I'm really curious if he acquired the @snowden handle from somebody that was sitting on it, or if it actually wasn't taken until now.
I've heard Twitter can be pretty accommodating when it comes to squatted usernames when there's an official reason like a trademark or strongly worded letter from a law firm citing brand confusion. Maybe Snowden's legal team or his associates at the ACLU just asked nicely :-)
[1] https://theintercept.com/2015/09/29/edward-snowden-twitter-s...