After he had compiled a large store of documents, Snowden told his NSA supervisor that he needed a leave of absence. His excuse was being diagnosed as a recent epileptic and needing treatment. On May 20, 2013, Snowden took a flight to Hong Kong, China, where he remained as he organized a meeting with journalists from the U.K. publication The Guardian as well as filmmaker Laura Poitras. On June 5, The Guardian released secret documents obtained from Snowden. In these documents, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court implemented an order that required Verizon to release information to the NSA on an "ongoing, daily basis" culled from its American customers' phone activities.

The following day, The Guardian and The Washington Post released Snowden's leaked information on PRISM, an NSA program that allows real-time information collection electronically. The result was a global debate.

Through his illegal actions, Snowden made national history by leaking NSA files and exposing just how much the NSA knows about us. This caused him to make headlines and change U.S.

Snowden worked in various parts of the US Intelligence Community, even being undercover for the CIA overseas. Most recently he worked as an infrastructure analyst at the NSA. He left his home and family in Hawaii when he was about to release the secret documents. After he went to Hong Kong, Snowden revealed documents to the public on the NSA’s mass surveillance programs. These were shown to be operating with the absence of any public oversight as well as being outside the limits of the US Constitution. The US government responded by charging Snowden with theft of government property and espionage. Snowden is now in Russia where he received temporary asylum. 

Snowden will go down in history as one of America's most consequential whistleblowers, alongside Daniel Ellsberg and Bradley Manning. He is responsible for handing over material from one of the world's most secretive organisations – the NSA.

Despite his determination to be publicly unveiled, he repeatedly insisted that he wants to avoid the media spotlight. "I don't want public attention because I don't want the story to be about me. I want it to be about what the US government is doing."

He does not fear the consequences of going public, he said, only that doing so will distract attention from the issues raised by his disclosures. "I know the media likes to personalise political debates, and I know the government will demonise me."

Despite these fears, he remained hopeful his outing will not divert attention from the substance of his disclosures. "I really want the focus to be on these documents and the debate which I hope this will trigger among citizens around the globe about what kind of world we want to live in."