Monday, June 24, 2013

A hero unraveled. Edward Snowden took security job for the sole purpose of exposing NSA, and allowed China to drain four laptops worth of top secret information.

Courtesy of the South China Morning Post: 

Edward Snowden secured a job with a US government contractor for one reason alone - to obtain evidence of Washington's cyberspying networks, the South China Morning Post can reveal. 

For the first time, Snowden has admitted he sought a position at Booz Allen Hamilton so he could collect proof about the US National Security Agency's secret surveillance programmes ahead of planned leaks to the media. 

"My position with Booz Allen Hamilton granted me access to lists of machines all over the world the NSA hacked," he told the Post on June 12. "That is why I accepted that position about three months ago." 

During a live global online chat last week, Snowden also stated he took pay cuts "in the course of pursuing specific work". He said: "Booz was not the most I've been paid." 

He spent the time collecting a cache of classified documents as a computer systems administrator at Booz Allen Hamilton. 

In his interview with the Post, Snowden divulged information that he claimed showed hacking by the NSA into computers in Hong Kong and the mainland. 

"I did not release them earlier because I don't want to simply dump huge amounts of documents without regard to their content," he said. 

"I have to screen everything before releasing it to journalists." 

Asked if he specifically went to Booz Allen Hamilton to gather evidence of surveillance, he replied: "Correct on Booz."

Not only did Snowden seek employment with Booz Allen for the purpose of exposing secret American programs, he also seems to have allowed the Chinese government complete access to the stolen information contained on the four laptops in his possession, much of which could have been data mined from Americans through phone calls and e-mails.

Courtesy of the New York Times:

Two Western intelligence experts, who worked for major government spy agencies, said they believed that the Chinese government had managed to drain the contents of the four laptops that Mr. Snowden said he brought to Hong Kong, and that he said were with him during his stay at a Hong Kong hotel.

I have been asked my opinion on Mr. Snowden and here it is.

While I think learning about these programs and recognizing that our government, and yes that includes President Obama, lied to us is an important and necessary thing to learn, I do not think that how Edward Snowden went about this is defensible, nor do I trust his motives.

As for Glenn Greenwald, I am not a fan and believe that if a better journalist had been the one to break this story Snowden would not be gallivanting around the country dropping our personal information, and top Secret data, all over the world like a tipsy businessman into the ear of a $200 streetwalker.

And I don't know about you, but I have a LOT of unanswered questions. Such as who was Snowden working with, and HOW did he know that working for Booz Allen would connect him to the data he was looking for?

My other question is how did Booz Allen Hamilton get so goddam big so goddamn fast?

Even if Snowden did not intend to allow this information to fall into the hands of those who would do us harm, the fact that he took the data out of the country, suddenly making it vulnerable to spies, and then transported it into countries that have difficult if not adversarial relationships with America, makes him either incredibly naive or a traitor to his country.

96 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:55 PM

    Snowden is a sideshow, a shiny distracting object. Why aren't you concerned about the continuing NSA wholesale spying on US citizens? You want to know "how did Booz Allen Hamilton get goddam so goddam fast"? Follow the money from them to the Beltway if you can find the trail.

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    1. Anonymous1:17 PM

      Snowden is a traitor. I am sure he signed all sorts of agreements when he was hired. Booz Allen et al should not have hired him. I think that NSA personnel should all have to be hired by the NSA. The federal government should not privatize the nation's security to the lowest bidder. The Patriot Act was not a good idea but it's the law now. Contact your senators and representative if you want to change the law. Frankly, as long as the metadata mining is done the way it is now, I have no problem. My phone calls are not those of a traitor or a terrorist. If the federal government had been able to put 2 and 2 together, maybe 9/11 might not have happened. We live in a dangerous world. There were slogans during WWII; one of them was "loose lips sink ships." We could use a few of them again.
      Beaglemom

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    2. Anonymous1:26 PM

      Booz Allen grew because this is how Republicans do corporate welfare. Cut the federal budget, and then privatize everything so that their cronies can get fat and rich with government contracts. We're stupid enough to fall for it, thinking that government is shrinking when in reality we've just shifted public projects to the private sector.

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    3. Anonymous1:36 PM

      Why aren't you concerned about the continuing NSA wholesale spying on US citizens?

      If by "you" you are referring to Gryphen (if not, then who?), perhaps you failed to notice that he stated that learning about these issues is "important and necessary". The fact that he does not give your main concern top billing does not necessarily mean that he is "distracted"—it could simply mean that this particular article is focussed on a different facet of the overall situation.

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    4. Anonymous1:47 PM

      I don't care if they have access to my phone number, calls, etc. I'm NOT a terrorist and have zero to worry about. The majority in the USA are exactly the same, so stop the bitching and complaining. Wouldn't you rather know you are safer in the US vs having the terrorist terrorize Americans?

      And, it's been like this for years and is NOT the fault of President Obama and his administration.

      Boy, do we have some idiots within our country!

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    5. Anonymous1:50 PM

      You really are naive. The US has ALWAYs spied on its own citizens.

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    6. Anonymous3:29 PM

      Sad that people are more angry at a whistleblower and a journalist than they are their government's war on transparency and accountability. Your tax money is being funneled to private corporations that profit from war and illegal surveillance and torture, to banks that launder money for drug cartels and terrorists, yet you are calling for journalists and whislteblowers to be arrested.

      5 years since the banks collapsed. How many responsible have gone to jail?

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    7. Anonymous5:51 PM

      "Anonymous1:26 PM
      Booz Allen grew because this is how Republicans do corporate welfare. Cut the federal budget, and then privatize everything so that their cronies can get fat and rich with government contracts. We're stupid enough to fall for it, thinking that government is shrinking when in reality we've just shifted public projects to the private sector." <----excellent comment.

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  2. Anonymous1:07 PM

    What Snowden did makes him a traitor. Not in the "i must hate america" sense, but he is the absolute definition. He joined a top secret program and then exposed information about said program that jeopardized it. Regardless of whether or not he found it ethical, that's just how things work. When you join up with the government, you should know what you're getting into. My husband has had top secret clearance since he was 18; he had to inform the military he was dating me, and so they have a file on me. When we got married and his clearance was due to be renewed, he had to provide information from my parents as well. Everyone gets checked out. Everyone is watched to an extent. i'm actually kind of shocked that people are shocked by this.

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    1. Anonymous1:30 PM

      Agree.

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    2. Anonymous1:51 PM

      I agree with you. Totally. I am not shocked or offended by spying. I haven't done anything to worry about, so why should I care.

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    3. Anonymous2:00 PM

      Agree totally with you on this!

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    4. I've had to undergo some kind of security check for every job I've had since I moved to the DC area 23 years ago, so it's not big deal.

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    5. Anonymous9:46 AM

      How about this, those of you morons that are ok with loosing privacy and freedoms can sign up and opt in! we will even have a free cameras installed in your hour no CHARGE! because you have nothing to hide right?
      Great we will be there in 20 minutes.
      thanks

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  3. Anonymous1:13 PM

    Booz Allen Hamilton's parent company is The Carlyle Group.
    Take it from there...

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    1. Anonymous1:46 PM

      Bingo, @1:13!

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    2. Anonymous3:30 PM

      You're getting into weeds now, my friend.

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    3. Anonymous5:47 PM

      actually he is getting into the Bushes.

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  4. Anonymous1:23 PM

    The president didn't lie. That's absolutely ridiculous. Either we want a secure U.S. or we don't, but we can't have it both ways. Imagine if even one of those thwarted terrorists attacks actually happened. The president would never hear the end of it. How quickly we've forgotten about the Boston Marathon bombing. What do you think NSA has been doing all these years? How can all these people who've been calling the president a communist for five years support Snowden who has literally turned over U.S. secrets to China so that he can globe-trot without a passport?

    Many of us never fell for Snowden's lies. We suspected he was a spy because he was, first and foremost, a liar. As my mother-in-law used to say, "Liars will steal."

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    1. Anonymous1:52 PM

      You are so right. You can't have it both ways.

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    2. Anonymous3:21 PM

      Obama lies all the time. Grow up.

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    3. Anonymous3:34 PM

      @3:21

      Speak of the devil -

      http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2013/jun/21/barack-obama/barack-obama-says-foreign-intelligence-surveillanc/

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    4. Anonymous3:56 PM

      In New England, it's called the Boston INVASION because of the illegal martial law that was implemented. Snipers, paratroopers, armed guards, people handcuffed and removed from their homes in Watertown, shooting a boat with over 200 bullets all over an UNARMED TEENAGER.

      We are ashamed.

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    5. Anonymous3:57 PM

      3:21
      Fuck you . Grow up .

      Delete
    6. Anonymous5:58 PM

      "Anonymous3:57 PM

      3:21
      Fuck you . Grow up . "
      *****
      that's the "Grow up/get a life troll"LOL!
      Obama lies all the time...who does that sound like? Not Putin but Palin! it sounds like a Palin!

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    7. 123 You are so right.

      I'm a bit surprised and disappointed that G called President Obama a liar.

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    8. 356 Oh please with the unarmed teenager bullshit. He's a mass murderer Fuck him. he and his murderous brother killed a cop and planned on going to New York to kill more. Also they threw two bombs at cops after the car chase. Fuck em.

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    9. Anonymous2:44 AM

      Anon 3:56 - Bullshit. The kid wasn't unarmed (hence the gunfight that pulled his brother down so he could run him over). We are not ashamed - we are proud and BOSTON STRONG.

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  5. Anonymous1:40 PM

    Booz Allen has been around in one form or another since WWII. That's how they got so fucking big. Their only client is the US Government and has been all along.
    THAT is why Snowden, traitor, liar, thief, and I hope soon to be DEAD, took that job. Greenwald was in on it as well, he blatantly told people he was in contact with Snowden well before he was hired by Booz Allen.
    Someone needs to do a timeline of those people and exactly what they were doing and said AND who they were talking to.
    By the way, his telling Americans they were being spied on is the side show. It was always all about getting the data to sell it. The rest is icing on the cake and mud in the US government's eye (since they were and have been stupid enough to off house the spying in the first place).
    By the way, i thought he took flash drives, not laptops.

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    1. Anonymous2:11 PM

      Booz Allen Hamilton has been around since 1914 when Edwin G. Booz founded the company.

      Delete
  6. Anonymous1:43 PM

    Snowmen will go down in history as a TRAITOR. His name will be right alongside Benedict Arnold as a synonym for treason.

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  7. Anonymous1:44 PM

    This guy needs to be hung from the rafters! He is a traitor to the U.S. and national security. President Obama has every right to go after him!!!!!!!

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    1. Anonymous2:04 PM

      I am for going after him and bringing him in to face his accusers. Spies do get the death penalty if you are for that.

      Is it only US top secrets Snowdon has dumped for China? What about Britain? Are their other countries that could charge him and put him on trial?

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  8. Anonymous1:49 PM

    The President never lied.
    And to people who think this is new, you are very naive!! The US has spied on its citizens for years, not just under Bush.

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  9. Anonymous1:53 PM

    Ron Paul donor, that's how I knew there was something fishy here.

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  10. Anonymous1:56 PM

    makes me either incredibly naive or a traitor to his country. ??????????????????????????

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    1. Anonymous2:14 PM

      obviously a typo- me=him.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous2:01 PM

    @Beaglemom:

    Right, you are doing nothing wrong, so you have nothing to worry about. Which is fine until some government bureaucrat secretly decides either by mistake, or because of "regime change" that your emails and phone calls ARE traitorous.What then?

    @Tom Powell

    Yes, referring to Gryphen. Snowden can be seen as a traitor. So what? I still maintain he's a sideshow. An easy subject for people to jump up down and holler about.

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    1. Anonymous2:45 PM

      Yes, referring to Gryphen. Snowden can be seen as a traitor. So what? I still maintain he's a sideshow.

      You have every right to maintain that—but that doesn't mean that Gryphen has to dedicate every one of his articles to your priorities.

      In your initial comment, you asserted that Gryphen is not concerned about what you consider to be the most important issue. I drew your attention to the fact that he had expressed concern about it, despite your gratuitous claim that he hadn't.

      I did not express disagreement with your belief that Snowden is a sideshow.

      So what's your beef?

      I suspect you don't remember what was written, even though it's still all there—including my name (not Tom, in case you've forgotten that part already).

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    2. Anonymous3:56 PM

      Shut your fucking face!

      The ONLY people in American public life who I could see making an enemies list and going after people who disagree with them are the very people defending Snowden -- THE PAULS AND SARAH PALIN!

      You're probably a low-educated Paultard who thinks it makes sense to go around talking about "liberty" while voting on laws that prevent women from making their own medical decisions. Ron and Rand Paul's version of "liberty" means allowing corporations to sell you cyanide as a vitamin and allowing th "free market" to correct the problem. You people all have your heads so far up your fucking asses that you can't see that.

      And Sarah Pail is just such a vicious bitch. We all know that the minute she got any power, Gryphen would be fucking arrested on trumped charges.

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    3. Bitchy much?

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    4. Anonymous4:29 PM

      Shut your fucking face!

      Considering that this blog's software only allows one level of nesting in replies to comments, it would really help if you were to make it plain who it is you are annoyed with. I'm guessing that you meant Anonymous 2:01 PM, but clarity—not to mention reasoned exposition—would be much appreciated by more than just this one contributor.

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  12. Anonymous2:07 PM

    I read that he left the CIA because he was caught accessing computers he was not authorized to have the information in them. Was he fired by the CIA? This is where he may have learned about Booz etc

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    1. Anonymous5:18 PM

      Link please. That's pretty important if it's been reported by a reliable source. Thanks.

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    2. Anonymous9:13 PM

      Snowden, himself, said he left the CIA in 2009. It was reported by ABC, Gawker, and many others. Just search it on the web.

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  13. Anonymous2:17 PM

    EVERYBODY needs to read this,

    http://www.stonekettle.com/2013/06/essential-liberty-in-post-911-world.html

    Mr Wright worked with the NSA. He gives an excellent viewpoint.

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    1. Read this too -- reminds you of Alaska's own megalomaniac:

      http://www.thepeoplesview.net/2013/06/greenwald-backtracks-i-did-not-have.html#.UckADIlLUQ4.twitter

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    2. Anonymous8:12 PM

      When the time comes Greenwald should have all his notes and electronic trail with every word he and Snowden communicated.

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  14. Anonymous2:23 PM

    We need more Snowdens. A true hero.

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    1. Anonymous2:50 PM

      You need more facts and education.

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    2. Anonymous3:19 PM

      I don't understand why you would trust Snowden. I assume you are not his confidant. What is it about him that makes you think he's a hero? You know nothing about him. You only know what he has decided to put out. It's smart to have a little healthy skepticism - about everything.

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    3. Anonymous4:27 PM

      We need more people leaking government secrets to other countries. Woo hoo!!

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  15. Anonymous2:30 PM

    How come someone with Snowdon's apparently limited training and background in IT was allowed access to that level of classified information?

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    1. Anonymous4:43 PM

      I agree; this just doesn't make sense.

      Especially after only 3 months?! No, something's not right here.....

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    2. Anonymous8:19 PM

      that alone has kept me extremely interested in this story. are we not getting his actual credentials or is the hiring policy that lenient? both are intriguing options

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  16. Anonymous2:55 PM

    On the day when Snowden left HK, I re-tweeted a tweet on the topic.

    The next thing I knew Glenn Greenwald responded and I was being called both a progressive and McCarthyite!

    I had wondered about Greenwald's journalistic integrity, but when he felt the need to tweet a virtual nobody in this manner, I knew my instincts were correct.

    I now think he is a fame whore hoping to ride the coat-tails of this story.

    In the end, he may end up taking those who are helping Snowden & him down just like Palin has done and continues to do.

    Peace - Out



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    1. Anonymous3:51 PM

      Interesting tidbit -- Glenn Greenwald is incredibly pro-Ron Paul!

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    2. Anonymous5:36 PM

      I assume that most of the folks here that are familiar with national security are keenly aware of how disinfo gets out. It is usually leaked through anonymous sources that have been compromised. They have built up some credibility with lazy, 2nd tier media who cannot afford to do their due diligence in fact checking for fear of losing their scoop.

      Personally, I have seen where "defense analysts" have almost transcribed word for word the limited distribution press releases from DOD and the Pentagon. "Sources at the Pentagon describe.,,". Theyske a mockery of Candy Crowley, Wolf Blitzer, etc. Not to pick on CNN, because its not exclusive to them by anyways. But they are so far up thassoffes of the Neocons, none of whom had lost an election because they aren't politicians. They're advisors on policy, think tank wonks, and errand boys for the plutocrats, the center of wealth and real power.

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    3. I know what you mean. He got snippy with me during ows.

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  17. Beldar J Conehead2:58 PM

    Snowden was a hero in the same way The Screechy Wretch(tm) was the next Big Thing in American politics. In both cases, the initial reaction by most people was negative and many figured out the charade quickly. As always, there will be some misguided people who will continue to support Snowden as some have continued to support that Alaskan hag.

    But Snowden was never a hero and never will be.

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    1. Anonymous6:09 PM

      >>But Snowden was never a hero and never will be.

      EXACTLY.

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  18. Anonymous3:19 PM

    He saw wrongdoing and went about collecting evidence. Sounds like a an enterprising young man to me. As for the two anonymous intelligence 'experts' leaking to NYT that China 'probably' drained his laptop - well I have some ocean front property in Spokane you might be interested in.

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    1. Anonymous3:44 PM

      He signed all kinds of confidentiality agreements when he worked for either the CIA or NSA. You cannot work for such organizations and then steal information to give to foreign powers. It's called espionage and it is NOT legal. Nor is it admirable. The American people have known about the Patriot Act since it was enacted. Most of us are willing to put up with its data mining because WE are not terrorists, nor are we potential traitors. What Snowden did is wrong. No one should bother with wringing any hands over him. I hope that wherever his plane lands the authorities there extradite him immediately to the US so that he can face the music. What a coward to run away! Or is he still trying to pedal his laptop stolen information.
      Beaglemom

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    2. I have worked with gov contractors, including BAH dudes. I have worked on contracts that were for NSA, ie. Md procurement.
      Snowden is a spy and a traitor and should be hung out to dry. If Wikileaks prompted him, they should be brought down with him. This is not whistleblowing, its spying and should be tried as treason.

      I guess his next drop will be go give the Russsians access to the hard drives.

      He is not a hero but a traitor. BAH has a reputation that has just been busted!!

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    3. Anonymous5:57 PM

      I worked for government contractors therefore Snowden is a traitor.

      Boy, can't argue with astounding display of logical deduction.

      Should the Guardian and Washington Post be brought down to?


      Delete
  19. Ok, everyone, calm down. First, if Snowden said that, he is a traitor and provided a detailed description about his first steps.

    Second, it's time for everyone to read some post-war history [not religious tracts or conspiracy theory nutjob books, but actual histories written by actual professors] about the CIA, American intelligence gathering, the function of the NSA, Eisenhower's warning about the military-industrial complex, and so on. And so on. None of this began with Obama. Or Bush. Or Nixon or Kennedy.

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    1. Anonymous4:23 PM

      So true.

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    2. LoveAndKnishesFromBrooklyn5:14 PM

      X2. IMO, this was designed to derail the Dems in the 2014 midterms. The question to Progressives who would be inclined to stay home because of Snowden's revelations is: "They've been gathering this type of data for YEARS and YEARS. It was trumped up under Cheney-Bush, and the way it's collected now is simply keeping up with technology. Would you trust a Neocon (or Theocratic) government who really, REALLY wants you to conform, toe the line and smile? BTW, what about your Facebook pages and Tweets then?

      Would really love to know who'$ behind all of this, including all of the failed "scandals" that started out as hair-on-fire news flashes. IMO, Snowden seems way too smug and laid back for someone who's on the run. Who's protecting this guy?

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    3. Anonymous6:12 PM

      @5:14, yup! My thoughts exactly. Part of the Scandalpalooza.

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  20. ...and how come a private contractor like Booz Allen Hamilton can hire low-level IT guys like Snowden, and give them access to hardware/software/documents that can then be leaked to other countries, without anyone being the wiser? Like Gryphen, I want to know how the heck Booz Allen Hamilton (and Halliburton, for that matter) got so big so fast...private enterprise and govt. oversight, we're doing it wrong.

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    1. Anonymous4:42 AM

      Booz Allen is another name for Bush's Carlyle Group. The only reason we haven't heard about them lately, is the name change.

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  21. Anonymous3:29 PM

    Up until yesterday, I was trying to keep an open mind about Snowden, waiting to see how things played out. It was hard to keep an open mind because I saw red flag's when I watched Snowden's first interview. To me, it was an odd mix of sincerity, naivety, grandiosity, delivered with very controlled and deliberate words. If he was one of my clients, it would have made me instantly cautious. I think he is not at all a naive person who had a change of heart but is a very deliberate and controlled person acting for reasons unknown. This hasn't finished playing out, and things are getting more and more interesting. After hearing that he went to work for Booz Allen with the sole purpose of stealing information, I feel vindicated in my suspicions of him.

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    1. Anonymous4:29 PM

      My thoughts exactly

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  22. Anonymous3:42 PM

    Another angle people may want to consider:

    http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/how-was-israel-involved-in-collecting-u-s-communications-intel-for-nsa-1.528529

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  23. Anonymous3:48 PM

    I can't decide what to think. The first question would be, what is Snowden's real motives? Why would he become a traitor? For money, or revenge? It's absolutely baffling why a young talented man would throw his life away - was he set up?

    Expect a movie on this soon.

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    1. Anonymous4:21 PM

      There is too much we don't know. His motives will not be clear without being able to include him in the investigation. He says what he says, but there is much more to look into. He may not see himself as a traitor. IMO, from the little that is known, he looks so stupid.

      I find it hard to believe he would take what he has to a foreign country like China as a whistle blower. Wouldn't he consider that they could so easy take from him even if he didn't hand it over or bargain with them for it? Therefore it most looks like he went to China to work with the Chinese, like a turncoat.

      Is it possible the trip to Russia is a ruse? Does the public know where he is now? Can Greenwald and The Guardian be trusted? Do we know he hasn't returned to China to hide?

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    2. Anonymous4:29 PM

      Narcissism? Hero complex?

      Delete
  24. Anonymous3:56 PM

    3:19
    Our nation has an Attorney General an FBI ,CIA ,many state and federal agencies as well as police forces that he could have legitimately taken his "evidence" to . Instead,the traitorous spy gave it to China. Are you dense on purpose?

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  25. Anonymous3:58 PM

    He simply reiterated what we already know. There is no privacy in this brave new world. As long as you aren't doing anything wrong why should it worry you?

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    1. Anonymous5:10 PM

      Because if you accidentally do something suspicious, the rest of your life (plus family and friends) you will be suspect.

      Delete
  26. Anonymous4:16 PM

    Prediction: Snowden is a deep cover CIA operative who was sent to Hong Kong to pass on false information to the Chinese. The collective components on the four laptops in his posession, once assembled and activated, will infect the most secure Chinese government computer networks with a worm that will make stuxnet look like the dabblings of a weekend computer hacker.

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    1. Anonymous4:52 PM

      Don't we wish... Nice daydream, though. Well, stranger things have happened before, so this hypothesis seems possible anyway.

      Hey, this would make a cool movie plot for another Matt Damon thriller, eh?

      Delete
  27. Anonymous4:55 PM

    Snowden a great American hero
    For exposing Obama's surveillance state

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    1. Anonymous5:56 PM

      Snowden a great American hero
      For exposing Obama's surveillance state


      …to the Chinese Government. This makes him an American hero???

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    2. Anonymous5:59 PM

      It would help is you had a clue about history. You sound like you are just trying to promote an agenda that has already been exposed as false narrative.

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    3. Anonymous6:06 PM

      Snowden is a wet behind the ears, narcissistic jerk. He's nothing close to a hero and he didn't expose anything other than his own ego and need for attention. He WANTED to be a big hero, but he failed miserably with his premeditated treason.

      You're an idiot if you think that this administration started this. Go read your history, fool, it's all part of how governments work. That you are stupid and naive enough to give that power to Obama is obvious.

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    4. Anonymous6:41 PM

      4:55 PM If you don't like history, would you consider staying up with current events?

      Delete
  28. Anonymous6:06 PM

    There's a scene in the John Patrick Shanley play/movie Doubt in which a black mother learns that her son was molested by a priest - and instead of getting angry at the priest and the Church she blames her son for stirring up trouble with the white folk.

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  29. Anonymous8:31 PM

    i find it amazing that everyone rushes to pick a "side" on an issue we clearly know very little about.

    i just want to know the facts and a good timeline on how this drama was concocted and how it unfolded.

    i don't much care if he is labeled a traitor TODAY. or even tomorrow.

    i am not in a rush to put a label on all of this crap because clearly we are seeing only small bits of the larger pile of crap.

    soon this will digress to a completely irrelevant argument of the definition of treason.

    meanwhile, some private company gets a government contract to collect large swaths of data and hires apparently borderline skilled people to have access to it and that borderline skilled person can walk out the door with the information.

    hello.

    that is what boggles my mind.

    shouldn't we be firing a private company soon?

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  30. Anonymous8:42 PM

    The federal government has been spying on US citizens since the Civil War. Deal with it.

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  31. Anonymous10:29 PM

    This is funny.
    http://www.mediaite.com/tv/john-oliver-blasts-govt-for-snowden-confusion-couldnt-find-human-centipede-if-mouth-was-sewn-to-its-ass/

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  32. It matters not whether he is a hero. If he were the devil incarnate, it doesn't matter. His motivations do not matter. He is one man.

    What matters is that the most powerful government that has ever existed, which - until now - has been an example of truth, enlightenment and freedom for the world over, is now engaging in immoral, illegal, and - what is worse - unconstitutional abuse of power.

    Now it begins its predictable trashing of the messenger, aided by its credulous followers on the Left, so that - if it gets hold of Mssr. Snowden or figures out where he is, it can either a)illegally kidnap him on foreign soil ,or b)use a drone to illegally kill him - an American citizen - without trial, or c)hold him without trial or charge, a blatant violation of habeas corpus, a principle that predates the Magna Carta.

    While I find the Right to be an unsavory bunch, I reserve a particular disdain for the Left, which is willing to tolerate any behavior by its government, just so long as its Messiah, Mssr. Hussein Obama, is not embarrassed. I have news for you: he, too, is just one man. How about the other three hundred million of us?

    Feh.

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  33. And, by the way - I reserve the REAL criticism for Bush-the-Lesser, who fathered this abortion called, "The PATRIOT Act." We have given our government leaders tools that any tyrant would drool over, hoping that we wouldn't elect someone who would use them. Nice going.

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    1. Anonymous7:55 AM

      In the present tense, this weasel is a traitor. What he has revealed is all you say. Obama inherited the biggest shit sandwich ever. As much as we would like him to champion a return being "an example of truth, enlightenment and freedom for the world over" (if that ever really existed), I think we were already too far down the rabbit hole for him to be instantly transformative. It is up to US "We,The People" to drive the change, and he's said that all along. Yeah he's just one man, but he has pointed a way out of this shit, and I think for his efforts he'll be remembered positively.

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  34. Anonymous8:35 AM

    This is another scandal that will turn to Republicans. How did Booz Allen Hamilton get so large? Privatization of government entities so the Republicans can award their cronies large government contracts. They holler about government being too big so they can hand over dollars to their rich donors by privatizing the NSA. Think Halliburton. Privately run prisons, post office, schools, etc.

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