Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Technology and Society, War Commentary

Snowden

9 Comments

Why is Russia harboring him? A disturbing and plausible theory:

Since Snowden took vast quantities of information, and nobody can be quite sure what information he took, Russia has gained a fabulous smokescreen for all of its actual intelligence operations in America. Russian possession of American secrets is no longer actionable evidence of Russian spies in America; the secrets, especially anything touching on surveillance and the NSA, might have come with Snowden. The logic of American counter-intelligence is broken for a generation. It is like issuing a new life to every Russian spy in America, and nine new lives to any spy in the NSA.

What a disaster.

9 thoughts on “Snowden”

  1. maybe the NSA should cut a deal with him, let him return without prosecution in return
    for his complete candor in debriefing. At least then you know what they know

    1. Fortunately the folks at the NSA are not quite as naïve as their neighbors. They still didn’t catch this guy, but they are not that naïve.

    2. And then he is going to drive a car off a bridge in a tragic accident with sixteen self inflicted M-16 bullet holes in the back ? Yeah, that will work.

    3. They should have done that before he left Hong Kong, never mind left Sheremetyevo, but the powers that be preferred wasting a year posturing and carrying on about what a horrible damaging traitor he is to prudent damage limitation.

      They may finally be getting around to it now, maybe. From Der Spiegel via Russia Today, he supposedly has a lawyer trying to negotiate a deal to get him back to the US.

      http://rt.com/news/161396-snowden-conditions-return-usa/

  2. A disaster they brought on themselves by violating our Fourth Amendment. I have no sympathy for them.

  3. In other news, the White House didn’t like my comparison of Benghazi to la affair Plame, so they decided to do a demonstration of the dangers inherent in la affair Plame. I think this quote has the measure: “I doubt anyone from the White House is going to be prosecuted over this,” said Jessclyn Raddack, who represented Kiriakou. “It shows the continuing double standard over leaks.”

  4. I fully agree that Snowden’s actions have badly hurt the US in many ways, especially vis a vis Russia and China.

    I also condemn Snowden for his choice of safe havens. To be crystal clear, I’m sure as heck not a Snowden fan. If he gave the Russians or Chinese any data beyond what they learned via the press, that’s treason.

    That said, I consider it the lessor of evils. It would have been vastly worse had the NSA’s criminal disregard for the 4th amendment been left undisclosed. Remember, they’d been accused of such for years and lied about it, as had this administration and the prior one. I’m therefor thankful for the revelations regarding the spying on Americans.

    I sure as hell don’t trust Snowden, but though it pains me to say it, I trust the US government even less on this issue.

    They bought this mess on their own heads, so I have no sympathy. If they were even attempting to fix the problem I’d think differently, but I see no signs of it yet.

  5. I still think the primary reason Russia took him in is that it would be a nasty, enduring propaganda blow to US intelligence. I’m reminded of a recent conversation I had about the Tailhook scandal of 1991 which apparently has substantially changed the US Navy and how it operates. I think this has similar potential to throw a monkey wrench into the internal operations of US intelligence and hamper its operation for decades.

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