by Michael Yoakum
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

WASHINGTON, D.C., United States – According to an NSA memo, a civilian NSA employee resigned last month after having his security clearance revoked for aiding Edward Snowden in acquiring confidential information. Representatives from the NSA told Congress that the civilian employee was forced out after an investigation to “assign accountability” for Edward Snowden’s disclosure of classified materials.

Two other individuals, an active duty military member and a civilian contractor, have been implicated in aiding Snowden in gathering materials, according to the NSA memo, and have been barred from accessing NSA headquarters.

The memo, authored by the director of the agency’s legislative affairs office, Ethan L. Bauman, was intended to answer Congressional inquiries about who, other than Snowden, would be held accountable for his disclosure of classified documents. The memo indicates that no senior level NSA officials will be disciplined for Snowden’s actions.

It said that an NSA civilian, reportedly Snowden’s supervisor, gave Snowden his Public Key Infrastructure certificate, the first step in a process to access restricted files. Snowden then captured the NSA civilian’s password when he entered it on Snowden’s computer.

Snowden denied in past interview that he stole passwords from colleagues in order to gain access to classified documents.

The Washington Post reports that a senior official working on the investigation assured that the three individuals accused of aiding Snowden were not being accused of colluding. Rather, investigators suspect that Snowden independently used the three individuals to help gain access to classified materials.

James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Snowden took advantage of a “perfect storm” of security flaws.

“He knew exactly what he was doing,” Clapper said. “And it was his job as assistant administrator to arrange across a lot of the databases. And he was pretty skilled at staying below the radar, so what he was doing wasn’t visible.”

Since the breach, the NSA has introduced policies to prevent similar breaches; system administrator positions will no longer be filled by contractors and access to information will divided among several individuals.

For more information, please see:

The LA Times – Three former NSA workers accused of aiding Snowden – 14 February 2014

The New York Times – N.S.A. Forces Out Civilian Employee With Snowden Tie – 13 February 2014

The Washington Post – NSA employee implicated in Snowden probe resigned, memo says – 13 February 2014

TIME – NSA Memo Says Snowden Tricked Colleague to Get Password – 13 February 2014

NBC News – Exclusive: Snowden Swiped Password From NSA Coworker – 12 February 2014