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Wow, here's a quote from their summary of one of the books: Each of these books about the Snowden affair covers the basics of Snowden’s broken family life

Wow, here's a quote from their summary of one of the books: Each of these books about the Snowden affair covers the basics of Snowden’s broken family life, his half-finished education, his political beliefs, and his devotion to the Internet.

dmix 12y ago
Well, they really didn't have much to work with here. Snowden was almost the perfect dissident. His actions and past were totally clean, except for maybe going to Russia,. You have to understand that he didn't leave them much to manipulate external and internal biases with. So they went with his lack of education.
- sp332 12y ago
  He got stuck in Russia on his way to South America.
  - pastProlog 12y ago
    Yes, the US cancelled his passport while he was trying to get a connecting flight in a Russian airport, thus sticking him there.
    - Someone1234 12y ago
      Which, from what I've read, was an error. They actually wanted him to get on an aircraft, fly over Europe, and then when he flew over the skies of a US ally that ally would force the aircraft to land. Then the US would extradite him from there. But they lost track of Snowden, panicked, and cancelled his passport. Leaving him stuck in Russia of all places (which is actually worse for the US than either a South American country OR HK, as they have zero political capital there).
    - csandreasen 12y ago
      They didn't revoke his passport when he was in Russia, they revoked his passport the day before he left Hong Kong [1]. He traveled to Russia on what turned out to be an invalid travel document issued by the Ecuadorian embassy in London [2] (same one that Julian Assange is holed up in). [1] http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ap-source-nsa-leaker-snowdens-passport-revoked http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ap-source-nsa-leaker-snowdens... [2] http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/02/ecuador-rafael-correa-snowden-mistake http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/02/ecuador-rafael-...
- at-fates-hands 12y ago
  As someone else pointed out in the thread, his career trajectory was pretty much straight up. It wasn't until 2012 where he became disenfranchised with the intelligence community. Otherwise, he's held some incredibly top level positions in the NSA and CIA up until 2012. Had he not gone "rogue", I'm pretty sure he'd still be climbing the ladder and be one of the more respected people within the intelligence community. This guy was headed to some very high, well paid positions within the NSA. Kind of hard to discount his career up to that point.
  - happyscrappy 12y ago
    >he's held some incredibly top level positions in the NSA and CIA And Kim Dotcom was an elite hacker. Don't let reality get in the way of a good myth.
    - at-fates-hands 12y ago
      So this all myth then? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden#Career http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden#Career According to Greenwald, while there Snowden was "considered the top technical and cybersecurity expert" in that country and "was hand-picked by the CIA to support the president at the 2008 NATO summit in Romania."[73] or In 2011 he returned to Maryland, where he spent a year as lead technologist on Dell's CIA account. In that capacity, he was consulted by the chiefs of the CIA's technical branches, including the agency's chief information officer and its chief technology officer.[39] Pretty sure if you're being consulted by the CIA's CTO, you're not exactly some low level contractor doing sys admin work.
      - csandreasen 12y ago
        It may or may not be a myth, but the only source backing up these assertions is Snowden himself by way of interviews.
scottshea 12y ago
Devotion to the internet is a bad thing?
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- mikeash 12y ago
  Of course it is. The internet is a frightening place filled with pornography and free thinkers.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
gnu8 12y ago
It belies the attitude of the typical intelligence official that they believe an education is something that is finished and then you learn no more.
- waterlesscloud 12y ago
  Which is why they have a Bookshelf page.
- sampo 12y ago
  Are all intelligence officers college graduates?
- serve_yay 12y ago
  Indeed, we should all strive for a half-finished education.

dmix 12y ago

Well, they really didn't have much to work with here. Snowden was almost the perfect dissident. His actions and past were totally clean, except for maybe going to Russia,. You have to understand that he didn't leave them much to manipulate external and internal biases with. So they went with his lack of education.

sp332 12y ago
He got stuck in Russia on his way to South America.
- pastProlog 12y ago
  Yes, the US cancelled his passport while he was trying to get a connecting flight in a Russian airport, thus sticking him there.
  - Someone1234 12y ago
    Which, from what I've read, was an error. They actually wanted him to get on an aircraft, fly over Europe, and then when he flew over the skies of a US ally that ally would force the aircraft to land. Then the US would extradite him from there. But they lost track of Snowden, panicked, and cancelled his passport. Leaving him stuck in Russia of all places (which is actually worse for the US than either a South American country OR HK, as they have zero political capital there).
  - csandreasen 12y ago
    They didn't revoke his passport when he was in Russia, they revoked his passport the day before he left Hong Kong [1]. He traveled to Russia on what turned out to be an invalid travel document issued by the Ecuadorian embassy in London [2] (same one that Julian Assange is holed up in). [1] http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ap-source-nsa-leaker-snowdens-passport-revoked http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ap-source-nsa-leaker-snowdens... [2] http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/02/ecuador-rafael-correa-snowden-mistake http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/02/ecuador-rafael-...
at-fates-hands 12y ago
As someone else pointed out in the thread, his career trajectory was pretty much straight up. It wasn't until 2012 where he became disenfranchised with the intelligence community. Otherwise, he's held some incredibly top level positions in the NSA and CIA up until 2012. Had he not gone "rogue", I'm pretty sure he'd still be climbing the ladder and be one of the more respected people within the intelligence community. This guy was headed to some very high, well paid positions within the NSA. Kind of hard to discount his career up to that point.
- happyscrappy 12y ago
  >he's held some incredibly top level positions in the NSA and CIA And Kim Dotcom was an elite hacker. Don't let reality get in the way of a good myth.
  - at-fates-hands 12y ago
    So this all myth then? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden#Career http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden#Career According to Greenwald, while there Snowden was "considered the top technical and cybersecurity expert" in that country and "was hand-picked by the CIA to support the president at the 2008 NATO summit in Romania."[73] or In 2011 he returned to Maryland, where he spent a year as lead technologist on Dell's CIA account. In that capacity, he was consulted by the chiefs of the CIA's technical branches, including the agency's chief information officer and its chief technology officer.[39] Pretty sure if you're being consulted by the CIA's CTO, you're not exactly some low level contractor doing sys admin work.
    - csandreasen 12y ago
      It may or may not be a myth, but the only source backing up these assertions is Snowden himself by way of interviews.

scottshea 12y ago

Devotion to the internet is a bad thing?

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
mikeash 12y ago
Of course it is. The internet is a frightening place filled with pornography and free thinkers.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]

gnu8 12y ago

It belies the attitude of the typical intelligence official that they believe an education is something that is finished and then you learn no more.

waterlesscloud 12y ago
Which is why they have a Bookshelf page.
sampo 12y ago
Are all intelligence officers college graduates?
serve_yay 12y ago
Indeed, we should all strive for a half-finished education.