Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden leaked documents to the Guardian and Washington Post, revealing details of a secret surveillance and data collection program called PRISM that was authorized by the FISC. An article in the Guardian also revealed details of the Boundless Informant program, which mapped the amount of information the NSA collects from each country as part of its efforts to monitor threats from “foreign agents.”

Courtesy of The Guardian/Reuters/File
NSA whistle blower Edward Snowden talks with The Guardian in his hotel room in Hong Kong on June 6, 2013. Mr. Snowden fled to Hong Kong and then Russia in anticipation of the US government's reaction to documents he leaked.