Former KGB general: Snowden is cooperating with Russian intelligence

a reply to: Pinke

According to Snowden he spoke to colleagues and ten officials about the matter, and none of them were willing to come forward or do anything about it.

According to the NSA, he never said anything like that, or did anything like it. I actually tend to believe the NSA on this one, too. They are paranoid by definition and for a living at a level I think would be called clinical illness in any other setting. They're actually paid to be this way though. Snowden had the better part of a decade in the world of intelligence by then, and so he'd have known that. Asking his own people from the inside with challenging questions he claims to have....would have gotten him picked up even under the old standards, IMO.

By last December, Snowden was contacting reporters, although he had not yet passed along any classified information. He continued to give his colleagues the “front-page test,” he said, until April.

Asked about those conversations, NSA spokeswoman Vanee Vines sent a prepared statement to The Post: “After extensive investigation, including interviews with his former NSA supervisors and co-workers, we have not found any evidence to support Mr. Snowden’s contention that he brought these matters to anyone’s attention.”

There is another quote from that article that kinda burns my buns too, given the damage his actions have caused...with what benefit??

“For me, in terms of personal satisfaction, the mission’s already accomplished,” he said. “I already won. As soon as the journalists were able to work, everything that I had been trying to do was validated. Because, remember, I didn’t want to change society. I wanted to give society a chance to determine if it should change itself.”

Source

That's a bit more perspective that seems to have gradually dropped from conversations and been nearly forgotten as having been said and presented as it was, by him personally.

He's not the desperate runner some talk makes him sound like. He seems to be adjusting and coming to enjoy life in his new home. Indeed... What's an American citizen to think?

All this....and it wasn't about actual change? Just kinda giving Americans who fixate on Survivor and American Idol a chance? Oh... That worked out well...

a reply to: Wrabbit2000
As the Director of a division of a *** company, years ago...I was approached by one, then two, then many employees of two other divisions (and one from my own division) about the abuses of the Director of another division.
I interviewed every complainant and pressed for facts, as well as attempting to 'vet-out' the chaff.
I had witnessed some, myself, but...if no-one complains, what can you do? You may be seeing things that aren't there - May be interpreting according to your values, which may or may not align with the values of the actual parties involved.
But - now - with this 'outcry', I considered it my responsibility to the employees & the company...to make further inquiry.
I took it to one of the owners - CFO.
The problem?
The 'alleged Abusor' was the brother of the CEO.
The CFO arranged a meet with the CEO & the 'alleged Abusor'...
Not one of the complainants was willing to affirm/confirm their allegations.
In said meeting, I was called a Liar by the accused & CEO...
The CEO stood firmly behind/with his brother...
Those who had 'testified', had further requested anonymity...and honoring their concerns for continued employment - I could not 'prove' the allegations...
If you are not aware of these kinds of dynamics in the workplace - you are terribly naïve.
While these people could/would have lost gainful employment (that paid better than ANY other company for said skillsets in that community)...they were not dealing with the government/NSA/CIA/FBI/BLM/USA/ETC...

All it takes is a brief consideration of HOW SILENT all of the recipients of the email from Michael Hastings were...save one (Staff Sergeant Biggs)...to get a glimpse at what kind/s of quietude/zipped-lips might be expected from those constrained by Government Contract (Top Secret) work...

I, personally, find no contract to be legally binding, if the party/parties are requiring me to do something morally questionable to someone/anyone/anyThing else...even if the courts will punish me for violating the terms of those agreements.
In my opinion - there is nothing that should be more subject to RICOA than such situations.
And - guess what? It doesn't matter that they've enacted Laws, or received Executive Orders to justify their activities & actions - It Is Still MORALLY (to my standard, which is ALL THAT MATTERS!) UNACCEPTABLE.
And - I will find a way of making them pay.

So - to accept the statements (Huffington Post) at face value...that Snowden did not 'speak up' prior to going global, is, in my opinion, either simply gullible, or politically motivated.
I could tell a number of other stories which would bolster the probability...but probably...will not.

I hope america enjoy it. I do. Every moment priceless. Thats what you get for being an 2 faced terrorist state.

a reply to: WanDash

I'm sorry, you can lipstick this pig until it just keels right over from toxic shock at the attempts.

#1. A U.S. Intelligence Professional of nearly a decade's service left the US with arm fulls of the most sensitive material he could manage.

#2. Said U.S. Intelligence Professional didn't stop running until he was literally under the protective wing of the Chinese Communist Party.

#3. Said U.S. Intelligence Professional did defect to the traditional U.S. adversary nation running since 1945, and is on the edge, after his arrival (with what he claims was noooo intelligence left to share ..uh huh) of being an enemy.

Now I'm just a simple guy...but that is one text book definition of a traitor to his nation. Really, the more people try to lipstick this thing, the more hardcore my feelings become on the matter, too.

Has dislike for America become SO pervasive among some that even a spy becomes the pillar of truth and justice........while having broken every oath and confidence someone in a business of lies and deceit could break?

People actually trust this guy? THAT is what baffles me. He's a former CIA and NSA Officer who defected while having turned to contract work at the end. No Robin Hood here. Just a defector. A rather poor one, as it turns out.

..and everyone is welcome to disagree ...just accept that my opinion is becoming set in absolute stone on little Eddie Snowden. A man has a chance to make a thing right....and his chance is fading faster than a fart in a hurricane.

a reply to: dragonridr

Completely correct, yes he had valuable info but his info is limited. The government would never allow someone at his level to know the full extent, with that said its comforting and worrisome to think about the full spectrum of the spy program.

a reply to: Wrabbit2000
I am not contesting your right to view the situation in whatever way you lean.
My point was simply that I do not view the reported denials &/or silence of those Snowden worked with &/or under as evidence that he lied about expressing concerns, etc...
I have even seen it where one individual was the first vocal & outspoken critic ...and, when another (or others) took up 'the cause'...and the threat of 'heads will roll' (by management/the company) was issued - the instigator's nose turned so brown, even denying that they'd ever had a bad thought about the company/boss/whomever.
Nonetheless - thanks for the response.

originally posted by: Wrabbit2000

You don't imagine Russia is kinder on their leakers and defectors? (in terms of other nations.


The expanded definition of treason includes divulging a state secret or “providing consulting or other work to a foreign state or international organization”

As you say Wrab, Russia. However Putin is but one man, and when the time comes he too will join Gorbachev, Yeltsin, Khrushchev and the others in the 'rest' room, and someone else will be wheeled out. It's the cabals in the background that really run the country, just like the US. both are crooked, just different kinds of crookedness.
This time though the US overstepped the mark, and stole information from their own people and became a rogue government, as if it wasn't bad enough before with GW and his mob. The US government have no right to declare what they stole from their own people as 'State secrets'
I'm sure you know what it says in the 2nd Amendment about 'rogue' government.
What Snowden did was a bit of fresh air, not just for the US, but for countries all around the world, including us in the UK, who have played 'follow the leader' to the US for far too long with our cringingly embarrassing prime ministers being no more than 'yes' men to the US. The American government will have to pull in the horns from now on, no more easy peasy Iraq's, etc.