4 ms·

Ed was a Booz Allen Hamilton employee only for a couple of months. He wasn't even out of his probation period as an employee. It's really amazing that in such a

by jordigh 10y ago

Ed was a Booz Allen Hamilton employee only for a couple of months. He wasn't even out of his probation period as an employee. It's really amazing that in such a short time he was able to siphon all this information out of the NSA. I wonder what more information could he have collected if he had spent a longer time contracting for the NSA. I wonder how much more about the NSA we could know if people who have dedicated their entire careers to the NSA would whistleblow.

secfirstmd 10y ago
Or what damage a normal spy could have done...
- balabaster 10y ago
  What makes him different than a normal spy? It's just the adversary he worked for was the public. I'd say "instead of an enemy of the U.S. Government," but I'm hard pushed to separate that distinction somehow. The NSA's behaviour would seem to point to its considering the U.S. people as enemies of the state... rather than the people being the state and themselves being the enemy. I suppose it's not beyond belief that Snowden _could_ have been a CIA operative the entire time he was in the NSA and "blowing his cover" by going public was just the endgame to move scrutiny of CIA projects to NSA projects. Of course, there's a thousand conspiracy theories. What if that wasn't the endgame? What if "defecting" to Russia is still part of a bigger operation? Just to be clear, I have no evidence supporting this theory, nor do I believe he's any more than he suggests. But we'd all do well to evaluate what and why we trust the things we do from time to time.
- pducks32 10y ago
  Or is doing.
chatmasta 10y ago
If you want to put on your tinfoil hat for a second, consider the fact that Snowden started his career in the military, then moved to CIA, then moved to Booz Allen. It's entirely possible that Snowden is an ongoing CIA op to discredit their rival NSA as part of a turf war.
- BoringCode 10y ago
  It's also entirely possible that unicorns are real.
  - ikeboy 10y ago
    But while the above possibility is merely unlikely, this possibility is logically impossible (using the definition of unicorn from philosophy). Quite a difference.
    - BoringCode 10y ago
      Both are absurd points to make. Just because something is theoretically possible in some version of the universe doesn't mean it's worth discussing without any real evidence. Tinfoil hat or not.
      - deleted 10y ago
        [deleted]
  - chatmasta 10y ago
    I really don't think it's an unreasonable possibility. It's a known fact Snowden worked for CIA and even received deep cover training while working in Geneva. Much of his behavior is not that of a hapless IT admin, but someone well trained in HUMINT operations. He comes from a multigenerational military family. That's the kind of background that breeds strong loyalty to the state, and the exact kind of background from which the CIA recruits its top spies. I find it almost implausible that someone with that kind of loyalty would suddenly resign from the CIA after they invested so much in him, only to jump ship to a private contractor. If his reasons for leaving the CIA were purely moral, why would a private contractor ameliorate any of those concerns? It seems more likely the CIA sent him to Booz Allen. But hey, it's all a big conspiracy right? Don't believe anything you read on the Internet, except what Ed Snowden tells you.
    - BoringCode 10y ago
swalsh 10y ago
I think he spent years working for the CIA beforehand. He probably came in pretty well versed. Plus, you can pick up a lot if you're paying attention.
linkregister 10y ago
He did the majority of his data siphon over many months during his time as a system administrator as a Dell contractor [1]. He was only a Booz Allen Hamilton employee for 3 months [2], one of which where he was actually on the job (and ostensibly siphoning docs until his last day). (According to reports; we haven't heard an official account yet.) 1. http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/08/us-govt-snowden-also-took-secret-docs-while-working-at-dell-in-april-2012/ http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/08/us-govt-snowden-a... 2. http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/06/whistleblower-who-exposed-nsa-mass-surveillance-revealed-by-the-guardian/ http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/06/whistleblower-who...

by jordigh 10y ago

secfirstmd 10y ago

Or what damage a normal spy could have done...

balabaster 10y ago
What makes him different than a normal spy? It's just the adversary he worked for was the public. I'd say "instead of an enemy of the U.S. Government," but I'm hard pushed to separate that distinction somehow. The NSA's behaviour would seem to point to its considering the U.S. people as enemies of the state... rather than the people being the state and themselves being the enemy. I suppose it's not beyond belief that Snowden _could_ have been a CIA operative the entire time he was in the NSA and "blowing his cover" by going public was just the endgame to move scrutiny of CIA projects to NSA projects. Of course, there's a thousand conspiracy theories. What if that wasn't the endgame? What if "defecting" to Russia is still part of a bigger operation? Just to be clear, I have no evidence supporting this theory, nor do I believe he's any more than he suggests. But we'd all do well to evaluate what and why we trust the things we do from time to time.
pducks32 10y ago
Or is doing.

chatmasta 10y ago

If you want to put on your tinfoil hat for a second, consider the fact that Snowden started his career in the military, then moved to CIA, then moved to Booz Allen. It's entirely possible that Snowden is an ongoing CIA op to discredit their rival NSA as part of a turf war.

BoringCode 10y ago
It's also entirely possible that unicorns are real.
- ikeboy 10y ago
  But while the above possibility is merely unlikely, this possibility is logically impossible (using the definition of unicorn from philosophy). Quite a difference.
  - BoringCode 10y ago
    Both are absurd points to make. Just because something is theoretically possible in some version of the universe doesn't mean it's worth discussing without any real evidence. Tinfoil hat or not.
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
- chatmasta 10y ago
  I really don't think it's an unreasonable possibility. It's a known fact Snowden worked for CIA and even received deep cover training while working in Geneva. Much of his behavior is not that of a hapless IT admin, but someone well trained in HUMINT operations. He comes from a multigenerational military family. That's the kind of background that breeds strong loyalty to the state, and the exact kind of background from which the CIA recruits its top spies. I find it almost implausible that someone with that kind of loyalty would suddenly resign from the CIA after they invested so much in him, only to jump ship to a private contractor. If his reasons for leaving the CIA were purely moral, why would a private contractor ameliorate any of those concerns? It seems more likely the CIA sent him to Booz Allen. But hey, it's all a big conspiracy right? Don't believe anything you read on the Internet, except what Ed Snowden tells you.
  - BoringCode 10y ago

swalsh 10y ago

I think he spent years working for the CIA beforehand. He probably came in pretty well versed. Plus, you can pick up a lot if you're paying attention.

linkregister 10y ago

He did the majority of his data siphon over many months during his time as a system administrator as a Dell contractor [1]. He was only a Booz Allen Hamilton employee for 3 months [2], one of which where he was actually on the job (and ostensibly siphoning docs until his last day). (According to reports; we haven't heard an official account yet.) 1. http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/08/us-govt-snowden-also-took-secret-docs-while-working-at-dell-in-april-2012/ http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/08/us-govt-snowden-a... 2. http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/06/whistleblower-who-exposed-nsa-mass-surveillance-revealed-by-the-guardian/ http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/06/whistleblower-who...