Former National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden’s memoir “Permanent Record” will be published globally by Macmillan Publishers on September 17. The announcement was made by Snowden via Twitter on August 1.

I wrote a book. pic.twitter.com/wEdlOFMnMn

— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) August 1, 2019

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Describing his greatest regret in life Snowden says, “Everything that we do now lasts forever not because we want to remember  but because we are no longer allowed to forget, helping to create that system is my greatest regret.”

Seven years ago, the intelligence contractor for the National Security Agency, Edward Snowden decided to leak top-secret documents to English newspaper The Guardian which set off a massive debate on violation of citizens’ privacy and how surveillance in the United States had turned dangerous.

In 2013 the reports based on his revelations were published by The Guardian and The New York Times which had shocked the world. The reports revealed the extent of information, including phone calls, text messages and emails, the US government was secretly gathering. It was an unprecedented system of mass surveillance with the ability to pry into the private lives of every person on earth.

In “Permanent Record”, Snowden tells his story for the very first time, how he helped create this system of mass surveillance and then how he experienced the crisis of conscience that led him to try to bring it down.

In 2012, Snowden left his job at the NSA and boarded a flight to Hong Kong where he contacted journalists from The Guardian and revealed how the United States was spying on its own citizens without their consent. He then fled to Moscow where he currently resides.

The United States has pressed criminal charges against the whistleblower and has expressed its desire to extradite him and try him for violating the espionage act. If found guilty Snowden would likely serve a life sentence.

Snowden is currently the president of a San Francisco based organisation called the Freedom of the Press Foundation.

“Edward Snowden decided at the age of 29 to give up his entire future for the good of his country,” said John Sargent, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Macmillan Publishers.

“He displayed enormous courage in doing so, and like him or not, his is an incredible American story. There is no doubt that the world is a better and more private place for his actions. Macmillan is enormously proud to publish ‘Permanent Record’,” Sargent added.

The memoir will be published in more than 20 countries and will be released on the United States’ Constitution Day.

In the UK, Australia, India and South Africa, the memoir will be published by Pan Macmillan. The book has been edited by Metropolitan Books under the leadership of Sara Bershtel, Senior Vice President and publisher.