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PA session because, to do so, would be revealing classified information he had swore to protect. No doubt other intelligence officers find themselves in a similar bind in discussing secret matters. This suggests that there is a risk in accepting statements made by the intelligence chiefs at face value. But Snowden also has a credibility problem. He has told numerous untruths including ones calculated to help him insinuate himself into the key position from which he stole secrets and to cover up the nature of his theft. For example, Snowden got access in the spring of 2013 to the super-secret NSA’s computers storing these electronic files by working at Booz Allen Hamilton, a hedge-fund owned consulting firm, that helped manage computer systems at its Kunia base in Hawaii. On his application to Booz Allen in March 2013, Snowden claimed to be in the process of completing a master’s degree at the University of Liverpool in computer security sciences, which he expected to get that year. Although he had registered two years earlier at the online division of University of Liverpool, he had not completed a single course there and, according to the registrar, he was not in line to receive a master’s (or any) degree. To be sure, Snowden did not lie gratuitously. He told untruths to get access to classified documents and to get safely away with them. He also was not entirely truthful with journalists whose trust he sought when it suited his purpose in protecting himself. For example, in contacting Laura Poitras under the alias Citizen Four in January 2013, he gave her his word that he was currently a “government employee,” although in fact he was working for a private contractor at the time. Snowden had little concern about misleading journalists when it suited his purpose. For example, he told Alan Rusbridger of the Guardian, Brian Williams of NBC News, James Bamford of Wired Magazine, Katrina vanden Heuvel of the Nation, Barton Gellman of the Washington Post and Jane Mayer of Zhe New Yorker that the U.S, government intentionally acted to “trap” him in Moscow by revoking his passport while he was already on a plane to Moscow on the afternoon of June 23, 2013. Although he had first made this charge on July 1, 2013, none of these journalists asked Snowden what was the basis for his oft-repeated allegation. He did admit, however, during the Q&A following his July 12, 2013 press conference in Moscow that he had no independent source, sating t he had “read it” in the news reports. In fact, news stories prior to his statement reported that his passport had been revoked before he had left Hong Kong on June 22™' 2013. ABC News, for example reported that the U.S. "Consul General-Hong Kong confirmed Hong Kong authorities were notified that Mr. Snowden's passport was revoked June 22.” By the date to June 23™, Snowden effectively provided to unsuspecting journalists an alibi for his presence in Russia. The credibility problem with Snowden assumed a more sinister dimension once Snowden put himself and his fate in the hands of the Russian authorities in Moscow. Even though the Obama Administration decided against revealing the extent of Russian intelligence service's participation in Snowden’s move from Hong Kong to Moscow, or what intelligence services call an “exfiltration,” I was told by a Presidential National Security staff adviser that the government acted to protect the intelligence sources used by the CIA, NSA and FBI to track Snowden’s HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_020181