government filed charges, though, Snowden could further expect it

104 | HOW AMERICA LOST ITS SECRETS government filed charges, though, Snowden could further expect it would invalidate his passport to go anywhere except for his return to the United States, and Interpol would issue a red alert to all its mem- bers. Because his case involved national security secrets, he had also to consider that the Hong Kong court could deny him any use of the Internet until his extradition case was settled. If Snowden wanted to leave Hong Kong, he had to act swiftly. Tibbo, although evasive on the point when I interviewed him, might not have known about the escape Harrison was planning. He did not know that Snowden’s other alternatives were not good. He had no money, and his credit card had been blocked. He had no visas to go to any other country, and Interpol would issue its own border alert as soon as the United States filed its charges. At that point, Hong Kong airport authorities would be officially notified and could prevent him from leaving the city. Even if he somehow got out, he would be an international fugitive. Tibbo counseled Snowden to seek redress in the Hong Kong courts. Snowden, though, had no intention of allowing himself to be ® arrested, Despite what he had told Lana Lam only one week earlier, © at least for publication, about his determination to seek justice in the Hong Kong courts, he had not planned to use Hong Kong as anything more than a temporary stopover on his escape route. Two months later and safely in Moscow, he made this point clear in a lengthy interview with Alan Rusbridger, the editor of The Guard- ian. He told him that it had never been part of his plan to use Hong Kong to escape the legal consequences of his act. “The purpose of my mission [to Hong Kong] was to get the information to journalists.” If so, he had merely been using Tibbo, Man, and Ho to provide him with temporary cover while, following the instructions of Assange, Harrison laid down the smoke screen for his escape to Moscow. | | Epst_9780451494566_2p_all_r1.z.indd 104 ® 9/29/16 5:51 Pa | | HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_019592