Answer: USAGE

The correct answer is USAGE privilege. According to Snowflake documentation and the community consensus with 100% agreement and upvoted comments, USAGE is the minimum privilege required on an external stage for accessing unstructured data files via file URLs using the GET REST API. The USAGE privilege allows roles to reference and use the stage object. READ privilege is for internal stages, not external stages. OWNERSHIP provides full control beyond what's needed, and WRITE privilege is for modifying stage content, which is not required for read-only access via GET REST API.

Author: LeetQuiz Editorial Team