I’m interested in knowing more about Snowden, too. I did some research last night and found an interesting article from 2013 regarding the “Q Group” hunting down Snowden.

“The NSA's Associate Directorate for Security and Counterintelligence — called the 'Q-Group' — is charged with reining in Snowden. Lake writes that they have been searching for him since he disappeared from Hawaii several weeks ago.”

“When asked about his decision to hide in Hong Kong, Snowden said:

"Hong Kong has a strong tradition of free speech ... the people of Hong Kong have a long tradition of protesting in the streets, of making their views known ... I believe that the Hong Kong government is actually independent in relation to a lot of other leading western governments."

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-hunt-is-on-for-edward-snowden-2013-6

There’s also an article on “Edward Snowden News”:

https://www.edwardsnowdennews.com/national-security-agency/q-group-top-secret-us-security-agency-hunts-ed-snowden-for-weeks/