Snowden’s girlfriend is a ‘friendly’ acrobat

The live-in girlfriend of National Security Agency whistle-blower Edward Snowden was described by acquaintances Monday as a dancer and acrobat who was on Oahu about a year.

British newspaper the Daily Mail identified Lindsay Mills, a Maryland Institute College of Art graduate, as the girlfriend of the controversial NSA whistle-blower.

Mills, 28, is a Baltimore-area native who practiced and performed with the local Waikiki Acrobatic Troupe for approximately one year, fellow troupe members said Monday.

"She seems like a nice person — always nice and friendly," said Karl Vorwerk, a coach with the troupe. He described it as a "loose organization" of members who meet twice weekly for training sessions at Queen’s Surf Beach and the University of Hawaii at Manoa campus.

Troupe members, including Mills, occasionally perform at local schools, weddings, parties and other events, Vorwerk said.

"She’s very sweet, very giving, passionate about the arts and performing," added another troupe member, who asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the situation.

The troupe member said Snowden was at several Waikiki Acrobatic Troupe events, and described him as "very quiet" and "shy."

With the troupe, Mills mainly practiced pole-dancing and a type of dance acrobatics known as "adagio" — activities that require lots of strength, balance and agility, Vorwerk said. Vorwerk and others said Mills often participated in pole-dancing performances at First Friday events, including at the Mercury Bar and Ong King Art Center.

Mills did not respond to requests for comment Monday. Vorwerk said he last saw Mills a little more than a week ago for a group session at Queen’s Surf. Mills’ parents said she traveled to the West Coast to visit friends, CNN reported Monday.

Snowden, 29, ignited a national firestorm of debate last week when he divulged the existence of NSA intelligence programs, including that the federal agency gathers records of millions of U.S. phone calls and also has access to Internet usage data from the top U.S. Internet companies.

He was a technical assistant for the Central Intelligence Agency but more recently worked for the NSA as a contractor with Booz Allen Hamilton in Hawaii. Booz Allen said Snowden worked for a team at the firm for fewer than three months.