Snowden

Where does Snowden fit in this current Crisis?

Starting with the generally accepted assumption that this Fourth Turning started 6 years ago, in October 2008, and using Wikipedia as primary source material, it appears Snowden was working for the CIA at that point, as he had been for about two years. He would resign the following February - which is to say, shortly after Obama's inauguration.

(Not that there's a connection, only that the activities cross administrations, and his CIA tenure included October 2008.)

Soon after, he began working for Dell, and was assigned to an NSA facility in Japan. He had an upwardly mobile career for the four years he was there, although he started downloading documents about surveillance activities in 2012. In March 2013, he quit Dell, with the proverbial straw breaking the camel's back being the Director of Central Intelligence lying to Congress.  His disclosures of NSA activities began shortly after,  in May of 2013.

Snowden is an early Millennial, born in 1983. Despite efforts to portray him as a bad guy, it often seems as he is a much better match for the Hero archetype. When other major intelligence lapses have come out - Pollard, Boyce,  Philby - they have been to specific governments. The rewards often involved personal gratification - not only money, but helping to assist Israel or Communism, seeing their work as a holy cause.  Snowden's leaks, meanwhile,  have been to the public, not to governments, and it does not appear that they have been for personal gain. Putin may stand to gain from the the U.S. being the bad guy here, but it doesn't sound as if he is getting additional intelligence for Russia alone. This relates to the notable difference that - unlike these others - Snowden's leaks happened after he had left his job.  He didn't have a handler who wanted him to be available long-term: When he was ready to go, he left.

Which is ranging rather far from that initial question: Where does Snowden fit? It might still be too soon to tell, but his revelations were a few years - not too many - into the Crisis.  He has fed a growing distrust in the government. As we look back, we may realize that the Crisis started to take its current form when Snowden decided to pledge his life, his fortune, and his sacred honor on a course that seemed to be the right thing to do.