Edward Snowden, NSA-leaker extraordinaire, is such a familiar face in world news that he’s almost a household name. But for all the extensive NSA spying capabilities he revealed, US authorities were still not able to get his name right on extradition documents issued to Hong Kong, according to Rimsky Yuen, the city’s justice secretary.
Seeking a provisional arrest warrant for Snowden, the US government submitted documents referring to Edward James Snowden, the Wall Street Journal reported. In another document it just used his middle initial. According to his passport, however, Snowden’s middle name is actually Joseph.
According to multiple reports, it was in large part Beijing’s decision to let Snowden leave Hong Kong. But at the very least the US middle-name mix-up provides Hong Kong with a solid diplomatic excuse. For the time being, the NSA leaker is holed up in the rather comfortable Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow, possibly bound for Ecuador. Edward Joseph Snowden’s US passport has been revoked—not that that matters much anymore.