Barton Gellman is one of the best-known journalists and authors in the United States. He has worked at the Washington Post and is now a staff writer at The Atlantic as well as Senior Fellow at the Century Foundation. He reported on the US National Security Agency based on information provided by Edward Snowden In early 2013 an individual identifying themselves as ‘Verax’ (shortly afterwards revealed as Edward Snowden) contacted Barton with information pertaining to the US National Security Agency’s worldwide spying on citizens’ electronic communications. He re-joined the Washington Post in May that year to lead the paper’s coverage of the exposé. His recent book Dark Mirror: Edward Snowden and the American Surveillance State (2020) tells of the hidden infrastructure that connects US Government spying with Silicon Valley. In this conversation with David Haywood, convenor for World Affairs at the BRLSI, Barrton talks about key moments in his career, including the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, the activities of Dick Cheney during the George W. Bush presidency, the surveillance state and more. Barton Gellman’s books include: Dark Mirror: Edward Snowden and the Surveillance State. Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency.
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