CIA suspected Snowden of planning to leak files back in 2009, but no one cared

Edward-Snowden1

Edward Snowden is a lucky guy to have gotten the chance to leak all the things he swiped from the NSA. If things had turned out differently back in 2009, we may never know of all the crazy things the NSA does behind closed doors. According to the New York Times, Snowden’s then-bosses at the CIA were suspicious of him in 2009, however; they failed to signal the NSA.

Accroding to Snowden’s CIA supervisor,”a distinct change in the young man’s behavior and work habits” was noted sometime during 2009 but no further action was taken.

After leaving the CIA, Snowden was sent to work with the NSA. Unfortunately, for the agency, the CIA’s suspicions of him were not forwarded, and thus Snowden was free to collect as much information he could carry. CIA suspicions only came to light after Snowden leaked a multitude of classified documents.

For the CIA and NSA, the suspicion of Snowden is probably a hugely missed opportunity because he did admit to the Guardian that he had intentions to leak secrets while working at CIA offices before joining the NSA.

He said it was during his CIA stint in Geneva that he thought for the first time about exposing government secrets. But, at the time, he chose not to for two reasons.

First, he said: “Most of the secrets the CIA has are about people, not machines and systems, so I didn’t feel comfortable with disclosures that I thought could endanger anyone.” Secondly, the election of Barack Obama in 2008 gave him hope that there would be real reforms, rendering disclosures unnecessary.

He left the CIA in 2009 in order to take his first job working for a private contractor that assigned him to a functioning NSA facility, stationed on a military base in Japan. It was then, he said, that he “watched as Obama advanced the very policies that I thought would be reined in,” and as a result, “I got hardened.”

The NSA is probably going crazy right now because enemies of America have access to records on what the nation’s spy program is capable of. On the other hand though, the American government only have to worry about what is going through the minds of other governments across the world as citizens don’t seem to care. Or at least don’t seem to care enough to do something about it.

It’s as if Snowden wasted his time acquiring secrets because no one truly cares. Folks are too busy going on about with their daily lives such as giving Miley Cyrus a bad time due to her twerking, and going crazy over next generation consoles. No one seems to have time for Edward Snowden’s leak, and we’re guessing he’s not liking that very much.

[via New York Times, The Guardian]

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