Which 2013 disclosure of NSA surveillance programs was leaked by former contractor Edward Snowden?

The 2013 global surveillance disclosures were leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

Snowden provided journalists with a large collection of classified documents describing surveillance programs operated by the U.S. National Security Agency and partner agencies. The first major report appeared in The Guardian on 5 June 2013 and described a secret court order requiring Verizon to provide telephone metadata to the NSA. Reports about the PRISM internet-surveillance program followed shortly afterward.

The disclosures revealed or expanded public knowledge of programs involving bulk telephone records, internet communications, international fiber-optic cables and cooperation between intelligence agencies. Journalists Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras and Ewen MacAskill were among the people who worked with Snowden on the initial reporting.

“Global surveillance disclosures” refers to the broad series of revelations, not one single file or program. That distinction helps separate it from WikiLeaks’ Cablegate, the Panama Papers and Vault 7, which involved different leakers, documents or subject matter. Snowden left Hong Kong in 2013 and later received temporary asylum in Russia.