Apparently Edward Snowden is now saying he took the job with Booz Allen specifically in order to investigate the extent of government snooping (NPR). Maybe, maybe not. But this clip at Political Wire is interesting, even ominous.
"As the U.S. intelligence community struggles to complete a damage assessment over the secret information allegedly stolen by NSA leaker Edward Snowden, sources told ABC News there is a growing consensus within the top circles of the U.S. government that the 30-year-old contractor could deal a potentially devastating blow to U.S. national security."
"Several officials warned the amount of compromised material may be much broader than even Snowden has suggested and that officials are not sure they know everything he may have pilfered. Another official said even the damage assessment won't be finished for some time."...Political Wire
Sounds scary. But the use of that compromised, over-used phrase -- "national security" -- makes me think that the danger is political, not systemic. I think there's a considerable chance that we'll find out precisely how both major parties have been responsible for abuse of power. They'll do their best to convince us that they did no wrong: it was all people like Snowden. And, of course, they'll try to make the issue damage to national security but not that they have inflicted severe damage to both national security and the very heart of democracy.
The South China Morning Post reported Monday that Snowden told it in an interview that he sought a position as an analyst with the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton so he could collect proof about the NSA's secret surveillance program and make them public.
"My position with Booz Allen Hamilton granted me access to lists of machines all over the world the NSA hacked," he told the Morning Post in a June 12 interview that was published Monday. "That is why I accepted that position about three months ago."
In his interview with the Post, Snowden divulged information that he claimed showed hacking by the NSA into computers in Hong Kong and mainland China.
"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 by the Post if he specifically went to Booz Allen Hamilton as a computer systems administrator in Hawaii to gather evidence of surveillance, he replied: "Correct on Booz." Booz Allen spokesman James Fisher declined to comment on the report. ...USA Today
Is there anyone out there who thinks this is a huge revelation? This is one of those "they all do it" revelations that turn out not to be revelations to any but the most naive.
Pepe Escobar of Asia Times describes Snowden's "escape" from Hong Kong and how well this entire operation had been planned in advance.
... It took ages for Reuters to release its first short dispatch - as I had commented on my Facebook page. When the "international community" started to learn about it Snowden was already five hours into his flight.
Asia Times Online had also learned from another source close to Snowden's tight circle that a short stint in Hong Kong was always part of Plan A; he never intended to ask for political asylum in either Hong Kong or China. He was already focused on a "third country". What he did was to use Hong Kong as an ideal platform to unveil the inner workings of the Orwellian/Panopticon US surveillance state.First a set of general revelations to The Guardian. Then he went underground to prepare his escape - as he knew Washington would come after him with all guns (drones?) blazing. And then, a final set of revelations to the South China Morning Post closely focused on Asia and China. When Washington woke up to it, he was already out of the building. Jason Bourne, eat your heart out. ..
.. Snowden was not "allowed to slip away". It all revolved around a meticulously timed operation involving Snowden, the Hong Kong government and WikiLeaks mediation. ...Asia Times
Escobar, a respected investigative reporter, sees Obama as perhaps irreparably damaged for having lied. I think he could well be right. And Escobar reminds us that the Plame-Wilsons have been there, done that.
We are now dealing with a vast intelligence-industrial complex that is largely unaccountable to its citizens. This alarming, unchecked growth of the intelligence sector and the increasingly heavy reliance on subcontractors to carry out core intelligence tasks – now estimated to account for approximately 60% of the intelligence budget – have intensified since the 9/11 attacks and what was, arguably, our regrettable over-reaction to them.
The roots of this trend go back at least as far as the Reagan era, when the political right became obsessed with limiting government and denigrating those who worked for the public sector. It began a wave of privatization – because everything was held to be more "cost-efficient" when done by the private sector – and that only deepened with the political polarization following the election of 2000. As it turns out, the promises of cheaper, more efficient services were hollow, but inertia carried the day.
Today, the intelligence sector is so immense that no one person can manage, or even comprehend, its reach. When an operation in the field goes south, who would we prefer to try and correct the damage: a government employee whose loyalty belongs to his country (despite a modest salary), or the subcontractor who wants to ensure that his much fatter paycheck keeps coming? ...Joe and Valerie Plame Wilson,The Guardian
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