a brown sweater, and what appears to be an engagement ring. “Ed was looking rather red- necky,” Lindsay commented on one photograph. Snowden described hey, in turn, as “nerdy.” They never made it to the top of Mount Fuji. Snowden also sought to advance himself by getting credit toward a college certificate by enrolling in a summer online course at the University of Maryland’s Asia program, which had a regional cam- pus on the Yokota base. Known as UMUC, it had a contract with the government to provide military personnel with such educa- tional opportunities. Snowden would later claim that he was tak- ing courses for a graduate degree in computer sciences, but William | | Epst_9780451494566_2p_all_r1.z.indd 31 ® 9/29/16 5:51 Pa | | HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_019519