A motif that Snowden returns to again and again, the permanent record gives the book its title and plays on the themes of surveillance and a lifelong rap sheet. At various stages, Snowden encounters different forms of a permanent record, some more serious than others. As he grows and his views become better informed, the permanent record evolves from its original state—an idle threat from his teacher—to a description for user data collected on every single person in the United States of America— without probable cause, stored and accessible forever.

By referencing the familiar idea of a permanent school record—an urban myth which is repeated to generation after generation, to the point of being modern folklore—Snowden creates a smart analogy for what the NSA has done with mass surveillance. At first, he introduces the idea as an ironic offhand comment, a way of keeping a wayward student in line. By the time Snowden begins to work in the intelligence agencies, he discovers that the permanent record is horrifying real. Just as a computer logs every minor action performed on the computer itself, the modern computers employed by the NSA monitor everything a user does at all times.