【经济学人】间谍行动在美国丨2017.01.14丨总第778期

How America Lost Its Secrets: Edward Snowden, the Man and the Theft. By Edward Jay Epstein. Knopf; 350 pages; $27.95.

《美国是如何丢失秘密情报的：爱德华•斯诺登其人及他的情报盗窃》作者爱德华·杰·爱普斯坦。克诺夫出版社;350页;27.95美元。

THE effects of Edward Snowden’s heist of secrets from America’s National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013 can be divided into the good, the bad and the ugly, writes Edward Jay Epstein in a meticulous and devastating account of the worst intelligence disaster in the country’s history, “How America Lost Its Secrets”.

爱德华·斯诺登2013年从美国国家安全局(NSA)窃取情报带来的影响可分为三类：好的、坏的和丑陋的，爱德华·杰·爱普斯坦这样写道。他在《美国是如何失去秘密情报的》一书中对这次美国历史上最严重的情报灾难作了详细阐述。

• heist [haɪst] :n.盗窃

• divide [dɪ'vaɪd] :v.划分，分成

• meticulous [mə'tɪkjələs] : adj.一丝不苟的

• devastate ['devəsteɪt] : v.(令某人)极度震惊，破坏，摧毁

• intelligence [ɪn'telɪdʒ(ə)ns] :n.智力，情报工作
  

Even that categorisation is contentious. Mr Snowden’s fans do not believe he did anything wrong at all: he simply lifted the lid on a rogue agency, risking his liberty on behalf of privacy everywhere. For their part, his foes believe his actions lack any justification: he is a traitor masquerading as a whistle-blower, who exposed no wrongdoing but did colossal damage.

他的这种分类也是有争议的。斯诺登的粉丝们认为他并没有做错什么：他只是冒着失去个人自由的危险，为了所有人的隐私权益，揭开了流氓机构的真面目。但对于他的反对者来说，他的行动完全缺乏合理性：他是一个伪装成检举者的叛国者，他的行为看似完全正当却造成了巨大的伤害。

• categorisation [,kætɪɡərɪ'zeʃən] :分类，加以类别

• rogue [rəʊg] :胡作非为，无赖

• behalf [bɪ'hɑːf] :n.代表，利益

• foe [fəʊ] :n.敌人，反对者

• masquerade [,mɑːskə'reɪd] :vi.n.化装，伪装

These stances rest more on faith than facts. Their adherents regard as secondary the details of Mr Snowden’s career, and the means by which he took millions of pieces of top-secret information from the NSA’s computers. More important for such people is whether you trust American and other Western institutions, or regard them as inherently corrupt and oppressive.

这些立场更多建立在信念的基础上，而非事实。斯诺登的拥护者认为他的职业细节和他从国安局获取数百万份绝密信息的方式是次要的。对这些人来说，更重要的是你是信任美国的和其他西方国家的机构，还是认定它们天生是腐败和压迫性的。

• adherent [əd'hɪər(ə)nt] :n.信徒，追随者 

• secondary ['sek(ə)nd(ə)rɪ] :adj.第二的，次要的

• institution [ɪnstɪ'tjuːʃ(ə)n] :n.机构

• corrupt [kə'rʌpt] :adj.腐败的，贪污的

• oppressive [ə'presɪv] :adj.压迫的，沉重的

Mr Snowden’s fans believe that the authorities, especially intelligence agencies, lie about everything. Nothing they say about the case can be believed. Any peculiarities—such as inconsistencies in Mr Snowden’s public statements, or the fact that he now lives in Moscow as a guest of Russia’s security service, the FSB, are mere side-issues, easily explicable by exigency and urgency. For his foes, nothing Mr Snowden says is trustworthy, whereas statements made by officials are true.

斯诺登的追随者们认为政府当局，尤其是情报部门，对所有事情都没说过真话，它们对该案的一切说法都不可信。本案任何疑点都是细枝末节——如斯诺登的公开发言前后矛盾、他本人现在确实也作为俄罗斯安全机构（FSB）的访客而居住于莫斯科，但这些都可以简单地用情况危急来解释。而斯诺登的反对者们认为斯诺登没有一句话是值得相信的，而官方的发言句句属实。

• peculiarity [pɪ,kjuːlɪ'ærɪtɪ] :n.特性，特质

• inconsistence [ɪnkən'sɪst(ə)nsɪ] :不一致

• guest [gest] :n.客人 v.招待

• explicable [ɪk'splɪkəb(ə)l]:adj.可解释的，可说明的

• exigency ['eksɪdʒ(ə)nsɪ] :n.紧急事件

• urgency ['ɜːdʒ(ə)nsɪ] :紧急，催促

Mr Epstein is a formidable investigative journalist and his quarry is worthy of his talents. He has unearthed many new details and assembles them, with the publicly known information, into a coherent and largely damning account.

爱普斯坦是一位杰出的调查记者，他探求的真相也值得他去发挥才能。爱普斯坦发掘出不少新细节，并把它们同公众已知的信息组合起来，得出一篇连贯一致、令人震惊的记述。

• Quarry  ['kwɒrɪ] 探求

The first part of the book examines Mr Snowden’s rather patchy professional career. He was neither (as many believe, and he has claimed) a successful and senior intelligence officer, nor was he a computer wizard. Mysteriously, possibly through his family’s extensive connections with the spy world, he joined the CIA, but proved untrustworthy and incompetent. On leaving, he kept his security clearance, making him eligible for a good job in the private sector, where computer-literate ex-spooks are at a premium. But secrecy rules meant that nobody could check on his past.

本书第一部分调查了斯诺登相当牵强的专业生涯。他既不是一位成功的高级情报官员（许多人认为他是，包括他自己也曾这样宣称），也不是一位电脑奇才。他鬼使神差地进入了中央情报局（CIA）（或许依靠他家庭与间谍领域广泛的联系），但是结果发现他不可信赖，也无法胜任工作。离开之际，斯诺登保留了他的安全通行证，使得他能够在隐私部门谋求个好职位，在那些部门懂电脑的前间谍很受青睐。然而，保密条例意味着无人可以查看他的履历。

• Wizard ['wɪzəd]  巫师

• Clearance ['klɪər(ə)ns] 放行证

The author agrees that Mr Snowden performed a “salutary service in alerting both the public and the government to the potential danger of a surveillance leviathan”. The “bureaucratic mission creep”, he argues, “badly needed to be brought under closer oversight by Congress”. He also notes that Mr Snowden inadvertently highlighted the security consequences of “contractorisation”—outsourcing spook work to the private sector.

作者承认斯诺登扮演了一个“有益的角色，因其向公众和政府警示庞大的监视系统所隐藏的的潜在危险”。他认为“官僚机构的职能的扩张需要国会更紧密的监督。”他同时强调说，斯诺登先生的无意之举突显了将情报收集工作委托给私人部门的安全问题。

• Salutary ['sæljʊt(ə)rɪ]：adj. 有益的，有益健康的

• Surveillance [sə'veɪl(ə)ns]：n. 监督，监视

• Leviathan [lə'vaɪəθən]：利维坦，《圣经》中的海怪

• Bureaucratic [,bjɔːrə'krætɪk]：adj. 官僚的，官僚政治的

But he also shows that the vast majority of stolen documents had nothing to do with Mr Snowden’s purported concerns about privacy and government surveillance. He switched jobs in order to have access to much bigger secrets. He gave away American technical capabilities—such as the ability to snoop on computers that are not connected to the internet—which are of real value in tracking criminals, terrorists and enemies. To believe that was justified, you have to regard America as being no better than Russia, China or al-Qaeda. He also stoked an ugly, misplaced cynicism about the trustworthiness of government.

但是他也解释说明了被偷的大量文件其实和斯诺登先生所声称的对于隐私和政府监视行为的担忧无关。斯诺登为了得到更大的秘密而换了工作。他泄露了美国的技术能力，例如窥探未联网的电脑的这种能力，这种能力对于追踪罪犯、恐怖分子和敌人是非常有用的。你必须将美国视为像俄罗斯、中国和基地组织一样不堪才能相信这种行为是合乎情理的。他还煽动了一场丑陋且不合时宜的、质疑政府可信度问题的犬儒主义风潮。

• Categorical [kætɪ'gɒrɪk(ə)l]：adj. 绝对的，直截了当的

• Bluff [blʌf]：n.吓唬，绝壁，断崖

• Fable ['feɪb(ə)l]：n. 寓言，无稽之谈
  

Mr Epstein is cautious on the biggest question: whether Mr Snowden was acting alone, or under the control of Russian intelligence. The crucial evidence, he says, is Mr Snowden’s contact with digital-privacy activists such as Glenn Greenwald. No Russian handler would allow a well-placed and valuable spy to make such a risky move, Mr Epstein argues. Better to keep him in place, to steal yet more secrets.

对于斯诺登先生是自导自演还是受控于俄罗斯情报机构这一最大疑问，爱普斯坦先生的处理非常谨慎。他说最重要的证据就是斯诺登先生与格伦·格林沃尔德这样的数据隐私活动家的接触。爱普斯坦先生认为，俄罗斯的任何一个情报负责人都不会允许一个职位合适、颇有价值的间谍做出这么冒险的行为，最好的处理方式就是让他按兵不动以窃取更多的情报。

Crucial ['kruːʃ(ə)l]：adj. 重要的，决定性的

That may be too categorical. The intelligence world is full of bluffs and double-bluffs—and errors. Agents misbehave. Aims change over time. But certainly nobody reading this book will easily retain faith in the Hollywood fable of Mr Snowden’s bravery and brilliance.

这样说或许太过武断，但是谍报界就是充满了诡计、双重诡计和失误。特工可能犯错，行动目标可能随着时间而变化等等。但是可以确定的是，读过这本书之后，没有人会再轻易全盘相信斯诺登先生那在好莱坞大片中才会见到的勇气和智慧了。

Categorical [kætɪ'gɒrɪk(ə)l]：adj. 绝对的，直截了当的

翻译 ▍夏凉生，下罗小柜员，陌上

审核 ▍白夜叉

编辑 ▍苏叶

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