Shares of Booz Allen Hamilton Drop as Market Opens

By Cynthia Herbert :: 9:56 AM

Shares in Booz Allen Hamilton, the consulting firm and government contractor that employed NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden have opened sharply lower in trading today, down over 4% in the first twenty minutes of trading.

The firm issued a statement yesterday afternoon after Snowden was identified as the source of the leaks of confidential government documents that revealed the existence of two spy programs focused on U.S. citizens. One program focused on the tracking of metadata for U.S. telephone calls, and the other, dubbed PRISM, tracked online communications.

In the statement, Booz Allen Hamilton said that Snowden’s action, “represents a grave violation of the code of conduct and core values of our firm.” The form vowed to “work closely with our clients and authorities in their investigation of this matter.”