Dark Mirror

March 2, 2020
Pulitzer Prize winner Gellman (Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency) delivers an eloquent behind-the-scenes account of his reporting on NSA contractor Edward Snowden’s leak of top-secret U.S. intelligence documents in 2013. Introduced to Snowden (at that point known only by the code name Verax) by documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras, Gellman first had to convince Snowden of the value of working with a “card-carrying member of the mainstream media,” then keep a massive cache of classified documents from falling into the hands of foreign intelligence agents while publishing excerpts and analysis in the Washington Post. By revealing that the NSA was engaged in “mass domestic surveillance,” Snowden did “substantially more good than harm,” Gellman writes, though he gives space in the book to dissenting opinions from an array of national security officials. Gellman also describes some of his personal cybersecurity measures, hints at the secrets he withheld from publication, explores the ramifications of Snowden’s leaks in the Trump era, and settles scores with Glenn Greenwald, who broke the first story on the matter. Enriching the high-level technical and legal analysis with a sharp sense of humor, Gellman presents an exhaustive study of intelligence gathering in the digital age. Even readers who have followed the Snowden story closely will learn something new. Agent: Andrew Wylie, the Wylie Agency (May).

Starred review from March 1, 2020
A three-time Pulitzer winner digs deep into "the surveillance state that rose up after [9/11], when the U.S. government came to believe it could not spy on enemies without turning its gaze on Americans as well. In 2010, Gellman left the investigative team of the Washington Post, where he had developed journalistic expertise in national security issues and topics related to surveillance and digital encryption. By 2013, as he was figuring out his career as a freelance author, his life changed dramatically: He was visited by documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras, who had been approached by a then-anonymous whistleblower with alleged access to evidence of surveillance conducted illegally on American citizens by federal government agencies. Gellman's masterful narrative proceeds along two primary tracks. One relates the life story of the whistleblower, the now-famous Edward Snowden. The other is a primer about investigative journalism regarding one of the highest-risk expos�s in U.S. history. As the author unspools his own saga, he also delivers an endlessly insightful narrative about the practice of investigative journalism, a book that deserves its place alongside All the President's Men, Five Days at Memorial, Nickel and Dimed, and other classics of the genre. Gellman sets both skillful narrative tracks within the vital context of how a panicky network of federal government officials asserted their authority to break seemingly any privacy law or regulation in the wake of 9/11. The author does not view his role as advocate or dissenter. Rather, throughout the book, he sees his mission as informing all readers about the extent of government overreach into private lives. "The reader is entitled to know up front that I think Snowden did substantially more good than harm," writes Gellman, "even though I am prepared to accept (as he is not) that his disclosures must have exacted a price in lost intelligence." Explaining the illegal government surveillance requires cutting through a mountain of technological jargon, a task the author handles expertly. A riveting, timely book sure to be one of the most significant of the year.

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April 1, 2020
Gellman is a Pulitzer Prize- and Emmy-winning journalist who was one of three recipients of hundreds of thousands of leaked NSA documents from Edward Snowden. Many readers will be familiar with this story of Snowden's security breach and the resulting fallout once the depth of government surveillance of American citizens was revealed. In Dark Mirror, Gellman provides new insights to this saga based on his own research and reflection. He explores his complex relationship with Snowden and also answers questions like Why did Snowden choose me?, Why did the government try to stop my stories?, and more. Foremost a journalist, Gellman delivers a compelling story while recounting difficult predicaments and behind-the-scenes events. He takes a deep dive into the surveillance state while recalling being subjected to government investigations, legal pressures, and threats from foreign agencies determined to steal his files. Readers will be drawn into the conversational style of the book. It will be of interest to conspiracy theorist, historians, those interested in technology and surveillance, and readers looking for a balanced view of this notorious government leak.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

December 1, 2019

When Edward Snowden aimed to reveal the extent of U.S. government surveillance of its own citizens, he reached out to Guardian reporter Glenn Greenwald, filmmaker Laura Poitras, and Washington Post reporter Gellman. Thus, for the third time, Gellman helped the newspaper win a Pulitzer. Originally scheduled for July 2016.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2019

Gellman, who helped the Washington Post win two Pulitzer Prizes, clinched a third in 2014 (shared with the Guardian) for the Edward Snowden-inspired coverage of the U.S. National Security Agency. Gellman here uses his exchanges with Snowden as a springboard for further investigation into the surveillance state.

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2020

In this latest work, Gellman, a Pulitzer Prize and Emmy Award-winning journalist and author of Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency, describes his experience being among the first to report Edward Snowden's 2013 massive leak of National Security Agency (NSA) programs and methods; he now provides a thorough overview of the circumstances and consequences of that event. One doesn't have to necessarily agree with Gellman's premise that Snowden's exposure "did more good than harm" in order to find this account of the ensuing legal and ethical questions surrounding NSA's counterintelligence efforts to be an engaging one. Based on several firsthand conversations with Snowden, this book also sheds insight into the history of surveillance and the NSA itself, with interviews from former NSA Deputy Director Richard Ledgett and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, along with others who either agreed or disagreed with Snowden's decision. Occasional NSA vocabulary throughout doesn't detract from the narrative. VERDICT Gellman effectively details the scope and ambition of the NSA, and has written a well-documented account on the far-reaching impact of U.S. domestic surveillance and the resulting intrusions of privacy; highly recommended both for general readers and those with an interest in national security.--Zachary Irwin, formerly with Penn State Behrend

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.