Hi, this is Lindsay Graham, host of American Scandal.

Our Back Catalog has moved behind a paywall.

Recent episodes remain free, but older ones will require a Wondery Plus subscription.

With Wondry Plus, you get access to the full American Scandal archive, add free, plus early access to new seasons and more.

Join Wondery Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts.

A listener note, this episode previously aired in 2022.

It's late June 2013.

In a working-class neighborhood in Hong Kong, a siren wails, as a police car comes roaring down the street, the car turns a corner, and as it passes by a row of worn-down apartments, Edward Snowden holds his breath.

Snowden watches from the entryway of one of the apartments, as the police car heads down the

block, and when it's finally out of sight, Snowden breathes a sigh of relief.

The police haven't found him, not yet.

Snowden steps back out into the street and looks both ways.

The coast seems to be clear, and while no one would suspect he's been

hiding out in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Hong Kong, Snowden still knows he has to be careful.

By now, Snowden has become one of the most famous people in the world. He's the subject of an

international manhunt, and the United States government is doing everything it can to capture him and send them back home, where he'll face charges of treason under the Espionage Act.

Snowden never had any illusion about the danger he was bound to face.

Just days ago, he met with a group of journalists in Hong Kong and blew the whistle on the U.S. government.

Snowden revealed that the National Security Agency was spying on American citizens

and gathering an unthinkable amount of private data, from phone calls to emails to other online activity.

The revelations immediately caused an international uproar. People across the world began debating the trade-offs between

privacy and national security. And while many believe Snowden is heroic, others, including the

...