In the 2016 film Snowden, which U.S. intelligence agency employed Edward Snowden as a contractor?

In the 2016 film Snowden, Edward Snowden is employed as a contractor by the National Security Agency.

Oliver Stone’s film dramatizes events from the life of Edward Snowden, the former intelligence contractor who disclosed classified surveillance programs in 2013. The story follows his work with the CIA and NSA before he copied and shared secret documents with journalists.

The NSA is the United States agency responsible for signals intelligence and information assurance. Snowden worked for the agency through contractors, rather than serving as a direct civilian NSA employee throughout the period depicted. That distinction is sometimes lost when the film is summarized.

Snowden premiered in the United States in September 2016. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Snowden, while Shailene Woodley portrays his partner, Lindsay Mills. The film is based partly on Luke Harding’s book The Snowden Files and Anatoly Kucherena’s Time of the Octopus.