Nsa Contractor Identifies Himself As Source

[News_Editor]

KOWLOON, HONG KONG (BNO NEWS) -- A 29-year-old American who works as a contract employee at the National Security Agency (NSA) came forward Sunday as the source behind newspaper articles that revealed previously unknown details about the U.S. government's secret surveillance programs.

Edward Snowden revealed his identity during an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian. He said he currently works for defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton as an infrastructure analyst for the NSA in Hawaii, although he previously held a number of other positions in the intelligence community.

Snowden, speaking from a hotel room in Hong Kong, said he came forward publicly to authenticate his recent disclosures and because his concerns about 'abuses' in the intelligence community agencies had not been taken seriously. "The more you talk about the (wrongdoing), the more you're ignored," he said.

The contract employee said he is not against the U.S. government but wants the public to be able to decide whether the intelligence agencies should have the authority to carry out controversial and secretive surveillance programs. "This is something that's not our place to decide, the public needs to decide whether these programs and policies are right or wrong," he said.

According to recent disclosures by The Guardian and the Washington Post, U.S. intelligence agencies have direct access to the servers of nine Internet companies for a wide range of digital data. A slideshow, marked "TOP SECRET", identifies current data providers as Microsoft, Google, Yahoo!, Facebook, PalTalk, YouTube, Skype, AOL and Apple.

The slideshow explains that much of the world's communications flow through the United States, and that the communications of foreign targets could easily flow through the U.S. It says the nine current providers supply information on a massive scale, including e-mails, chats, videos, photos, stored data, voice communications (VoIP), file transfers, video conferences, online social networking details and details about when accounts are accessed.

Snowden, during Sunday's interview, said the intelligence community originally focused on foreign targets but is now increasingly targeting all communications in the U.S. "It ingests them by default. It collects them in its system and it filters them and it analyses them and it measures them and it stores them for periods of time simply because that's the easiest, most efficient, and most valuable way to achieve these ends," he said.

The contractor said analysts with proper clearance could target anyone at will, ranging from ordinary citizens to federal judges and up to President Barack Obama if they have his personal contact details. He said the public should be concerned because citizens are being "watched and recorded," whether they did something wrong or not.

"You simply have to eventually fall under suspicion from somebody even by a wrong call. And then they can use this system to go back in time and scrutinize every decision you've ever made, every friend you've ever discussed something with," he said. "And [they'll] attack you on that basis to sort of derive suspicion from an innocent life and paint anyone in the context of a wrongdoer."

Snowden, who lives with his girlfriend in Hawaii, flew to Hong Kong last month after telling his NSA supervisor that he needed several weeks off to receive treatment for epilepsy. His whereabouts are currently unknown after Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) reported that Snowden checked out of the Mira hotel in Tsimshatsui on Monday morning.

Following the publication of Sunday's interview, Booz Allen confirmed Snowden had been an employee at its firm and assigned to a team in Hawaii for less than three months. "News reports that this individual has claimed to have leaked classified information are shocking, and if accurate, this action represents a grave violation of the code of conduct and core values of our firm," a statement said, adding that it will work closely with authorities to assist in their investigation.

Shawn Turner, a spokesman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, said the matter had been referred to the Justice Department for investigation. "The Intelligence Community is currently reviewing the damage that has been done by these recent disclosures," he said. "Any person who has a security clearance knows that he or she has an obligation to protect classified information and abide by the law."

Justice Department spokeswoman Nanda Chitre confirmed the department is in the initial stages of an investigation into the unauthorized disclosure of classified information by an individual with authorized access. "Consistent with long standing Department policy and procedure and in order to protect the integrity of the investigation, we must decline further comment," she said.

Snowden said he came to Hong Kong because it has a strong tradition of free speech and because he believes the Hong Kong government is more likely to resist the dictates of the U.S. government. But under an extradition treaty that came into force in 1998, the U.S. government is able to request Hong Kong to detain a U.S. citizen for up to two months while it prepares an extradition request.

(Copyright 2013 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved. Info: [email protected].)

[JetsetBkk]

Watch your back, mate.

[Publicus]

Edward Snowdon is under suspicion by the CIA in the National Intelligence Directorate of being an agent of the CCP-PRC who defected to the PRC after releasing the information shortly before the summit meeting in California between Prez Obama and CCP President Xi Jingping.

Former CIA agent Bob Barr, a CNN analysit, Sunday night said he'd spoke during the weekend with active CIA agents who said this. The CIA suspects Sowdon may be a defector to the PRC.

Snowdon was traced to the hotel in Hong Kong but checked out and has now gone underground in Hong Kong as no one there knows, or is revealing, his present whereabouts .Beijing always has had a heavy clandestine intelligence and security presece in HKG.

The United States and Hong Kong continue to have an extradition treaty. This remains in effect because Hong Kong is not a province of the CCP-PRC. It is a Special Administrative Region, an SAR. As an SAR, Hong Kong can act unilaterally with other countries to include in respect to its mutual extradition treaty with the U.S.

Bard and other analysts have point out that during the years since HKG was returned to CCP sovereignty (1997), the U.S. has successfully extradited several felony criminals from HKG back to the U.S. However, because HKG is under PRC sovereignty, Beijing retains the final decision in all extradition matters. Beijing can say yes or no for any reason, or for no reason.

Snowdon has spoken of seeking asylum in Iceland but did not go there. So that is not a believable claim because it's agreed Iceland would extradite Snowdom to the U.S. in a heartbeat.

The U.S. government is preparing charges against Snowdon as having violated the Espionage Act. This guy each passing day is looking more like a traitor and a defector, placing himself under the protection of the CCP-PRC during the time Prez Obama and PRC President Xi Jinping were meeting over this very issue, as well as other issues.

[GentlemanJim]

Whom is he a traitor to? He has just done the American people the greatest service ever. I guess all those that still believe America is free will try and vilify him. He has seen a system in place that is not simply being used for the purpose it was implemented. The guy deserves the Congressional Medal of Honour, not vilification.

[Publicus]

Here are the observations Sunday night of former CIA agent Bob Baer who is a CNN national security analyst:

Mediaite reports:

Former CIA case officer Bob Baer revealed on CNN Sunday evening that intelligence officials were possibly considering Edward Snowden’s case as Chinese espionage, after Snowden came forward this afternoon from an undisclosed Hong Kong location.

“Hong Kong is controlled by Chinese intelligence,” Baer said. “It’s not an independent part of China at all. I’ve talked to a bunch of people in Washington today, in official positions, and they are looking at this as a potential Chinese espionage case.”

“On the face of it, it looks like it is under some sort of Chinese control, especially with the president meeting the premier today,” Baer said. “You have to ask what’s going on. China is not a friendly country and every aspect of that country is controlled. So why Hong Kong? Why didn’t he go to Sweden? Or, if he really wanted to make a statement, he should have done it on Capitol Hill.”

This is from the Twitter stream of John Schindler, former NSA intelligence officer and currently a professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College:

So at what point is it safe to call Snowden a defector to the PRC? Former CI guy here, gotta ask ... #justchecking
— John Schindler (@20committee) June 9, 2013

"Because, let's face it, "defector to ChiComs" sounds less sexy to Right People than "principled whistleblower against evil USG" ---John Schindler (@20committee) June 9, 2013.

Yes, I certainly would agree. Snowdom never completed high school, obtaining his GED instead. He is not a college graduate who failed the military entrance exam the first time he took it. This seems more like The Falcon and the Snowman redux, with Snowdon as the falcon in the new Cold War. And as an equally terrible failure of internal security at the NSA, which is their greatest concern, not foreign agents infiltrating the U.S. national security system and network.

And timing the release of the national security information immediately before the summit between Prez Obama and Pres Xi is exactly how the CCP Chinese operate.

This just doesn't pass the smell test. Not in any way.

[Publicus]

Whom is he a traitor to? He has just done the American people the greatest service ever. I guess all those that still believe America is free will try and vilify him. He has seen a system in place that is not simply being used for the purpose it was implemented. The guy deserves the Congressional Medal of Honour, not vilification.

INTELLIGENCE CHIEF: We've Seen The Guardian Report On The NSA Leaker, And It Is Damaging

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/james-clapper-edward-snowden-guardian-report-nsa-whistleblower-2013-6#ixzz2VqG1JYGJ

Ex-CIA Whistleblower Edward Snowden’s Fate in China’s Hands

http://thediplomat.com/the-editor/2013/06/10/ex-cia-whistleblower-edward-snowdens-fate-in-chinas-hands/

Edited June 10, 2013 by Publicus

[Publicus]

What’s the Deal with Hong Kong?

http://editors.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2013/06/whats_the_deal_with_hong_kong.php

The deal with Hong Kong is that it is under the sovereign control of Beijing and the CCP-PRC. Snowdon gets the protection he needs and was promised.

[Sing_Sling]

He explained why he was in HK - nothing to do with it being part of the PRC.

Still, odd choice, but a relatively safe one.

Good for him, but wasn't all this known for a long time, at the very least since the badly, but effectively-named Patriot Act?

[Sing_Sling]

And the shitstorm gathers momentum:

Leading Europeans, from Angela Merkel down to information chiefs across the continent, are lining up to grill American counterparts on the Prism surveillance programmes, amid mounting fury that the private information of EU nationals will have been caught up in the data dragnet.
With Merkel set to bring up the issue with Barack Obama next week, and the European commission vice-president, Viviane Reding, eager to grill US officials at a meeting in Dublin on Friday, the issue looks set to dominate a week of summitry. Reding, who is responsible for data protection in Europe, is to seek clarification on whether the access to personal data in the Prism programme is limited to individual cases, is based on concrete suspicion or if wider sets of data are being accessed.
Peter Schaar, Germany's federal data protection commissioner, told the Guardian that it was unacceptable for the US authorities to have access to EU citizens' data and that the level of protection was lower than that guaranteed to US citizens.
..................... AND MORE ...............

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/10/european-reaction-us-surveillance-revelations

[GentlemanJim]

Here are the observations Sunday night of former CIA agent Bob Baer who is a CNN national security analyst:

Mediaite reports:

Former CIA case officer Bob Baer revealed on CNN Sunday evening that intelligence officials were possibly considering Edward Snowden’s case as Chinese espionage, after Snowden came forward this afternoon from an undisclosed Hong Kong location.

“Hong Kong is controlled by Chinese intelligence,” Baer said. “It’s not an independent part of China at all. I’ve talked to a bunch of people in Washington today, in official positions, and they are looking at this as a potential Chinese espionage case.”

“On the face of it, it looks like it is under some sort of Chinese control, especially with the president meeting the premier today,” Baer said. “You have to ask what’s going on. China is not a friendly country and every aspect of that country is controlled. So why Hong Kong? Why didn’t he go to Sweden? Or, if he really wanted to make a statement, he should have done it on Capitol Hill.”

This is from the Twitter stream of John Schindler, former NSA intelligence officer and currently a professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College:

So at what point is it safe to call Snowden a defector to the PRC? Former CI guy here, gotta ask ...

#justchecking

— John Schindler (@20committee)

June 9, 2013

"Because, let's face it, "defector to ChiComs" sounds less sexy to Right People than "principled whistleblower against evil USG" ---John Schindler (@20committee) June 9, 2013.

Yes, I certainly would agree. Snowdom never completed high school, obtaining his GED instead. He is not a college graduate who failed the military entrance exam the first time he took it. This seems more like The Falcon and the Snowman redux, with Snowdon as the falcon in the new Cold War. And as an equally terrible failure of internal security at the NSA, which is their greatest concern, not foreign agents infiltrating the U.S. national security system and network.

And timing the release of the national security information immediately before the summit between Prez Obama and Pres Xi is exactly how the CCP Chinese operate.

This just doesn't pass the smell test. Not in any way.

You really are trying too hard here and it borders on pathetic. Re your post and the posts below it, please explain just what damage he has done? Do you really think terrorists operate without throwing disposable phones in the bin every few calls, do you think they don't have a gazillion email addresses set up? The damage done was to the American people in that their details in terms of the tiniest fragment of their personal lives are wide open to the security services without the need for any form of warrant. The damage done is a knife through the heart of the US constitution, and bravo to Snowden for being one of the few people with kahunna's big enough to stand up and say "My Country/Government is doing something wrong to it's people, I am involved in something that I know is wrong". The queue of CIA agents chosen to enter the pearly gates of heaven just won't be that big you know, but at least Snowden will be able to take his place there, sadly I am sure the CIA and NSA will be trying to make him keep that appointment in the not too distant future. So why are you trying so hard to defend the indefendable is it because you know that just by the very nature of the content of this thread that all participants in this conversation are now logged on the NSA computer with your name, address, IP address, etc etc.

It was slightly premature for Robert Oppenheimer to take such responsibility when he said "I am become death, the destroyer of worlds". perhaps it will turn out to be Bill Gates that should have said that. Unless the American people take a stand on this and stop being fooled by the PR machine that is currently trying damage limitation, then you may as well take out the term 'the Land of the Free' from your national anthem.

Here is a funny line on two counts

” Baer said. “You have to ask what’s going on. China is not a friendly country and every aspect of that country is controlled. So why Hong Kong? Why didn’t he go to Sweden?

You would have been able to redefine the nanosecond using the time it would have taken Sweden to extradite him back to the US.

So China is not a friendly country apart from when the US wants it to bail them out the s**t by ploughing in hundreds of billions, in fact many trillions in to the US economy, making China the second largest holder of US debt second only to the Federal reserve and the largest Sovereign holder of US debt, but hey they are not friendly when it suits some CIA manager trying to make his department look less stupid and untrustworthy.

Faced with Bob Baer or Edward Snowden I am quite sure who the Founding Fathers would have embraced as a true son of America.

Edited June 11, 2013 by GentlemanJim

[Sing_Sling]

^ Very well said

[johna]

It has been known for a very long time that American bases in the UK are listening in on European business leaders and passing this info back to American corporations. Germany business leaders complained about this
back in the 1990's

[Sing_Sling]

It has been known for a very long time that American bases in the UK are listening in on European business leaders and passing this info back to American corporations. Germany business leaders complained about this

back in the 1990's

I do hope Viviane Reading will do some damage in Ireland this Friday and Merkel will rip Obama a new one next week.

Snowden has really opened up a can of worms - good for him

[simple1]

It has been known for a very long time that American bases in the UK are listening in on European business leaders and passing this info back to American corporations. Germany business leaders complained about this

back in the 1990's

Correct, plus the existance of ECHELON. All EU countries know of this, just BS baffles brains for domestic consumption

[joeaverage]

not sure why nobody has posted snowden's own explanation yet.

He is remarkably well spoken.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2013/jun/09/nsa-whistleblower-edward-snowden-interview-video

[geriatrickid]

I don't suppose that anyone cares that the program was "legal"? Congress authorized the activity and it was subject to legal review. It is all well and nice that some technical clerk has such lofty views, but who was he to break his contract and to betray the trust of the US general public. I don't need some high school dropout to interpret the law on my behalf.

Oh sure, some will bleat on, but the man's a hero etc. Really? There were other options by which he could voice his concerns. He could have contacted any number of Senators such as Rand Paul or Al Franken, depending upon his political affiliation, and they would have taken it from there. There are a number of Representatives who would have acted on the information.

He deserves the heap of trouble he is now in. He can join Bradley Manning on traitor's row and rot.

[geriatrickid]

It has been known for a very long time that American bases in the UK are listening in on European business leaders and passing this info back to American corporations. Germany business leaders complained about this

back in the 1990's

Care to substantiate your allegations?

The Canadians and Australians have listening posts too. I suppose they are part of a vast conspiracy.

Germany engages in similar activities.

So please do share your information.

[lomatopo]

Assuming he is not killed by a drone strike or part of a rendition ending up up in some CIA 'facility', and that he is ultimately afforded the rights guaranteed by that pesky Sixth Amendment, a trial might ultimately reveal more details than the No Such Agency wishes revealed.

The government went after Thomas Drake with a vengeance, but ultimately dropped all charges, although he did plead to a misdemeanor.

The "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT) Act of 2001."

http://www.gpo.gov/f...W-107publ56.pdf

prohibits persons from disclosing details re: the "tools" used to gather "intelligence"

Note this from section 215:

"No person shall disclose to any other person (other than those persons necessary to produce the tangible things under this section) that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has sought or obtained tangible things under this section."

[simple1]

It has been known for a very long time that American bases in the UK are listening in on European business leaders and passing this info back to American corporations. Germany business leaders complained about this

back in the 1990's

Care to substantiate your allegations?

The Canadians and Australians have listening posts too. I suppose they are part of a vast conspiracy.

Germany engages in similar activities.

So please do share your information.

Echelon, agreement orginally signed in 1947. Many Euro MPs have complained in particular of Britain's role in Echelon's surveillance activities. The largest information gathering site is at the US military base at Menwith Hill on England's North Yorkshire moor. Many accusations US intelligence has assisted by passing on commercial in confidence info to US corporations, be very surprised if it was otherwise, always denied.

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2000/07/eche-j10.html

Australia does have listening posts on it's soil, but they are jointly operated with the US and most staff are US nationals. Australia also has access to Echelon.

Edited June 11, 2013 by simple1

[jbrain]

Hope for the brave man that HongKong has an Ecuadorian Embassy.

[FDog]

Good on him, the Oz govt is none too happy the US has been investigating them.

Apparently there isn't much chance of the US getting him extradited from Hong Kong. Seems for that to happen he must be charged with something that is illegal in both the US and Hong Kong and at the moment there are no laws in Hong Kong relating to espionage etc.

The world needs more people like him to keep governments from running wild.

[bobbin]

I don't suppose that anyone cares that the program was "legal"? Congress authorized the activity and it was subject to legal review. It is all well and nice that some technical clerk has such lofty views, but who was he to break his contract and to betray the trust of the US general public. I don't need some high school dropout to interpret the law on my behalf.

Oh sure, some will bleat on, but the man's a hero etc. Really? There were other options by which he could voice his concerns. He could have contacted any number of Senators such as Rand Paul or Al Franken, depending upon his political affiliation, and they would have taken it from there. There are a number of Representatives who would have acted on the information.

He deserves the heap of trouble he is now in. He can join Bradley Manning on traitor's row and rot.

By what moral authority do you as a (fellow) Canadian appropriate the right to call an American citizen a "traitor" that should rot? This is not a clear-cut "info for pay" scenario. America used to pride itself on the freedoms it's citizens enjoyed. There is a distinguished history of whistle-blowers, who after the knee-jerk hysteria of authority-ass-lickers has abated, have been generally recognized for the service they provided to their country. And the American public does not endorse your position. They are, in the main, concerned for their privacy and want clear restrictions on "data vacuuming".

Usama's ghost is pleased that all is going as planned. It's a classic blueprint. the State over-reacts and doing so creates a more sympathetic environment for even more dissent...

[lomatopo]

Well, the 'oxymoronically' named "Whisleblower Protection Enhancement Act", singed into law in Nov. 2012, actually it represented a significant "de-enhancement", contained the following changes:

SEC. 105. EXCLUSION OF AGENCIES BY THE PRESIDENT.

Section 2302(a)(2)© of title 5, United States Code, is amended

by striking clause (ii) and inserting the following:

‘‘(ii)(I) the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the

Central Intelligence Agency, the Defense Intelligence

Agency, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency,

the National Security Agency, the Office of the Director

of National Intelligence, and the National Reconnaissance Office; and

[Sing_Sling]

I don't suppose that anyone cares that the program was "legal"? Congress authorized the activity and it was subject to legal review. It is all well and nice that some technical clerk has such lofty views, but who was he to break his contract and to betray the trust of the US general public. I don't need some high school dropout to interpret the law on my behalf.

Oh sure, some will bleat on, but the man's a hero etc. Really? There were other options by which he could voice his concerns. He could have contacted any number of Senators such as Rand Paul or Al Franken, depending upon his political affiliation, and they would have taken it from there. There are a number of Representatives who would have acted on the information.

He deserves the heap of trouble he is now in. He can join Bradley Manning on traitor's row and rot.

It wasn't and isn't legal for the US to collect data on Canadians, Germans, Brits, Italians, Dutch etc..., though.

He deserves a round of applause, as does Manning, who is still rotting away in jail while the helicopter murderers are still happily killing away . . . (I am presuming on the latter part)

[inapeartree]

[Exsexyman]

Edward Snowdon is under suspicion by the CIA in the National Intelligence Directorate of being an agent of the CCP-PRC who defected to the PRC after releasing the information shortly before the summit meeting in California between Prez Obama and CCP President Xi Jingping.

Former CIA agent Bob Barr, a CNN analysit, Sunday night said he'd spoke during the weekend with active CIA agents who said this. The CIA suspects Sowdon may be a defector to the PRC.

Snowdon was traced to the hotel in Hong Kong but checked out and has now gone underground in Hong Kong as no one there knows, or is revealing, his present whereabouts .Beijing always has had a heavy clandestine intelligence and security presece in HKG.

The United States and Hong Kong continue to have an extradition treaty. This remains in effect because Hong Kong is not a province of the CCP-PRC. It is a Special Administrative Region, an SAR. As an SAR, Hong Kong can act unilaterally with other countries to include in respect to its mutual extradition treaty with the U.S.

Bard and other analysts have point out that during the years since HKG was returned to CCP sovereignty (1997), the U.S. has successfully extradited several felony criminals from HKG back to the U.S. However, because HKG is under PRC sovereignty, Beijing retains the final decision in all extradition matters. Beijing can say yes or no for any reason, or for no reason.

Snowdon has spoken of seeking asylum in Iceland but did not go there. So that is not a believable claim because it's agreed Iceland would extradite Snowdom to the U.S. in a heartbeat.

The U.S. government is preparing charges against Snowdon as having violated the Espionage Act. This guy each passing day is looking more like a traitor and a defector, placing himself under the protection of the CCP-PRC during the time Prez Obama and PRC President Xi Jinping were meeting over this very issue, as well as other issues.

Your faith in the honesty of the CIA is touching in it's naivety. Snowden wasn't "Traced" to a hotel in Hong Kong, he volunteered his whereabouts to journalists from a respected British newspaper. Just because you believe that the Chinese are the root of all evil in the world, (which borders on the unhealthily obsessive), doesn't mean that is the case. As someone else has pointed out, this whole scandal must rate as Bin Laden's greatest coup, a result he can only have dreamed of. I watched the British Foreign Secretary's performance yesterday in parliament, he allegedly was going to reassure the British public that there was nothing untoward about these disclosures. He said absolutely nothing of substance, avoided answering any relevant questions, and by his body language was clearly lying his arse off. Just kept trotting out the tired old cliches about terrorists. No self respecting terrorist would ever be busted as a result of his e mails, twitter, facebook, even a mobile phone. That is just the excuse these government administrations use to try and justify their undemocratic spying on people's private lives. Hague just kept repeating," law abiding Briton, have nothing to fear". Surely only idiots believe that!

"The innocent have nothing to fear"----- every tyrannical regime ever.

There are certainly traitors involved in this whole sorry affair, but Edward Snowdon is not one of them.

[FDog]

Is Publicus a US govt mole thrust on to Thaivisa to paint the govt in the best possible light and portray China as all evil and wanting world domination.

Newsflash, the US govt wants world domination, they want to be able to use their influence (threats) to get what they want.

This guy could have done some real damage to the US but chose not to do so, he simply let the world know that they are being spied on. He gave no details of operations, names etc etc.

To say he is working for the Chinese is just tin foil hat material.

[lomatopo]

I suspect the really knowledgeable tin-foilers already "know" that this was a "false flag" operation, isn't everything, and their 'proof' is that mickey-mouse powerpoint presentation which looks like it was done by a sixth-grader.

If that ppt is genuine, then the author, obviously not Mr. Snowden, should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law for letting our enemies know that we employ such mental midgets in sensitive positions, and for gross incompetence. I'm just picturing some GS9 copying and pasting company logos 'purloined' off the internet.

[GentlemanJim]

I don't suppose that anyone cares that the program was "legal"? Congress authorized the activity and it was subject to legal review. It is all well and nice that some technical clerk has such lofty views, but who was he to break his contract and to betray the trust of the US general public. I don't need some high school dropout to interpret the law on my behalf.

Oh sure, some will bleat on, but the man's a hero etc. Really? There were other options by which he could voice his concerns. He could have contacted any number of Senators such as Rand Paul or Al Franken, depending upon his political affiliation, and they would have taken it from there. There are a number of Representatives who would have acted on the information.

He deserves the heap of trouble he is now in. He can join Bradley Manning on traitor's row and rot.

I hope you have good insurance to cover you for that huge fall off your high horse GK.

I like this bit.

but who was he to break his contract and to betray the trust of the US general public.

Just who has betrayed the trust of the US general public here? There must be 250 Million Americans that welcome this revelation who don't think their trust is betrayed at all. that really remains firmly in the realms of the peoples EMPLOYEES on Capitol Hill and some of the anti-patriots in the CIA.

[Publicus]

I certainly get your sense of this matter, but allow me to clarify that the Congressional Medal of Honor is for combat valor above and beyond the call of duty. If you want to give Edward Snowdon the highest U.S. civilian award, you'd need to get Prez Obama to award him the Medal of Freedom, which, as most of us well know and realize, would be a farce of an attempt. Maybe you and some others should and could get together to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize .

The Congress made the laws we are discussing under the Republican President Bush after 9/11 and have amended the laws since, in 2007 especially. A special national security court of law, established in 1976 and consisting of eight judges, always meet to examine and to judge the kinds of national security laws and requests of the government as were made in this instance. The judges approved this NSA program. Members of Congress on the Intelligence Committee of the Senate and the House, respectively, had been informed and consulted for their input, so they too had been aware. This is called the rule of law..

I'd first heard the program exists when a former FBI counterterrorism agent referred it on CNN in connection with phone calls in the Boston Marathon bombing horror, specifically, post-event calls between the since dead brother and his wife who remains under investigation. Their calls were not listened to, but have been selected out of the stored database so that any such calls can be retrieved to activate and to listen to as developments and circumstances may require.

I'd also mention the United States and Canada are on the same electrical power grid, telephone grid - almost everything grid - so the economic and financial development and security of each are inextricably intertwined. This includes military cooperation as the U.S. and Canada have jointly operated the North American Aerospace Defense Command since the 1950s.

Additionally, the U.S. and Canada have a joint Civil Assistance Plan which allows the military of either country to enter the other country in accord with the agreement in the event of a national emergency, such as the destruction by cyber warfare of any power grid, to include the financial system or an attack on the military of the other (if not both). Consequently, every Canadian citizen is vested (in the positive meaning), not only to speak his opinion of world events, but to speak as well of specific national security actions in the U.S. that directly affect the U.S. and by an easily made logical extension, the Canadian Federation.

U.S. Northern Command, Canada Command establish new bilateral Civil Assistance Plan

http://www.northcom.mil/News/2008/021408.html

The six native speaking English countries of the world commonly share virtually all of their intelligence information, if not literally every item of it (Ireland being something of an exception). The English speaking countries have a common and shared history, culture, society, civilization and are vested in their own self-preservation per se. Further, the 26 nation Nato Alliance vests all Nato members in their collective security, both as individual nations and collectively as, in effect, the only league of democracies that has ever existed.

If by now you think or believe the CCP-PRC is innocent in this matter - or is innocent at all - you are sorely in need of an education. Go to the Mainland PRChina to get them to talk to you. If you haven't done it already, go to Hong Kong to talk with the democrats in Hong Kong, who are the vast majority of the population, to listen to them forcefully denounce the CCP for, among other things, its continuous campaign to subvert freedoms and liberties in HKG and for its continuous clandestine security presence and operations against its citizens.

Snowdon talks a good game. But why didn't he pursue proper authorities to state his grievances? Perhaps he has another agenda.

Snowdon is going to be charged under the Espionage Act as several others before him have. He's admitted his guilt. Others before him have received life sentences in federal prison. The only question at this point is whether the CCP will protect its agent at all costs because the U.S. government is as determined to apprehend and charge Snowdon as it was to deal effectively with bin Laden, Ahmad al-Alawi and many others. This could become a serious diplomatic brawl between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party.

Mole-in-Training: How China Tried to Infiltrate the CIA

The odd story of how a Virginia study-abroad student ended up in federal prison for espionage.

http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/people/chinas-mole-in-training/

Edited June 11, 2013 by Publicus