After extensive details of vast U.S. government surveillance were published in 2013, Edward Snowden, formerly a subcontracted IT analyst for America's National Security Agency, became the center of international controversy: Was Snowden a whistle-blower or traitor? Was his theft legitimized by the nature of the information he exposed? When is it necessary for government transparency to give way to subterfuge?

In How America Lost Its Secrets, legendary investigative journalist Edward Epstein carefully examines how America's secrets were taken, as well as the man who took them. He persuasively argues that by outsourcing parts of its security apparatus, the U.S. government has made classified information needlessly vulnerable; he documents how Snowden sought employment precisely where he could most easily gain access to such information; and he explains how Snowden is now treated as a prized intelligence asset in Moscow, his new home.

Edward Jay Epstein is an investigative journalist. His books include Inquest: The Warren Commission and the Establishment of Truth, News from Nowhere: Television and the News, and Dossier: The Secret History of Armand Hammer. Epstein has also taught political science at MIT and UCLA. He holds a B.A. from Cornell University and a Ph.D. from Harvard University.

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